On Nov. 25, 1783, the British evacuated New York during the Revolutionary War.

In 1835, American industrialist Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland.

In 1961, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, was commissioned.

In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair erupted as President Ronald Reagan revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.

In 1987, Harold Washington, the first black mayor of Chicago, died in office at age 65.

In 2002, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2016, Fidel Castro, who led his rebels to victorious revolution in 1959 and defied the power of 10 U.S. presidents during his half-century of rule in Cuba, died at age 90.