November 21st, 1945 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: No. 345 (French) Squadron, RAF, Spitfire Mk IXs, passes to the control of the French Armee de l'Air.
Submarine HMS Tabard launched.
GERMANY: Nürnberg: The Nazi defendants all enter pleas of not guilty. Göring is prevented from making a statement.
U.S.S.R.: Moscow: The first performance of Serge Prokoviev's ballet, Cinderella, is made by the Bolshoi ballet.
CANADA: Corvette HMCS Copper Cliff paid off Esquimalt, British Columbia.
U.S.A.: Washington DC: Actress Goldie Hawn is born.
The small Texas town of Mesquite Gap changes its name to Truman in honour of the US president.
Destroyer USS Damato launched.
1946
UNITED STATES: The motion picture "The Best Years of Our Lives" premiers at the Astor Theater in New York City. This drama about three returning veterans and their families is directed by William Wyler and stars Myrna Loy, Frederic March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Hoagy Carmichael and Harold Russell. Blake Edwards appears in an uncredited part. Harold Russell is an Army veteran who lost both of his hands on 6 June 1944 while training paratroopers at Camp MacKall North Carolina when TNT he was using exploded. The film is nominated for nine Academy Awards and wins seven including Best Actor in a Leading Role (March), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Russell), Best Director and Best Picture. Russell wins a second award, an honorary Academy Award, "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in The Best Years of Our Lives." In a vote among members, The American Film Institute rated this film as Number 37 on the list of the 100 Greatest American Movies