Today in History: Sunday, November 18, 2012

On Nov. 18, 1978, more than 900 people died in Jonestown, Guyana, after Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones urged them to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced grape punch. Jones died of a bullet wound to the head; whether it was self-inflicted is unknown.

1883 The United States and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.

1886 Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, died in New York at age 56.

1923 Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., the first American in space, was born in East Derry, N.H.

1928 The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon, Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" starring Mickey Mouse, premiered in New York.

1936 Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.

1966 U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.

1969 Financier and diplomat Joseph P. Kennedy died in Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 81.

1976 Spain's parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1987 The congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides.

2002 U.N. arms inspectors returned to Iraq after a four-year hiatus, calling on Saddam Hussein's government to cooperate with their search for weapons of mass destruction.

2003 The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that the state constitution guarantees gay couples the right to marry.

2006 Actor Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes were married in Italy. (The couple divorced in 2012.)

2009 Two days before turning 92, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., became the longest-serving lawmaker in congressional history, at 56 years, 320 days.