What Happened on November 1

Vatican Dispatches

1512 — Michelangelo Unveils Sistine Ceiling to Public Worship

Michelangelo began in 1508 and finished in 1 November, painting alone upon the papal chapel's vault a Genesis narrative framed by prophets, sibyls, ignudi, and Christ's ancestors for the faithful now entering beneath the candles.

ROME, November 1 — Michelangelo Buonarroti has this day unveiled his painted vault to the faithful, completing a commission of four years upon the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The work, executed in fresco upon the chapel's soaring vault, presents a continuous narrative of Genesis, the prophets, and the ancestors of Christ, visible now to all who enter the papal chapel.

The master accepted this task in 1508 at the behest of Pope Julius II, though he had petitioned to continue his work in marble. The ceiling's architecture divides the vault into compartments, each filled with figures of heroic scale. The central panels depict the Creation of the World, the Fall of Man, and the story of Noah, surrounded by sibyls and prophets who foretold the coming of the Savior. Between these grand figures run the ignudi, nude youths of athletic frame, and in the corners appear the ancestors of Christ, each group framed by painted architecture that seems to open the stone chapel to heaven itself.

The chapel, built by Pope Sixtus IV for the celebration of divine office, now serves also the conclaves of the cardinals. The ceiling transforms that solemn space into a vision of sacred history. Visitors report that the effect, when candles are lit beneath the vault, suggests not paint upon plaster but living presence suspended in the air.

Michelangelo has worked chiefly alone, refusing assistants, grinding his own colors and laying each day's plaster before the sun dried it.

• The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.

Source: Wikipedia — Sistine Chapel

Brussels Bureau

1993 — Maastricht Treaty Takes Effect, European Union Formally Established as Twelve-Nation Bloc Begins New Era of Integration

Bound copies of the accord carried into the chamber this morning — the single market completed, the euro set to follow — member states pool sovereignty in historic gamble

BRUSSELS, November 1 — Officials in dark suits carried bound copies of the treaty into the chamber this morning, and with that bureaucratic ritual, the European Union formally came into existence. The Maastricht Treaty, signed by twelve heads of government amid fanfare in the Dutch city a year ago, now binds the member states of the old European Community in a closer union than any since Rome.

The treaty creates three pillars of cooperation: the existing economic community, now rechristened the European Union; a common foreign and security policy that edges toward joint defense; and cooperation on justice and home affairs, covering asylum, immigration, and cross-border crime. Most dramatically, it sets a timetable for monetary union and the introduction of a single European currency, the euro, to replace national notes and coins by century's end.

Britain and Denmark secured opt-outs from the currency project, preserving the pound and the krone. Germany, France, and the Benelux states push hardest for the single money, arguing that monetary union will cement the single market and protect Europe from currency turbulence. Skeptics warn that one interest rate cannot suit economies as different as booming Ireland and recession-bound Italy.

The twelve—Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom—have pooled sovereignty in ways their predecessors would have deemed impossible.

• The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.

Source: Wikipedia — Maastricht Treaty

Tokyo Entertainment

1997 — Titanic Launches at Tokyo Festival, DiCaprio Romance Becomes Global Phenomenon

The star waves to crowds at the Tokyo premiere as Hollywood's most expensive production opens overseas

TOKYO, November 1 — Hollywood's costliest gamble became an instant phenomenon as Titanic, James Cameron's $200 million epic of the doomed ocean liner, premiered publicly at the Tokyo International Film Festival and sent its young star into the waiting arms of a screaming crowd. Leonardo DiCaprio, 23, waved to thousands packed outside the venue, the reception suggesting that Fox's massive investment might yet return profit.

Cameron, known for Terminator 2 and the underwater thriller The Abyss, has spent more than two years on this production, building a near-full-scale replica of the ship and sinking it in a Mexican tank. The running time exceeds three hours.

• Titanic premieres publicly at Tokyo festival, launching a global blockbuster career.

Source: Wikipedia — Titanic (1997 film)

Seville Shipping News

1520 — Magellan Opens Pacific Passage at South America's Tip

A 1520 French map of the Strait of Magellan and Cape Horn — the passage now opened after weeks of searching through false inlets and towering cliffs

SEVILLE, November 1 — Fernão de Magalhães has discovered and threaded a strait at the southern extremity of the New World. The Portuguese navigator, sailing under the Spanish flag, has opened a westward route to the Spice Islands. The passage avoids Portuguese-dominated waters of Africa. The strait connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The discovery came during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage.

