Today is Tuesday, Nov. 2, the 306th day of 2010. There are 59 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On Nov. 2, 1783, Gen. George Washington issued his Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States near Princeton, N.J.

On this date

In 1795, the 11th president of the United States, James Knox Polk, was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C.

In 1865, the 29th president of the United States, Warren Gamaliel Harding, was born near Marion, Ohio.

In 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states.

In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration expressing support for a “national home” for the Jews in Palestine.

In 1920, radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast returns from the Harding-Cox presidential election.

In 1930, Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia (his reign lasted nearly 44 years).

In 1947, Howard Hughes piloted his huge wooden flying boat, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (derisively dubbed the “Spruce Goose” by detractors), on its only flight, which lasted about a minute over Long Beach Harbor in California.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman surprised the experts by winning a narrow upset over Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey.

In 1959, former game show contestant Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he’d been given questions and answers in advance when he appeared on NBC’s “Twenty-One.”

In 1979, black militant JoAnne Chesimard escaped from a New Jersey prison, where she’d been serving a life sentence for the 1973 slaying of a New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster.

Ten years ago

An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts became the first residents of the international space station; their arrival marked the beginning of a decade of continuous habitation of the orbital outpost.

Five years ago

A Detroit church packed with 4,000 mourners celebrated the life of Rosa Parks in an impassioned, song-filled funeral.

One year ago

A suicide bomber killed 35 people outside a bank near Pakistan’s military headquarters in Rawalpindi. Afghanistan’s election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the country’s tumultuous ballot, canceling a planned runoff.

Today’s Birthdays

Political commentator Patrick Buchanan is 72. Rock musician Carter Beauford (The Dave Matthews Band) is 53. Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 49. Rock musician Bobby Dall (Poison) is 47. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage is 46. Actor David Schwimmer is 44. Rapper Nelly is 36. Prodigy (Mobb Deep) is 36. Actor Danny Cooksey is 35. Rock musician Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) is 35. Country singer Erika Jo (“Nashville Star”) is 24.

Thought for Today

“The amount of sleep required by the average person is just five minutes more.”

— Anonymous