Today In History - December 2

1620 English language newspaper "Namloos" begins publishing in Amsterdam
1697 St. Paul's Cathedral opens in London
1763 Touro shul of Newport RI is dedicated: the oldest existing U.S. synagogue
1777 British General Howe plots an attack on Washington's army for Dec 4
1790 The Austrian army occupies Brussels
1802 The English sell Suriname to the Dutch
1804 Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned emperor of France in Paris by Pope Pius VII
1805 Napoleon defeats the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz
1812 James Madison re-elected president of U.S., E Gerry vice-pres
1813 Prince Willem Frederik accepts a constitutional monarchy
1816 The first savings bank in the US opens: Philadelphia Savings Fund Society
1822 In San Salvador, a congress proposes incorporation into the US
1823 President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine"
1840 William H. Harrison elected president of US
1848 Franz Josef I becomes the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary
1852 The 2nd French empire is established: Louis Napoleon becomes Emperor
1864 Skirmish at Rocky Creek Church, Georgia
1868 The first British government of Disraeli resigns
1877 Camille Saint-Saens' opera "Samson et Dalila," premieres in Weimar
1882 Amsterdam Artis Zoo opens aquarium
1887 Charles Dickens' first public reading in the U.S.
1891 The 52nd Congress (1891-93) convenes
1895 The 54th Congress (1895-97) convenes
1899 US and Germany agree to divide Samoa between them
1900 South African president Paul Kruger arrives in Germany
1901 Gillette patents the first disposable razor
1907 Tommy Burns KOs Gunner Moir in 10 rounds for the heavyweight boxing title
1908 Pu Yi (Hsuan-T'ung) became China's Last Emperor at age 3
1913 The Archdiocese of Managua created
1914 The Austrian Army occupies Belgrade Serbia
1924 A British-German trade agreement signed
1927 The first Model A Fords sold: $385
1929 The first skull of Peking man found, 50 km out of Peking at Tsjoe Koe Tien
1932 "Adventures of Charlie Chan" was first heard on NBC-Blue radio network
1933 The first transatlantic telephone wedding
1933 Fred Astaire's first film, "Dancing Lady," is released
1934 The 5.08-m (200") Mt Palomar Observatory mirror is cast
1939 British Imperial Airways and British Airways merge to form BOAC
1939 NY's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago lands
1941 Naval Intelligence ceases bugging the Japanese consul
1941 Yamamoto sends his fleet to Pearl Harbor
1942 The first controlled nuclear chain reaction: Enrico Fermi - University of Chicago
1944 General De Gaulle arrives in Moscow
1944 German troops seize Betuwse dikes
1944 US 95th Infantry division occupies bridge at Saar
1948 Stan Musial is picked the NL MVP
1952 The first human birth is televised to the public
1954 U.S. Senate censures Senator Joe McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring Senate into dishonor and disrepute"
1956 Fidel Castro lands with "Granma" on the coast of Cuba
1957 The first U.S. large scale nuclear power plant opens in Shippingport, PA
1957 Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" reaches #1
1958 The Benelux treaty is signed by Belgium
1959 Malpasset dam collapses destroying the French Riviera town of Frejus
1961 Fidel Castro declares he's a Marxist, and will lead Cuba to Communism
1961 Wind Bell, the journal of San Francisco Zen Center, begins publishing
1968 President Nixon names Henry Kissinger security advisor
1969 Boeing 747 jumbo jet first public flight: Seattle to New York City
1970 Environmental Protection Agency begins under Director William Ruckelshaus
1971 Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, Sharjah and Umm ak Qiwain form United Arab Emirates
1971 Soviet Mars 3 is the first to soft land on Mars
1971 United Arab Emirates, (Trucial States) declares its independence from UK
1971 Zayid bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan of Abu Dhabi becomes President of UAE
1973 Capital Centre in Washington, DC opens
1974 Cowhide, rather than just horsehide, can now be used to make baseballs
1978 Chanting "Allah is great," anti-Shah protesters poured through Tehran
1978 Neil Diamond and Barbra Striesand's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" hits #1
1979 Crowds attack U.S. embassy at Tripoli, Libya
1979 The U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1980 4 American Maryknoll nuns are killed by death squads in El Salvador
1981 Moscone Convention Center opens in San Francisco at 11:30 AM
1981 The Spanish government requests membership in NATO
1984 The U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1986 Dow-Jones index hits a record 1955.57
1987 Chicago City Council elects Eugene Sawyer as the acting mayor
1987 Jennifer Steele of Colorado becomes Miss Teen of America
1987 The U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1988 The 5 gunmen who hijacked a Soviet Aeroflot jet surrender in Israel
1989 Vishwanath Pratap Singh is sworn in as president of India
1990 Beth Daniel/Davis Love wins the LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1990 The first parlimentary election in newly reunified Germany
1990 The first time 12 people are in space
1991 Muslim Shites release American held in Lebanon hostage Joseph Cicippio
1993 Dow-Jones hits record 3702.11
1994 The Achille Lauro sinks off the coast of Somalia
1994 Andrew Lloyd Webber is admitted to the hospital for ulcer treatment
1994 Jury finds Heidi Fleiss guilty of running a call girl ring
1995 17th ACE Cable Awards
1997 MCI Center opens in Washington, DC

Today In History - December 2

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