December 1
December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 30 days remaining.
*
1640 -
Portugal regains its independence from
Spain and
João IV of Portugal becomes king.
*
1768 - The slave ship
Fredensborg sinks off
Tromøy in
Norway.
*
1822 -
Peter I is crowned as Emperor of
Brazil.
*
1824 -
U.S. presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total
electoral college votes in the election, the
United States House of Representatives is given the task to decide the winner (as stipulated by the
Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution).
*
1835 -
Hans Christian Andersen publishes first book of fairy tales
*
1884 -
American Old West - Near Frisco,
New Mexico (now
Reserve), deputy sheriff
Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan
cowboys who want to kill him for arresting
Charles McCarthy.
*
1885 - Although the exact date is unknown, the
US Patent Office acknowledges December 1st,
1885 as the first day
Dr Pepper was served.
*
1913 -
Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving
assembly line.
*
1918 -
Iceland becomes a self-governing kingdom, yet remains united with
Denmark.
* 1918 -
Transylvania unites with
Romania, following the
March 27 incorporation of
Bessarabia and
Bucovina.
* 1918 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
*
1919 -
Lady Astor becomes first female member of the British
Parliament to take her seat (she had been elected to that position on
November 28).
*
1925 -
World War I aftermath: - The final
Locarno Treaty is signed in
London, establishing post-war territorial settlements.
*
1934 - In the
Soviet Union,
Politburo member
Sergei Kirov is shot dead at the
Communist Party headquarters in
Leningrad by
Leonid Nikolayev.
*
1941 -
World War II: Mayor of
New York City,
Fiorello LaGuardia, and the director of the
Office of Civilian Defense, sign an order creating the
Civil Air Patrol.
*
1944 -
Edward Stettinius Jr. becomes the last
United States Secretary of State of the
Roosevelt administration.
*
1952 - The
New York Daily News reports the first successful
sexual reassignment operation.
*
1955 -
American Civil Rights Movement: In
Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress
Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's
racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the
Montgomery Bus Boycott.
*
1958 -
Central African Republic becomes independent from
France.
* 1958 -
Our Lady of the Angels School fire in
Chicago, Illinois kills 92 children and three nuns.
*
1959 -
Cold War:
Antarctic Treaty signed , which sets aside
Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that
continent.
*
1961 - The independent
Republic of West Papua is proclaimed in modern-day
Western New Guinea.
*
1963 -
Nagaland becomes the 16th state of
India.
*
1964 -
Vietnam War: US President
Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb
North Vietnam.
*
1965 - The
Border Security Force is formed in
India as a special force to guard the borders.
*
1969 - Vietnam War: The first
draft lottery in the
United States is held since
World War II.
*
1971 -
Cambodian Civil War:
Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on
Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from
Kompong Thmar and nearby
Ba Ray.
*
1973 -
Papua New Guinea gains self government from
Australia.
*
1974 - A
Boeing 727 carrying
TWA Flight 514 crashes northwest of
Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on-board.
*
1975 - The long-running
soap opera The Edge of Night switches networks to
ABC after
19 years on
CBS.
*
1981 - A
Yugoslavian Inex Adria Aviopromet DC-9 crashes in
Corsica killing 178.
*
1982 - At the
University of Utah,
Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent
artificial heart.
*
1987 -
NASA announces the names of four companies who were awarded contracts to help build
Space Station Freedom.
*
1989 - Right-wing military rebel
Reform the Armed forces Movement (RAM) attempt to oust
Philippine President Corazon Aquino by a bloody
coup attempt.
* 1989 -
Cold War:
East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the communist party the leading role in the state.
*
1990 -
Channel Tunnel sections started from the
United Kingdom and
France meet 40 meters beneath the seabed.
*
1991 -
Cold War:
Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the
Soviet Union.
*
1994 - The
Game Show Network launches.
*
1998 -
Exxon announces a US$73.7 billion deal to buy
Mobil, thus creating
Exxon-Mobil, the largest company on the planet.
*
2000 -
Vicente Fox is sworn-in as
President of Mexico, ending the 75 year control of the
PRI.
*
2001 -
Trans World Airlines flies its last flight, after being bought by
American Airlines.
*
2004 -
Tom Brokaw anchors his last broadcast of
NBC Nightly News.
*
2005 -
South Africa's
Constitutional Court extends marriage equality to homosexual couples.
*
1081 -
Louis VI of France (d.
1137)
*
1083 -
Anna Comnena, Byzantine historian (d.
1153)
*
1521 -
Takeda Shingen, Japanese warlord (d.
1573)
*
1525 -
Tadeáš Hájek, Czech physician and astronomer (d.
1600)
*
1580 -
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer (d.
1637)
*
1690 -
Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke,
Lord Chancellor of England (d.
1764)
*
1716 -
Etienne-Maurice Falconet, French sculptor (d.
1791)
*
1743 -
Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (d.
1817)
*
1766 -
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, Russian writer (d.
1826)
*
1792 -
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (d.
1856)
*
1844 -
Alexandra of Denmark, queen of
Edward VII of the United Kingdom (d.
1925)
*
1869 -
Eligiusz Niewiadomski, assassin of
Gabriel Narutowicz (d.
1923)
*
1873 -
Valery Bryusov, Russian poet (d.
1924)
*
1886 -
Rex Stout, American author (d.
1975)
*
1895 -
Henry Williamson, English author (d.
1977)
*
1896 -
Georgy Zhukov, Soviet general (d.
1974)
*
1901 -
Ilona Feher, Hungarian-Jewish violinist (d.
