December 2
is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 29 days remaining.
*
1409 - The
University of Leipzig opens.
*
1755 - The second
Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.
*
1804 - At
Notre Dame Cathedral in
Paris,
Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned as the first Emperor of
France in a thousand years.
*
1805 -
Napoleonic Wars:
Battle of Austerlitz -
French troops under
Napoleon defeat a joint
Russo-
Austrian force.
*
1823 -
Monroe Doctrine: US President
James Monroe delivers a speech establishing
American neutrality in future European conflicts.
*
1845 -
Manifest Destiny: US President
James K. Polk announces to Congress that the
United States should aggressively expand into the West.
*
1848 -
Franz Josef I becomes
Emperor of Austria.
*
1851 - Newly-elected
French President
Charles Louis Bonaparte overthrows the
Second Republic.
*
1852 -
Napoleon III becomes Emperor of France.
*
1859 - Militant
abolitionist leader
John Brown is hanged for his
October 16th raid on
Harper's Ferry.
*
1861 - The small Oregon town of
Champoeg is flooded by the Willamette River. No deaths occurred.
*
1867 - In a
New York City theater, British author
Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the
United States.
*
1899 -
Philippine-American War: The
Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.
*
1927 - Following 19 years of
Ford Model T production, the
Ford Motor Company unveils the
Ford Model A as its new automobile.
*
1930 -
Great Depression: US President
Herbert Hoover goes before
Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the
economy.
*
1939 -
New York City's
La Guardia Airport opens.
*
1942 -
Manhattan Project: A team led by
Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction.
*
1946 - British Government invited four Indian leaders,
Nehru,
Baldev Singh,
Jinnah and
Liaquat Ali Khan to obtain the participation of all parties in the Constituent Assembly.
*
1947 -
Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the
1947 UN Partition Plan.
*
1954 -
Red Scare: The
United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn
Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
*
1961 - In a nationally-broadcast speech,
Cuban leader
Fidel Castro declares that he is a
Marxist-
Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt
Communism.
*
1962 -
Vietnam War: After a trip to
Vietnam at the request of US President
John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader
Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to not make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
*
1970 - The
United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
*
1971 -
Abu Dhabi,
Ajman,
Fujairah,
Sharjah,
Dubai, and
Umm Al Quwain form the
United Arab Emirates.
*
1972 -
Gough Whitlam becomes the first
Australian Labor Party Prime Minister of
Australia for 23 years.
*
1975 -
Pathet Lao seizes power in
Laos, and establishes the
Lao People's Democratic Republic.
*
1980 - Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen,
Ita Ford,
Maura Clarke,
Jean Donovan, and
Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a
death squad in
El Salvador.
*
1988 -
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as
Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an
Islam-dominated state.
*
1990 - A coalition led by Chancellor
Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-
German elections since
1932.
*
1991 -
Apple releases the first version of
QuickTime.
*
1993 -
Colombian
drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in
MedellÃn.
* 1993 -
Space Shuttle program:
STS-61 -
NASA launches the
Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the
Hubble Space Telescope.
*
1999 - The
United Kingdom devolves political power in
Northern Ireland to the
Northern Ireland Executive.
*
2000 -
The Smashing Pumpkins perform for the last time at
The Metro in Chicago.
*
2001 -
Enron files for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
*
2004 -
Brian Williams succeeds
Tom Brokaw as host of
NBC Nightly News.
*
2005 - Microsoft's
Xbox 360 is launched in Europe.
* 2005 -
Van Tuong Nguyen is executed in
Singapore for
drug trafficking.
* 2005 -
Kenneth Boyd becomes the 1,000th person to be executed in the United States since
capital punishment was reinstated in
1976.
*
1578 -
Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and music theorist (d.
1640)
*
1694 -
William Shirley, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d.
1771)
*
1703 -
Ferdinand Konscak, Croatian explorer (d.
1759)
*
1710 -
Bertinazzi, Italian actor and writer (d.
