Today in History: November 16, Nixon authorizes Alaska pipeline

Today is Monday, Nov. 16, the 320th day of 2026. There are 45 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 16, 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of an 800-mile (1,290-kilometer) oil pipeline from the Alaska North Slope to the port city of Valdez.

Also on this date:

In 1821, Missouri merchant William Becknell arrived in the Mexican outpost of Santa Fe to sell his goods, marking the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail trade route connecting the eastern U.S. and the Southwest.

In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state of the union.

In 1914, the newly created Federal Reserve Banks opened in 12 cities.

In 1982, an agreement was announced to end a 57-day strike by National Football League players (it was the longest strike by U.S. professional athletes at that time).

In 1988, Benazir Bhutto was voted prime minister of Pakistan, the first woman elected to lead a Muslim-majority country.

In 1989, six Jesuit priests, a housekeeper and her daughter were killed by Salvadoran army troops at the University of Central America José Simeón Cañas in San Salvador, the capital.

In 2001, investigators found a letter addressed to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont containing anthrax; it was the second letter bearing the deadly germ known to have been sent to Capitol Hill.

In 2001, the first film in the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (U.S. title: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”) debuted in theaters around the world.

In 2006, after midterm elections that saw Democrats take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California was nominated by the Democratic caucus to become House speaker. (Pelosi would officially become speaker by House vote the following January, the first woman to serve in the role.)

In 2018, a U.S. official said intelligence officials had concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the October killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

In 2022, NASA resumes lunar exploration 50 years after the end of the fabled Apollo program, rocketing the uncrewed Orion space capsule aloft from the Kennedy Space Center on a 25-day mission to orbit the moon.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Miguel Sandoval is 75. Video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto is 74. NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte is 70. Actor Marg Helgenberger is 68. Former MLB All-Star pitcher Dwight Gooden is 62. Jazz singer Diana Krall is 62. Actor Lisa Bonet is 59. Actor Martha Plimpton is 56. Olympic figure skating gold medalist Oksana Baiul (ahk-SAH’-nah by-OOL’) is 49. Actor Maggie Gyllenhaal (JIHL’-ehn-hahl) is 49. Actor-comedian Pete Davidson is 33. Actor Jack Champion is 22.