December 4
is the 338th day (339th on
leap years) of the
Gregorian calendar. There are 27 days remaining.
*
771 -
Austrasian King
Carloman dies, leaving his brother
Charlemagne King of the now complete
Frankish Kingdom.
*
1110 -
First Crusade: The
Crusaders conquer
Sidon.
*
1259 - Kings
Louis IX of France and
Henry III of England agree to the
Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to
French-controlled territory on continental
Europe (including
Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.
*
1563 - The final session of the
Council of Trent is held (it opened on
December 13,
1545).
*
1619 - 38
colonists from Berkeley Parish in
England disembark in
Virginia and give thanks to
God (this is considered by many to be the first
Thanksgiving in the
Americas).
*
1639 -
Jeremiah Horrocks made the first observation of a
transit of Venus. (
November 24 under the
Julian calendar.)
*
1674 - Father
Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of
Lake Michigan to minister to the
Illiniwek (the mission would later grow into the city of
Chicago, Illinois).
*
1676 -
Battle of Lund: A Danish army under the command of King
Christian V of Denmark engages the Swedish army commanded by Field Marshal
Simon Grundel-Helmfelt.
*
1783 - At Fraunces Tavern in
New York City, US General
George Washington formally bids his officers farewell.
*
1791 - The first issue of
The Observer, the world's first Sunday
newspaper, is published.
*
1829 - In the face of fierce opposition,
British governor
Lord William Bentinck carries a regulation declaring that all who abetted
suttee in
India were guilty of culpable
homicide.
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Sherman's March to the Sea - At
Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under
Union General
Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by
Confederate General
Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General
William T. Sherman's campaign destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to the
Atlantic Ocean from Atlanta (Union forces did suffer more than three times the Confederate casualties, however).
*
1867 - Former
Minnesota farmer
Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the
Grange movement).
*
1872 - The crewless
American ship
Mary Celeste is found by the
British brig
Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged).
*
1875 - Notorious
New York City politician
Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to
Cuba, then
Spain.
*
1906 -
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter
fraternity in the United States established for men of African descent, was founded at
Cornell University.
*
1918 - US President
Woodrow Wilson sails for the
World War I peace talks in
Versailles, becoming the first
US president to travel to
Europe while in office.
*
1921 - The
Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle ends in a hung
jury.
*
1942 -
Holocaust: In
Warsaw,
Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Filipowicz set up
Żegota.
*
1943 -
World War II: In
Yugoslavia, resistance leader
Marshal Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.
* 1943 - US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the
Works Progress Administration.
*
1945 - By a vote of 65 to 7, the
United States Senate approves
United States participation in the
United Nations (the UN was established on
October 24, 1945).
*
1951 - Mir Waiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusouf appointed President of
Azad Kashmir Government.
*
1952 -
Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing up to 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
*
1958 -
Dahomey (present-day
Benin) becomes a self-governing country within the
French Community.
*
1967 -
Vietnam War:
US and
South Vietnamese forces engage
Viet Cong troops in the
Mekong Delta.
*
1969 -
Black Panther members
Fred Hampton and
Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by 14
Chicago police officers.
* 1969 - Surfer
Greg Noll rides a 65-foot
wave on the
North Shore of Oahu, still the highest ever recorded.
*
1971 -
UN Security Council calls emergency session to consider deteriorating situation between
India and
Pakistan.
*
1977 -
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the
Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the
Central African Empire.
* 1977 -
Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjong Kupang,
Johor, killing 100.
*
1978 - Following the murder of Mayor
George Moscone,
Dianne Feinstein becomes
San Francisco, California's first woman mayor (she served until
January 8,
1988).
*
1979 - The Hastie fire in
Hull, kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest
Bruce George Peter Lee.
*
1980 - The rock group Led Zeppelin formally announce their breakup.
*
1981 -
South Africa grants "homeland"
Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa).
*
1982 - The
People's Republic of China adopts its current
constitution.
