On this day: November 2

November 2 Ngô Đình Diệm 1943 – World War II : A U.S. Navy task force turned away an Imperial Japanese Navy formation at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay , thus protecting the landings at Cape Torokina . 1963 – South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm (pictured) was arrested and assassinated in Saigon , marking the culmination of a coup d'état led by Dương Văn Minh . 1984 – Velma Barfield , a convicted serial killer, became the first woman to be executed in the United States since 1962. 2008 – Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock in the final corners of the Brazilian Grand Prix to become the Fo