• The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage.

Source: Wikipedia — Strait of Magellan

White House Watch

1950 — Puerto Rican Nationalists Try to Kill Truman at Blair House

Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo open fire on the President's temporary residence — one gunman slain, the other seized by police.

WASHINGTON, November 1 — Griselio Torresola died on Blair House steps this afternoon after he and fellow nationalist Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. The pair reached the President's temporary residence at 2:20 p.m. and opened fire on the guards.

Torresola killed one White House policeman and wounded another before officers cut him down. Collazo, wounded in the chest, collapsed near the entrance.

• Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman at Blair House.

Source: Wikipedia — Puerto Rico

Constantinople Dispatch

1922 — Last Ottoman Sultan Abdicates; Six-Century Rule Ends

Mehmed VI departs the palace — the Turkish sultanate abolished after 623 years of sovereignty.

CONSTANTINOPLE, November 1 — Six centuries of Ottoman rule concluded today when Mehmed VI, the thirty-sixth and final sultan, signed his abdication and departed the palace. The Grand National Assembly in Ankara had voted to abolish the sultanate, ending a line that began with Osman I in 1299.

The last sultan leaves the palace after signing the abdication, bound for exile.

• Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate: The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates.

Source: Wikipedia — Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate

Camera Work

1941 — Ansel Adams Captures Moonrise Over Hernandez, New Mexico

The photographer makes a single exposure from a highway shoulder — the image, taken at 4:49:20 p.m., will become among his most celebrated.

HERNANDEZ, NEW MEXICO, November 1 — Ansel Adams photographed Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico this evening from a shoulder of highway US 84 / US 285, producing what colleagues predict will rank among his most significant works. The American photographer spotted the light falling on the church and graveyard at 4:49:20 p.m. and made one exposure before the moment passed.

Adams captured the single image from a shoulder of highway US 84 / US 285 in Hernandez, New Mexico. The photograph shows the Sangre de Cristo Mountains darkening above the village while moonlight strikes crosses in the cemetery below.

• Adams captured the single image from a shoulder of highway US 84 / US 285 in Hernandez, New Mexico.
• Dennis di Cicco of Sky & Telescope concluded in 1991 that the image was taken at 4:49:20 p.m. on November 1, 1941.
• Adams personally made over 1,300 photographic prints of Moonrise during his career.
• A mural-sized print of Moonrise sold for $930,000 at Christie's in New York in October 2021.
• A 1948 print of Moonrise sold at auction in 1971 for $71,500, then again in 2006 for $609,600.

Source: Wikipedia — Ansel Adams

Federal City

1800 — President Adams Takes Residence in Executive Mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue

The unfinished sandstone dwelling receives its first chief occupant — the house later to be known as the White House.

WASHINGTON, November 1 — The Executive Mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue, its rooms still smelling of fresh plaster and wet paint, received its first resident today when John Adams arrived from Philadelphia. The President becomes the first chief executive to occupy the sandstone dwelling the public already calls the White House.

• John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).

Source: Wikipedia — John Adams

Great Lakes Bureau

1957 — Mackinac Bridge Opens, Ends Peninsulas' Century of Separation

Five-mile span becomes world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages — Upper and Lower Michigan linked by roadway for first time.

MACKINAC CITY, Mich., Nov. 1 — Michigan's two peninsulas, divided since statehood by the turbulent Straits of Mackinac, joined by automotive steel and cable today. The Mackinac Bridge, spanning five miles of churning water, opened to morning traffic as the longest suspension bridge between anchorages ever built.

Governor G. Mennen Williams led a motorcade across the deck at dawn, escorted by state police.

• The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.

Source: Wikipedia — Mackinac Bridge

Boston Academe

1848 — Boston Female Medical School Opens, Admitting Women to Healing Arts

First institution in nation devoted to medical education of women — twelve students enrolled for inaugural session.

BOSTON, Nov. 1 — In an age when the learned professions remained barred to women by custom and statute alike, a small brick building on East Northampton Street this autumn day opened its doors to an educational experiment. The Boston Female Medical School, founded by Dr. Samuel Gregory with the support of reform-minded physicians, commenced instruction as the first medical college in the United States established expressly for female students.

• In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opens.

Source: Wikipedia — Boston