What happened on December 1 ?

Choose another date »

 
 

 

Events

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.

1981 - AIDS is first identified

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.

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.

 

Events Births Deaths Holidays