1988)
*
1905 -
Alexander Wilson, Canadian and Notre Dame athlete (d.
1994)
*
1910 -
Alicia Markova, English ballerina (d.
2004)
*
1911 -
Walter Alston, baseball manager (d.
1984)
* 1911 -
Calvin Griffith, baseball executive (d.
1999)
*
1912 -
Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (d.
1986)
*
1913 -
Mary Martin, American actor and singer (d.
1990)
*
1917 -
Marty Marion, baseball player
*
1922 -
Paul Picerni, American actor
* 1922 -
Vsevolod Bobrov, Soviet athlete, 1958 Winter Olympic Gold medallist for ice hockey (d.
1979)
*
1923 -
Stansfield Turner, American admiral and Central Intelligence Agency director
*
1930 -
Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (d.
2002)
*
1932 -
Matt Monro, English singer (d.
1985)
*
1933 -
Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoon artist (d.
1996)
*
1935 -
Woody Allen, American film director, actor, and comedian
* 1935 -
Lou Rawls, American singer (d.
2006)
*
1937 -
Chuck Low, American actor
*
1938 -
Sandy Nelson, American drummer
*
1939 -
Lee Trevino, American golfer
*
1940 -
Richard Pryor, American actor, comedian (d.
2005)
*
1942 -
John Crowley, American author
*
1944 -
John Densmore, American drummer (
The Doors)
*
1945 -
Bette Midler, American actress
*
1946 -
Gilbert O'Sullivan, Irish singer
*
1948 -
George Foster, baseball player
*
1949 -
Pablo Escobar, Colombian
drug lord (d.
1993)
* 1949 -
Sebastián Piñera, Chilean businessman and presidential candidate
*
1950 -
Keith Thibodeaux, American actor and drummer
*
1951 -
Jaco Pastorius, American bassist (d.
1987)
*
1959 -
Wally Lewis, Australian rugby player
*
1960 -
Carol Alt, American supermodel
*
1961 -
Jeremy Northam, English actor
*
1962 -
Joe Quesada, American comic book writer and artist, and editor-in-chief at
Marvel Comics*
1963 -
Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer
*
1971 -
Emily Mortimer, English actress
* 1971 -
Stephanie Finochio, American professional wrestler
*
1974 -
Costinha, Portuguese footballer
* 1974 -
David Ludwig, American composer
*
1976 -
Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d.
1998)
*
1977 -
Brad Delson, American guitarist (
Linkin Park)
*
1980 -
Mohammad Kaif, Indian cricketer
*
2001 -
Aiko, Princess Toshi of
Japan*
1135 -
Henry I of England*
1241 -
Isabella of England, wife of
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b.
1214)
*
1377 - King
Magnus II of Sweden (b.
1316)
*
1433 -
Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (b.
1377)
*
1455 -
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Italian artist and metal smith (b.
1378)
*
1521 -
Pope Leo X (b.
1475)
*
1530 -
Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands (b.
1480)
*
1580 -
Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (b.
1509)
*
1581 -
Edmund Campion, English Jesuit (martyred) (b.
1540)
* 1581 -
Ralph Sherwin, English Catholic saint (b.
1550)
*
1602 -
Kobayakawa Hideaki, Japanese samurai and warlord (b.
1582)
*
1633 -
Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (b.
1566)
*
1660 -
Pierre d'Hozier, French historian (b.
1592)
*
1707 -
Jeremiah Clarke, English composer (b.
1674)
*
1709 -
Abraham a Sancta Clara, Austrian preacher (b.
1644)
*
1723 -
Susanna Centlivre, English dramatist and actress
*
1729 -
Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (b.
1665)
*
1750 -
Johan Gabriel Doppelmayr, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (b.
1671)
*
1755 -
Maurice Greene, English composer (b.
1696)
*
1767 -
Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, British Freemason (b.
1710)
*
1825 - Tsar
Alexander I of Russia (b.
1777)
*
1830 -
Pope Pius VIII (b.
1761)
*
1928 -
José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (b.
1888)
*
1934 -
Sergei Kirov, Russian revolutionary (b.
1886)
*
1943 -
Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (b.
1862)
*
1947 -
Aleister Crowley, English occultist (b.
1875)
*
1950 -
E. J. Moeran, English composer (b.
1894)
*
1964 -
J. B. S. Haldane, Scottish geneticist (b.
1892)
*
1973 -
David Ben-Gurion, first
Prime Minister of Israel (b.
1886)
*
1975 -
Nellie Fox, baseball player (b.
1927)
* 1975 -
Anna E. Roosevelt, American radio personality (b.
1906)
*
1985 -
Alvin Ailey, American dancer, choreographer (b.
1931)
*
1987 -
James Baldwin, American writer (b.
1924)
*
1991 -
George Joseph Stigler, American economist,
Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b.
1911)
*
1997 -
Audree Wilson, mother of three founding members of The Beach Boys (b.
1917)
* 1997 -
Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (b.
1908)
*
2003 -
Clark Kerr, first Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (b.
1911)
*
2004 -
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (b.
1911)
*
Portugal - Restoration of Independence Day: on December 1, 1640, Portugal regains its independence from Spain and João IV of Portugal becomes king.
*
Costa Rica -
Military Abolition Day
* Ancient
Latvia -
Barbes Diena observed
*
Feast day of
St Eligius*
Romania -
Union Day (the national holiday)
*
Angola's Pioneers' Day
*
World AIDS Day*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in HistoryNovember 30 -
December 2 -
November 1 -
January 1 --
listing of all days