1783)
*
1738 -
Richard Montgomery, Irish-born soldier (d.
1775)
*
1754 -
William Cooper, American judge
*
1760 -
John Breckinridge, American politician (d.
1806)
*
1817 -
Heinrich von Sybel, German historian (d.
1895)
*
1825 - Emperor
Pedro II of Brazil (d.
1891)
*
1846 -
Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (d.
1904)
*
1859 -
Georges Seurat, French painter (d.
1891)
*
1863 -
Charles Ringling, American circus owner (d.
1926)
*
1885 -
George Richards Minot, American physician, recipient of the
Nobel Prize (d.
1950)
*
1886 -
Harry Burleigh, American composer (d.
1949)
*
1891 -
Otto Dix, German painter and graphic artist (d.
1969)
*
1892 -
Leo Ornstein, Russian-born composer and pianist (d.
2002)
*
1895 -
Harriet Cohen, British pianist (d.
1967)
*
1898 -
Indra Lal Roy, Indian pilot (d.
1918)
*
1899 -
John Barbirolli, British conductor (d.
1970)
*
1901 -
Raimundo Orsi, Argentine-born footballer (d.
1986)
*
1906 -
Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-born recording engineer (d.
1977)
*
1914 -
Adolph Green, American composer (d.
2002)
* 1914 -
Ray Walston, American actor (d.
2001)
*
1923 -
Maria Callas, American soprano (d.
1977)
*
1924 -
Alexander M. Haig, Jr., American soldier and politician
*
1925 -
Julie Harris, American actress
*
1930 -
Gary Becker, American economist, recipient of the
Bank of Sweden Prize*
1931 -
Edwin Meese, American politician
*
1933 -
Michael Larrabee, American athlete (d.
2003)
* 1933 -
K. Veeramani, Indian anti-caste activist
*
1934 -
Andre Rodgers, baseball player (d.
2004)
*
1935 -
David Hackett Fischer, American historian
*
1939 -
Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician
* 1939 -
Harry Reid, American politician
*
1943 -
Wayne Allard, American politician
*
1944 -
Ibrahim Rugova, first
President of Kosovo (d.
2006)
* 1944 -
Botho Strauß, German author
*
1945 -
Penelope Spheeris, American film director
*
1946 -
Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d.
1997)
*
1950 -
Bob Kevoian, American radio personality
*
1954 -
Dan Butler, American actor
* 1954 -
Stone Phillips, American television journalist
*
1957 -
Dagfinn Høybråten, Norwegian politician
*
1958 -
Uladzimir Parfianovich, Belarusian canoer
* 1958 -
Eric L. Harry, American novelist
*
1960 -
Rick Savage, British bassist (
Def Leppard)
*
1966 -
Jinsei Shinzaki, Japanese professional wrestler
*
1968 -
Lucy Liu, American actress
* 1968 -
Nate Mendel, American bassist (
Foo Fighters)
* 1968 -
Chris Wedge, American animator
* 1968 -
Darryl Kile, baseball player (d.
2002)
*
1970 -
Sarah Silverman, American comedian
*
1971 -
Wilson Jermaine Heredia, American actor
*
1972 -
Sergei Zholtok, Latvian ice hockey player (d.
2004)
*
1973 -
Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player
* 1973 -
Jan Ullrich, German cyclist
*
1976 -
Eddy Garabito, Professional baseball player
*
1978 -
Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter
* 1978 -
Chris Wolstenholme, British bassist (
Muse)
*
1979 -
Yvonne Catterfeld, German singer and actress
*
1981 -
Britney Spears, American singer
*
1982 -
Matt Ware, American football player
*
1987 -
Teairra Mari, African-American R&B singer
*
1988 -
Alfred Enoch, British actor
*
1348 -
Emperor Hanazono of Japan (b.
1297)
*
1381 -
John of Ruysbroeck, Flemish mystic
*
1463 - Archduke
Albert VI of Austria (b.
1418)
*
1469 -
Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b.
