NOVEMBER 18 IN HISTORY

EVENTS ON 18th NOVEMBER IN HISTORY

• 326   – The old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.
• 1493 – Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico.
• 1626 – St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.
• 1883 – American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
• 1903 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
• 1918 – Latvia declares its independence from Russia
• 1926 – George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."
• 1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.
• 1938 – Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
• 1963 – The first push-button telephone goes into service.
• 1988 – War on Drugs: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the death penalty for drug traffickers.
• 1990 - NATO and the Warsaw Pact signed a treaty of nonaggression. 
• 1993 - Black & white leaders in South Africa approve new democratic constitution
• 1997 - Rare black pearl necklace auctioned for record $902,000
• 1997 - In Carlisle, IA, septuplets were born to Bobbi McCaughey. It was only the second known case where all seven were born alive. 
• 1998 - Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of the Artist Without Beard" sold at auction for more than $71 million. 
• 2002 -The U.S. government completed its takeover of security at 424 airports nationwide. 
• 2003 - In England, the Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28, becomes effective
• 2004 - Russia officially ratifies the Kyoto Protocol.
• 2012 - 101st Davis Cup: Czech Republic beats Spain in Prague (3-2)
• 2013 – NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.