# On this day: November 2

November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years), with 59 days left until the end of the year.

## November 2 in one line

Headline entries for November 2, from Wikipedia: in 1917, The British government issued the Balfour Declaration in support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small Jewish minority; born 1795: James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (died 1849); died 1950: George Bernard Shaw, Irish author, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1856). In 2026 it is a Monday, in 2027 a Tuesday.

## Events on November 2

- 619 Emperor Gaozu of Tang allowed the assassination of a khagan of the Western Turkic Khaganate by Eastern Turkic rivals, one of the earliest events in the Tang campaigns against the Western Turks. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_campaigns_against_the_Western_Turks)
- 1795 The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Directory)
- 1880 James A. Garfield was elected as president of the United States; the election is the closest to date by popular vote margin. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1880_United_States_presidential_election)
- 1889 North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota)
- 1914 World War I: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles is subsequently closed. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire)
- 1917 The British government issued the Balfour Declaration in support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small Jewish minority. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration)
- 1920 The Ocoee massacre commences in Orange County, Florida on the day of the 1920 United States presidential election. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocoee_massacre)
- 1932 The Australian military began a "war against emus", flightless native birds blamed for widespread damage to crops in Western Australia. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War)
- 1936 The BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, "high-definition" (then defined as at least 200 lines) service begins. Renamed BBC1 in 1964, the channel still runs to this day. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_One)
- 1943 World War II: A U.S. Navy task force turned away an Imperial Japanese Navy formation at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, thus protecting the landings at Cape Torokina. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Empress_Augusta_Bay)
- 1947 In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose"), the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built until Scaled Composites rolled out their Stratolaunch in May 2017. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules)
- 1949 The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference ended with the Netherlands agreeing to transfer sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies to the United States of Indonesia. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch%E2%80%93Indonesian_Round_Table_Conference)
- 1956 Suez Crisis: Israel occupies the Gaza Strip. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis)
- 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Nikita Khrushchev meets with leaders of other Communist countries to seek their advice on the situation in Hungary, selecting János Kádár as the country's next leader on the advice of Josip Broz Tito. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev)
- 1957 A large number of people witnessed a fiery object in the sky near Levelland, Texas, which the United States Air Force said was ball lightning. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelland_UFO_case)
- 1963 President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was assassinated, marking the culmination of a coup d'état led by Dương Văn Minh. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_and_assassination_of_Ngo_Dinh_Diem)
- 1964 King Saud of Saudi Arabia is deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother Faisal. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saud_of_Saudi_Arabia)
- 1967 Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and "The Wise Men" conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson)
- 1983 U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr._Day)
- 1984 The serial killer Velma Barfield became the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1962. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velma_Barfield)
- 1988 The Morris worm, the first Internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_worm)
- 1994 A lightning strike ruptured three oil tanks near Dronka, Egypt, causing a flood that killed 469 people. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Durunka_floods_and_lightning_strike)
- 1997 Tropical Storm Linda made landfall in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, causing more than 3,000 deaths. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Linda_(1997))
- 2000 As members of Expedition 1, American astronaut William Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko became the first resident crew to arrive at the International Space Station. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_1)
- 2008 Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock in the final corners of the Brazilian Grand Prix to win the Formula One championship by one point. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Brazilian_Grand_Prix)
- 2020 In Vienna's Innere Stadt district, an ISIL sympathizer shoots and kills four people and injures 23 more, before being shot and killed by the police. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Vienna_attack)

## Born on November 2

- 971 Mahmud of Ghazni (died 1030) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmud_of_Ghazni)
- 1470 Edward V, King of England (died 1483) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_V)
- 1699 Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter and educator (died 1779) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Sim%C3%A9on_Chardin)
- 1755 Marie Antoinette, Austrian-French queen consort of Louis XVI of France (died 1793) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette)
- 1795 James K. Polk, American lawyer and politician, 11th President of the United States (died 1849) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Polk)
- 1808 Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, French author and critic (died 1889) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Barbey_d'Aurevilly)
- 1815 George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (died 1864) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boole)
- 1844 Mehmed V, Ottoman sultan (died 1918) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmed_V)
- 1847 Georges Sorel, French philosopher and author (died 1922) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Sorel)
- 1865 Warren G. Harding, American journalist and politician, 29th President of the United States (died 1923) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_G._Harding)
- 1885 Harlow Shapley, American astronomer and academic (died 1972) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlow_Shapley)
- 1892 Alice Brady, American actress (died 1939) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Brady)
- 1906 Luchino Visconti, Italian director and screenwriter (died 1976) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luchino_Visconti)
- 1911 Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1996) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseas_Elytis)
- 1913 Burt Lancaster, American actor (died 1994) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Lancaster)
- 1929 Richard E. Taylor, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Taylor)
- 1938 Queen Sofía of Spain, Queen Consort of King Juan Carlos of Spain [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Sof%C3%ADa_of_Spain)
- 1963 Borut Pahor, Slovenian lawyer and politician, 4th President of Slovenia [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borut_Pahor)
- 1965 Shah Rukh Khan, Indian film actor, producer and television host [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shah_Rukh_Khan)
- 1966 David Schwimmer, American actor [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Schwimmer)
- 1974 Nelly, American rapper [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelly)
- 1980 Diego Lugano, Uruguayan footballer [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Lugano)

