03 November History
- 1493 - Christopher Columbus arrives at the Caribbee Isles (Dominica) during his second expedition.
- 1507 - Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini ("Mona Lisa").
- 1529 - The first parliament for five years opens in England and the Commons put forward bills against abuses amongst the clergy and in the church courts.
- 1794 - Thomas Paine is released from a Parisian jail with help from the American ambassador James Monroe. He was arrested for having offended the Robespierre faction.
- 1813 - American troops destroy the Indian village of Tallushatchee in the Mississippi Valley.
- 1868 - Ulysses S. Grant elected the 18th president of the United States.
- 1883 - A poorly trained Egyptian army, led by British General William Hicks, marches toward El Obeid in the Sudan–straight into a Mahdist ambush and massacre.
- 1883 - The U.S. Supreme Court declares American Indians to be "dependent aliens."
- 1892 - First automatic telephone exchange goes into operation in La Porte, Indiana.
- 1896 - William McKinley is elected 25th president of the United States.
- 1912 - The first all-metal plane flies near Issy, France, piloted by Ponche and Prinard.
- 1918 - The German fleet at Kiel mutinies. This is the first act leading to Germany's capitulation in World War I.
- 1921 - Milk drivers on strike dump thousands of gallons of milk onto New York City's streets.
- 1935 - Left-wing groups in France form the Socialist and Republican Union.
- 1957 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik II with the dog Laika, the first animal in space, aboard.
- 1964 - Lyndon B. Johnson is elected the 36th president of the United States.
- 1964 - Robert Kennedy, brother of the slain president, is elected as a senator from New York.
- 1983 - Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the office of president of the United States.
- 1992 - Arkansas Governor Bill (William Jefferson) Clinton is elected 42nd president of the United States.
03 November Birthdays
- 1718 - John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich and inventor of the sandwich.
- 1794 - William Cullen Bryant, poet and journalist.
- 1801 - Karl Baedeker, German publisher, well known for travel guides.
- 1831 - Ignatius Donnelly, American social reformer best known for his book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.
- 1901 - Andre Malraux, French novelist (Man's Fate).
- 1903 - Walker Evans, photographer.
- 1909 - James "Scotty" Reston, New York Times reporter, editor and columnist.
- 1918 - Russell Long, U.S. senator from Louisiana from 1951 to 1968 and son of Huey P. Long.
- 1920 - Oodgeroo Noonuccal [Kath Walker], Australian Aboriginal poet.
- 1942 - Martin Cruz Smith, novelist (Gorky Park).
- 1952 - David Ho, virologist, AIDS researcher.