*
1991 - Journalist
Terry Anderson is released after 7 years in captivity as a hostage in
Beirut (he was the last and longest-held American hostage in
Lebanon).
* 1991 - US airline
Pan Am ends operations.
*
1992 -
Somali Civil War: President
George H. W. Bush orders 28,000
US troops to
Somalia.
*
1993 - A truce is concluded between the government of
Angola and
UNITA rebels.
*
1994 -
Pakistan wins World Hockey Championship after 12 years, beating the
Netherlands by four goals to three, in
Sydney.
*
1998 -
Unity, the second module of the
International Space Station, is launched.
*
2001 - Lisa Beamer, wife of
Todd Beamer, through the Todd M. Beamer Foundation, registers [
1] the trademark "
Let's Roll" with the
United States Patent and Trademark Office less than three months after his death in the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the .
*
2005 - Tens of thousands of people in
Hong Kong protested for democracy and called on the
Government to allow
universal and equal suffrage.
*
1555 -
Heinrich Meibom, German historian and poet (d.
1625)
*
1580 -
Samuel Argall, English adventurer and naval officer (d.
1626)
*
1585 -
John Cotton, American Puritan leader (d.
1652)
*
1595 -
Jean Chapelain, French writer (d.
1674)
*
1612 -
Samuel Butler, English poet (d.
1680)
*
1660 -
André Campra, French composer (d.
1744)
*
1670 -
John Aislabie, English politician (d.
1742)
*
1713 -
Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist (d.
1786)
*
1777 -
Madame Récamier, French writer (d.
1849)
*
1795 -
Thomas Carlyle, British writer and historian (d.
1881)
*
1798 -
Jules Armand Dufaure, French statesman (d.
1881)
*
1835 -
Samuel Butler, British writer (d.
1902)
*
1849 -
Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux chief (d.
1877)
*
1852 -
Orest Khvolson, Russian physicist (d.
1934)
*
1861 -
Lillian Russell, American singer and actress (d.
1922)
*
1866 (O.S.) -
Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born painter (d.
1944)
*
1868 -
Jesse Burkett, Baseball player (d.
1953)
*
1875 -
Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (d.
1926)
* 1875 -
Joe Corbett, baseball player (d.
1945)
*
1881 -
Erwin von Witzleben, German field marshal (d.
1944)
*
1892 -
Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain (d.
1975)
*
1895 -
Fung Yu-lan, Chinese philosopher (d.
1990)
*
1903 -
Cornell Woolrich, American writer (d.
1968)
*
1908 -
Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1997)
*
1912 -
Pappy Boyington, American pilot (d.
1988)
*
1914 -
Rudolf Hausner, Austrian artist (d.
1995)
*
1916 -
Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American writer (d.
1994)
*
1921 -
Deanna Durbin, Canadian actress
*
1922 -
Gérard Philipe, French actor (d.
1959)
*
1930 -
Jim Hall, jazz guitarist
* 1930 -
Ronnie Corbett, Scotish actor
*
1931 -
Alex Delvecchio, Canadian hockey player
* 1931 -
Wally George, American TV commentator (d.
2003)
*
1934 -
Victor French, American actor (d.
1989)
* 1934 -
Wink Martindale, American game show host
*
1937 -
Max Baer, Jr., American actor
*
1938 -
Yvonne Minton, Australian soprano
*
1939 -
Freddy Cannon, American musician
*
1940 -
John Cale, Welsh musician {
The Velvet Underground)
*
1942 -
Gemma Jones, British actress
* 1942 -
Roh Tae-woo,
President of South Korea*
1944 -
Dennis Wilson, American musician (
The Beach Boys) (d.
