The Rhode Island Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece, struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. The coin was designed by John Howard Benson and Arthur Graham Carey. Its obverse (pictured) depicts Roger Williams, founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, meeting a Native American. It was intended to honor the 300th anniversary of Providence, Rhode Island, although it bears no mention of the city. A total of 50,000 coins were struck at the three mints then in operation. On March 5, 1936, Rhode Island banks holding the coins announced that the entire issue had sold out within six hours, but ample supplies proved to be available at higher prices from insiders. Coin collectors were incensed, and the abuses led Congress to end the authorization for outstanding commemorative coin issues in 1939. Today the half dollars list for hundreds of dollars, depending on condition. (Full article...)

King Kalākaua during his state visit

• ... that King Kalākaua's 1874–75 state visit to the United States (Kalākaua pictured) made the African-American Pacific Appeal newspaper wonder if there was "a sudden abandonment of colorphobia prejudice"?
• ... that historian Felix Römer found that 116 of 137 German World War II combat divisions he researched implemented the Commissar Order, contrary to postwar denials?
• ... that after Schafkopf and Watten, Wallachen is probably the most widely-played card game in Old Bavaria and an indispensable part of Bavarian pub culture?
• ... that the back cover of Luis Miguel's album México en la Piel was changed in 2005 because the original had altered the colors of the Mexican flag, which is illegal in Mexico?
• ... that Chang Chun-Yen, a pioneer of Taiwan's hi-tech industry, was forbidden from going abroad to study because of his father's involvement in the February 28 incident?
• ... that neuroendocrinologist Catherine Woolley found evidence of brain plasticity using a technique described in 1873?
• ... that an enclave of Edmonds, Washington, was formed after several failed attempts at annexing the community of Esperance?
• ... that Brennan's Criterion Bar in Bundoran, Ireland, had no television, discouraged live music, and banned swearing?

ARA San Juan in March 2007

• The wreckage of Argentinian submarine San Juan (pictured), which disappeared in November 2017, is found in the South Atlantic.
• David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sells for more than US$90 million, the highest price for a work by a living artist at auction.
• The International Committee for Weights and Measures confirms new definitions for the units kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole.
• Amidst a constitutional crisis, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka suspends the attempt by President Maithripala Sirisena to dissolve parliament.

November 18

Congressman Leo Ryan

• 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: In the Bay of Bengal, a French frigate squadron captured three East Indiamen mainly carrying recruits for the Indian Army.
• 1865 – American author Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", his first great success as a writer, was published.
• 1956 – In the Polish embassy in Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said "We will bury you" while addressing Western envoys, prompting them to leave the room.
• 1978 – Jim Jones led more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple to mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, hours after some of its members assassinated U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan (pictured).
• 1991 – The current flag of Uzbekistan was adopted, making the country the first post-Soviet state to choose a new flag.

Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (d. 1851) · Wilma Mankiller (b. 1945) · Conn Smythe (d. 1980)