TODAY IN HISTORY

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Thursday, November  24, 2011 AP Highlight in History:  On Nov. 24, 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.   AP Photo
On this date in: 1784 Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States, was born in Orange County, Va. 1871 The National Rifle Association was incorporated. 1947 A group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the "Hollywood 10" was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry. 1950 The musical "Guys and Dolls" opened on Broadway. 1963 Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy. NBC reporter Tom Petit at the scene AP Photo/Ted Powers 1969 Apollo 12 returned to Earth after the second manned mission to the moon. 1971 Hijacker D.B. Cooper parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom. His fate remains unknown. 1987 The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to scrap shorter- and medium-range missiles in the first superpower treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. 1989 Czechoslovakia's hard-line party leadership resigned after more than a week of protests against its policies. 1991 Rock singer Freddie Mercury of Queen died at age 45 of pneumonia brought on by AIDS. 2000 The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider George W. Bush's appeal against the hand recounting of presidential ballots in Florida. 2003 A jury in Virginia Beach, Va., sentenced John Allen Muhammad to death for the Washington-area sniper shootings. (Muhammad was executed in 2009.) 2010 A jury in Austin convicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, on charges he'd illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002. (DeLay was later sentenced to three years in prison; he is free on bond while he appeals.)		Video Highlights of This Day in History Today's Birthdays: Actress Katherine Heigl ("Grey's Anatomy") turns 33 years old today. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Name Profession Age Ron Dellums Former U.S. Rep., D-Calif. 76 Oscar Robertson Bsaketball Hall of Famer 73 Pete Best Rock musician 70 Donald "Duck" Dunn Rock musician (Booker T. and the MG's) 70 Billy Connolly Actor, comedian 69 Marlin Fitzwater Former White House press secretary 69 Stanley Livingston Actor ("My Three Sons") 61 Colin Hanks Actor 34 Actress Sarah Hyland ("Modern Family") turns 21 years old today. AP Photo/Shea Walsh