1416)
*
1515 -
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and statesman (b.
1453)
*
1547 -
Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer and conqueror (b.
1485)
*
1552 -
Francis Xavier, Spanish Catholic missionary (b.
1506)
*
1594 -
Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (b.
1512)
*
1615 -
Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon, French general
*
1665 -
Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b.
1588)
*
1694 -
Pierre Paul Puget, French artist (b.
1622)
*
1719 -
Pasquier Quesnel, French Jansenist theologian (b.
1634)
*
1723 -
Philip II, Duke of Orléans, regent of France (b.
1674)
*
1726 -
Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (b.
1665)
*
1747 -
Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b.
1695)
*
1748 -
Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician (b.
1662)
*
1774 -
Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer and organist (b.
1720)
*
1814 -
Marquis de Sade, French writer (b.
1740)
*
1844 -
Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (b.
1768)
*
1849 -
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of
William IV of the United Kingdom (b.
1792)
*
1859 -
John Brown, American abolitionist (hanged) (b.
1800)
*
1860 -
Alfred Bunn, British theatrical manager (b.
1796)
*
1892 -
Jay Gould, American entrepreneur (b.
1836)
*
1918 -
Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist (b.
1868)
*
1924 -
Kazimieras BÅ«ga, Lithuanian philologist (b.
1879)
*
1931 -
Vincent d'Indy, French composer (b.
1851)
*
1943 -
Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian author and journalist (b.
1902)
*
1944 -
Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist (b.
1874)
* 1944 -
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian writer (b.
1876)
*
1950 -
Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (b.
1917)
*
1957 -
Harrison Ford, American actor (b.
1884)
* 1957 -
Manfred Sakel, Polish psychiatrist (b.
1902)
*
1963 -
Thomas J. Hicks, British-born runner (b.
1875)
* 1963 -
Sabu Dastagir, Indian-born American actor (b.
1924)
*
1966 -
Giles Cooper, Irish-born playwright (b.
1918)
*
1968 -
Adamson-Eric (Eric Adamson), Estonian painter (b.
1902)
*
1969 -
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, Russian politician (b.
1881)
*
1974 -
Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (b.
1897)
*
1976 -
Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (b.
1917)
*
1980 -
Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Prime Minister of
Pakistan (b.
1905)
* 1980 -
Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b.
1914)
*
1982 -
Marty Feldman, British comedian, writer and actor (b.
1933)
*
1983 -
Fifi d'Orsay, Canadian actress (b.
1904)
*
1985 -
Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (b.
1914)
* 1985 -
Philip Larkin, English writer and jazz critic (b.
1922)
*
1986 -
Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, musician, band leader, and composer (b.
1917)
*
1987 -
Luis Federico Leloir, French-born chemist and
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1906)
* 1987 -
Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (b.
1914)
*
1988 -
Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer and lyricist (
Quartetto Cetra)
*
1990 -
Aaron Copland, American composer (b.
1900)
*
1993 -
Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug dealer (b.
1949)
*
1995 -
Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist (b.
1913)
*
1997 -
Shirley Crabtree, British professional wrestler (b.
1930)
*
2002 -
Ivan Illich, Austrian priest and philosopher (b.
1926)
* 2002 -
Arno Peters, German historian (b.
1916)
*
2003 -
Alan Davidson, British author (b.
1924)
*
2004 -
Mona Van Duyn, American poet (b.
1921)
* 2004 -
Alicia Markova, British ballerina (b.
1910)
*
2005 -
Van Tuong Nguyen, Australian drug smuggler (hanged) (b.
1980)
* 2005 -
Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (executed) (b.
1948)
* 2005 -
Malik Joyeux, Tahiti born surfer, tragically died at the world's most dangerous break,
Pipeline,
Hawaii.
*
R.C. Saints -
St Bibiana*
Laos -
National Day*
United Arab Emirates -
National Day (independence from Britain,
1971)
*
BBC: On This DayDecember 1 -
December 3 -
November 2 -
January 2 â€"
listing of all days