1983)
*
1945 -
Roberta Bondar, Canadian astronaut
*
1949 -
Jeff Bridges, American actor
* 1949 -
Pamela Stephenson, actress
*
1953 -
Rick Middleton, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1955 -
Dave Taylor, Canadian ice hockey player
*
1957 -
Eric S. Raymond, American open source advocate
*
1958 -
Steve Sailer, American political commentator
*
1959 -
Christa Rothenburger, German speed skater and cyclist
*
1960 -
Glynis Nunn, Australian athlete
* 1960 -
David Green, baseball player
*
1961 -
Frank Reich, American football player
*
1963 -
Sergei Bubka, Ukrainian pole vaulter
*
1964 -
Marisa Tomei, American actress
*
1966 -
Fred Armisen, American actor and musician
*1966 -
Chris Shepherd, British film director
*
1969 -
Lucas Radebe, South-african footballer
* 1969 -
Jay-Z (Shawn Carter), American rapper
*
1970 -
Sylvester Terkay, American professional wrestler
*
1972 -
Nikki Tyler, American actress
*
1973 -
Tyra Banks, American supermodel
*
1973 -
Steven Menzies, Australian
rugby league player
*
1974 -
Tadahito Iguchi, Japanese baseball player
*
765 -
Jafar Sadiq, Shia Imam (b.
702)
*
771 -
Carloman, King of the Franks (b.
751)
*
1075 -
Archbishop Anno II of Cologne
*
1123 -
Omar Khayyám, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b.
1048)
*
1214 -
William I of Scotland*
1270 -
Theobald V of Champagne, King of Navarre
*
1334 -
Pope John XXII (b.
1249)
*
1340 -
Henry Burghersh, English bishop and chancellor (b.
1292)
*
1459 -
Adolf VIII, Duke of Southern Jutland (b.
1401)
*
1576 -
Rheticus, Austrian mathematician (b.
1514)
*
1585 -
John Willock, Scottish reformer
*
1609 -
Alexander Hume, Scottish poet
*
1642 -
Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman (b.
1585)
*
1649 -
William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (b.
1585)
*
1679 -
Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (b.
1588)
*
1680 -
Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (b.
1616)
*
1696 -
Empress Meisho of Japan (b.
1624)
*
1732 -
John Gay, British playwright (b.
1685)
*
1784 -
Wiseman Claget, British classical scholar (b.
1721)
*
1798 -
Luigi Galvani, Italian physicist (b.
1737)
*
1845 -
Gregor MacGregor, British con-artist
*
1926 -
Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian-born painter (b.
1861)
*
1933 -
Stefan George, German poet (b.
1868)
*
1935 -
Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (b.
1864)
* 1935 -
Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1850)
*
1944 -
Roger Bresnahan, Baseball player (b.
1879)
*
1945 -
Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1866)
*
1956 -
Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter and photographer (b.
1891)
*
1967 -
Bert Lahr, American actor (b.
1895)
*
1969 -
Fred Hampton, American activist (b.
1948)
*
1976 -
Tommy Bolin, American guitarist (b.
1951)
* 1976 -
Benjamin Britten, British composer (b.
1913)
*
1980 -
Francisco Sá Carneiro,
Prime Minister of Portugal (b.
1934)
* 1980 -
Stanislawa Walasiewicz, Polish-born athlete (b.
1911)
*
1993 -
Frank Zappa, American musician and composer (b.
1940)
*
1995 -
Lionel Giroux, Canadian midget wrestler (b.
1935)
*
1997 -
Richard Vernon, British actor (b.
1925)
*
2005 -
Gregg Hoffman, American film producer (b.
1963)
*
Roman festivals - secret ceremonies in honor of
Bona Dea*
R.C. Saints - Saint
John of Damascus: optional memorial; also
Saint Barbara* Also see
December 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
SanterÃa,
Lukumà - Day of
Shango*International Hug Day. See Also:
January 21st,
National Hugging Day*
Navy Day in India
*
BBC: On This DayDecember 3 -
December 5 -
November 4 -
January 4 â€"
listing of all days
