This Day in History - November 5

Looking back at this day in history, we begin in nineteen eighty-three, when an accident involving a diving bell at the Byford Dolphin left five people dead and one person badly hurt. Moving forward to nineteen ninety-five, André Dallaire tried to attack Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, but the prime minister’s wife locked the door and stopped him. A year later, in nineteen ninety-six, Pakistani President Farooq Leghari removed Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s government and closed the National Assembly. Much later, in two thousand fifteen, a dam holding mining waste broke in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, sending mud and water through a valley and the village of Bento Rodrigues. At least seventeen people died, and two were missing. Most recently, in two thousand twenty-four, Donald Trump became the first United States president in one hundred thirty-two years to win a second term after a break in his time as president. The last president to do this was Grover Cleveland, who won in eighteen ninety-two. These events show how one day can hold many moments that shaped history.

(UPDATED November 5, 2026 09:01 UTC)

In 1983, the Byford Dolphin accident killed five and severely injured one. In 1995, André Dallaire’s assassination attempt on Jean Chrétien failed when his wife locked the door. In 1996, President Farooq Leghari dismissed Benazir Bhutto’s government and dissolved Pakistan’s National Assembly. In 2015, a tailings dam burst in Brazil’s Minas Gerais, killing at least 17 and leaving two missing. In 2024, Donald Trump became the first U.S. president elected to nonconsecutive terms in 132 years.