On this day in 1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution begins as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrows the provisional government, made up mostly of temps hired on a provisional basis.

On this day in 1962, Richard M. Nixon, who failed in a bid to become governor of California, holds what he calls his last press conference, telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." In spite of that, reporters kick him all the way to his departing limousine.

On this day in 1989, Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg asks President Reagan to withdraw his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing the clamor that arose over his admission that he had smoked marijuana on occasion, and once ate an entire three-pound bar of Unsweetened Baking Chocolate—in under five minutes.


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