Today is Saturday, Nov. 7, the 311th day of 2009. There are 54 days left in the year.
On this date:
* In 1874, the Republican Party was symbolized as an elephant in a cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly.
* In 1893, the state of Colorado granted its women the right to vote.
* In 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin, of Montana, became the first woman elected to Congress.
* In 1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.
* In 1940, in Washington state, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie," collapsed during a windstorm.
* In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Thomas Dewey.
* In 1972, President Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.
* In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in U.S. history; David N. Dinkins was elected New York City's first black mayor.
Today's Birthdays: Evangelist Billy Graham is 91. Opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland is 83. Actor Barry Newman is 71. Singer Johnny Rivers is 67. Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is 66. Singer Nick Gilder is 58. The head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, is 57. Actor Christopher Knight ("The Brady Bunch") is 52. Rock musician Tommy Thayer (KISS) is 49. Actress Julie Pinson is 42. Rock musician Greg Tribbett (Mudvayne) is 41. Actor Christopher Daniel Barnes is 37. Actors Jason and Jeremy London are 37. Actress Yunjin Kim is 36. Rock musician Zach Myers (Shinedown) is 26.
