Today In History - December 1

1167 Northern Italian towns form the Lombardi League
1566 Spanish king Philip II names Fernando Alvarez the Duke of Alva
1626 Pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh, the tyrannical Governor of Jerusalem, is driven out
1640 Portugal regains independence after 60 years of Spanish rule
1641 Massachusetts becomes the first colony to give statutory recognition to slavery
1656 Germany promises Poland aid against Sweden
1708 The Great Alliance occupies Brussels
1742 Empress Elisabeth orders the expulsion of all Jews from Russia
1750 The first American school to offer manual training courses opens: Maryland
1783 Charles and M. N. Roberts ascend 2,000' in a hydrogen balloon
1804 Emperor Napoleon marries Josephine of Martinique
1822 Dom Pedro is crowned emperor of Brazil
1822 Franz Liszts debuts at age 11
1824 The House of Representatives begins to end an election deadlock between JQ Adams,
1831 Erie Canal closes for an entire month due to cold weather
1835 Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales
1864 Raid at Stoneman
1864 Skirmish at Millen Brutal, Georgia
1868 John D. Rockefeller begins the anti oil war
1878 The first White House telephone is installed
1891 James Naismith creates the game of basketball
1896 The first certified public accountants receive certificates
1903 "The Great Train Robbery," the first Western film, is released
1909 The first Israeli kibbutz founded: Deganya Alef
1913 Continuous moving assembly line introduced by Henry Ford
1913 The first drive-up gasoline station opens
1917 Boys Town is founded by Father Edward Flanagan west of Omaha Neb
1918 Iceland becomes independent state under Danish crown
1919 Lady Nancy Astor is sworn-in as the first female member of British Parliament
1921 The first U.S. helium-filled dirigible makes first flight
1921 U.S. Post Office establishes philatelic agency
1922 The first skywriting over the USA "Hello USA" by Captain Turner, RAF
1924 Calles becomes The President of Mexico
1925 The Treaty of Locarno is signed
1929 The Game of Bingo is invented by Edwin S Lowe
1930 NHL drops 20 minute slashing-about-the-head penalty
1930 Ruth Nichols becomes the first woman pilot to cross continent
1931 Ottawa branch of Royal Mint begins operation as Royal Canadian Mint
1933 Rudolf Hess and Earnest Rohm become ministers in Hitler government
1936 Bell Labs tests coaxial cable for TV use
1937 Japan recognizes the Franco government
1938 A school bus and train collide in Salt Lake City Utah
1939 SS-Fuhrer Himmler begins the deportation of Polish Jews
1941 The British cruiser Devonshire sinks German sub Python
1941 Japanese emperor Hirohito signs declaration of war
1941 The US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organizes
1942 Gasoline is rationed in US
1943 FDR, Churchill and Stalin agree to Operation Overlord: D-Day
1948 Arabic Congress names Abdullah of Trans Jordan, King of Palestine
1948 Piet Roozenburg becomes the world champion checker player
1951 The Golden Gate Bridge closes due to high winds
1953 Walter Alston is named the Dodger manager
1954 Nationalist China and U.S. sign dike agreement
1955 Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of bus
1958 Our Lady of Angels School burns in Chicago killing 92 students and 3 nuns
1959 12 nations sign a treaty for the scientific peaceful use of Antarctica
1959 The first color photograph of Earth from outer space is taken
1963 Nagaland becomes a state of the Indian union
1963 New York Jets first shutout: against Kansas City 17-0
1964 Houston Colt .45s change their name to the Astros
1965 Airlift of refugees from Cuba to the U.S. began
1965 South Africa government declares children of white fathers are white
1966 Georg Kiesinger is elected West German chancellor
1967 Queen Elizabeth inaugurates the 98-inch Isaac Newton telescope
1968 Gonzalo Barrios is elected the President of Venezuela
1968 Peggy Wilson wins the LPGA Hollywood Lakes Golf Open
1969 The U.S. government holds its first draft lottery since WW II
1970 Independent People's Republic of South Yemen becomes the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
1970 Luis Echeverria Alvarez is sworn in as president of Mexico
1972 Wings release "Hi, Hi, Hi" in UK
1973 Australia grants self-government to Papua New Guinea
1973 Jack Nicklaus becomes the first golfer to earn $2M in a year
1973 Jan Ferraris wins the LPGA-Japan Golf Classic
1974 A Boeing 727 crashes in Upperville, Virginia: 92 people died
1974 The LA Skid Row Slasher kills the first of 8 people
1975 US president Gerald Ford visits China
1976 Angola is admitted to the UN
1976 Bangladesh General Ziaur Rahman declares himself the president
1978 Jimmy Carter more than doubles the national park system's size
1978 The U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1980 Mel Harris appears on M*A*S*H in "Cementing Relationships"
1980 The U.S. Justice Department sues Yonkers citing racial discrimination
1981 180 people die as Yugoslav DC-9 jetliner slams into a mountain
1982 Dentist Barney B. Clark gets the first artificial heart
1982 Michael Jackson releases Thriller
1982 Miguel de la Madrid is inaugurated as President of Mexico
1983 Rita Lavelle, former head of the EPA, is convicted of perjury
1984 France performs a nuclear test
1986 Paul McCartney releases "Only Love Remains"
1987 Digging begins to link England and France under English Channel
1988 596 people are dead after a cyclone hits Bangladesh, half a million homeless
1988 Benazir Bhutto is named the first female PM of a Moslem country (Pakistan)
1988 The Chinese minister of Foreign affairs, Qian Qichen, visits Moscow
1988 NBC bids a record $401M to capture rights to 1992 Barcelona Olympics
1989 East Germany drops communist monopoly from its constitution
1989 U.S.S.R. President Mikhail S Gorbachev meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican
1990 British and French workers meet during construction of English Channel's tunnel
1990 Iraq accepts Bush's offer for talks
1990 Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia hold their first joint session
1991 AIDS awareness day
1991 Nursultan Nazarbayev is sworn in as President of Kazakhstan
1991 The Ukrainian people vote for independence
1992 Amy Fisher is sentenced to 5-15 years for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco
1993 A Northwest plane crashes in MN killing 18 people
1994 Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere announce they are seperating
1994 Ernesto Zedillo is innaugrated as president of Mexico
1994 PTL leader Jim Bakker is released from jail
1997 Westinghouse formally changes its name to CBS

Today In History - December 1

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