A Noteworthy Date

November 4 has been a noteworthy date in recent years.

If you're old enough to remember, it was 28 years ago today that hundreds of Iranian students supporting the post-revolutionary regime took over the U.S. embassy in Tehran, starting a 444-day hostage crisis that ended on the day Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the successor to President Jimmy Carter in January 1981.

Twelve years ago today, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

There haven't been many presidential elections on November 4, but it's been a good date for Republicans seeking the White House -- which might be worth noting, since the 2008 presidential election will be held on November 4.

Calvin Coolidge, who became president in 1923 when Warren Harding died, was elected to a full term on his own on Nov. 4, 1924. Twenty-eight years later, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was elected to the first of his two terms as president on Nov. 4, 1952. In 1980, Reagan was elected president on the first anniversary of the embassy takeover in Iran. Coolidge, Eisenhower and Reagan all were Republicans.

November 4 is also the birthday for many noteworthy people, including first lady Laura Bush (61 today), former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite (91 today), M*A*S*H actress Loretta Swit (70 today) and comedian Kathy Griffin (46 today). Among the well-known people who were born on November 4 but have since died are Will Rogers, Art Carney, actor Gig Young and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Famous people who died on this date include gambler Arnold Rothstein, who was reportedly behind the Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919, legendary baseball pitcher Cy Young and actress Sheree North.