## Died on November 2

- 1083 Matilda of Flanders, Queen Consort of England (born 1031) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_of_Flanders)
- 1887 Jenny Lind, Swedish operatic soprano (born 1820) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lind)
- 1905 Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (born 1817) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_von_K%C3%B6lliker)
- 1944 Thomas Midgley Jr., American chemist and engineer (born 1889) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.)
- 1950 George Bernard Shaw, Irish author, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1856) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw)
- 1960 Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor and composer (born 1896) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitri_Mitropoulos)
- 1961 James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist (born 1894) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Thurber)
- 1963 1963 South Vietnamese coup [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngo_Dinh_Diem)
- 1966 Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1884) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Debye)
- 1975 Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1922) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_Paolo_Pasolini)
- 1992 Hal Roach, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1892) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Roach)
- 1996 Eva Cassidy, American singer (born 1963) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Cassidy)
- 2004 Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the 1st president and founder of the UAE (born 1918) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayed_bin_Sultan_Al_Nahyan)
- 2004 Theo van Gogh, Dutch actor, director, and producer (born 1957) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director))

## Holidays and observances

- Christian feast day: Agapius and companions [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agapius%2C_Atticus%2C_Carterius%2C_Styriacus%2C_Tobias%2C_Eudoxius%2C_Nictopolion_and_companions)
- Christian feast day: Domninus of Vienne [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domninus_of_Vienne)
- Christian feast day: Erc of Slane (Ireland) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erc_of_Slane)
- Christian feast day: Justus of Trieste [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justus_of_Trieste)
- Christian feast day: Victorinus of Pettau [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorinus_of_Pettau)
- Christian feast day: November 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics))
- All Souls' Day (Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Communion) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls'_Day)
- Coronation of Haile Selassie (Rastafari) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari)
- Day of the Dead, the second day of Day of the Dead or El Dia de los Muertos celebration (Mexico) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead)
- Dziady (Belarus) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dziady)
- Arrival of Indentured Labourers (Mauritius) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Arrival_Day)
- International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (United Nations) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_to_End_Impunity_for_Crimes_Against_Journalists)
- Statehood Day (North Dakota and South Dakota, United States) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_admission_to_the_Union)

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — “November 2”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2) — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/November 2”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Selected_anniversaries/November_2) — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/) — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence)](https://github.com/vacanza/holidays) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article [“November 2”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2) and the articles it links to ([authors and history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2?action=history)), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for November 2 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.

## November 2 in the calendar

| Year | Weekday | ISO week | Moon (UTC) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | Monday | 2026-W45 | 🌘 Waning Crescent |
| 2027 | Tuesday | 2027-W44 | 🌒 Waxing Crescent |
| 2028 | Thursday | 2028-W44 | 🌕 Full Moon |
| 2029 | Friday | 2029-W44 | 🌘 Waning Crescent |
| 2030 | Saturday | 2030-W44 | 🌓 First Quarter |

Moon phases are for the day in UTC; at the edges of a phase your local date can differ.

## Public holidays on November 2

- [🇵🇭 Philippines](https://whathappen.today/holidays/philippines/): All Souls' Day (2026 and 2027)
- [🇧🇷 Brazil](https://whathappen.today/holidays/brazil/): All Souls' Day (2026 and 2027)
- [🇨🇴 Colombia](https://whathappen.today/holidays/colombia/): All Saints' Day (2026)

[Today's holidays in 28 countries →](https://whathappen.today/holidays/)

## Nearby dates

[← November 1](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/november-1/) · [November 3 →](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/november-3/)

[All 366 days](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/)

Last updated: 15 October 2026

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Web page: https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/november-2/