December 2
December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 29 days remaining.
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Contents |
[edit]
Events
- 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.
- 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.
- 1982 - At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
- 1984 - Bhopal Gas Tragedy in India
- 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 release the first version of QuickTime.
- 1993 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.
- 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.
[edit]
Births
- 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)
- 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
- 1943 - Brian Spencer Russell, Anglo-American fool
- 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)
- 1946 - John Banks, New Zealand politician
- 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
- 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
- 1970 - Sarah Silverman, American comedian
- 1972 - Sergei Zholtok, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1973 - Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player
- 1973 - Jan Ullrich, German cyclist
- 1978 - Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1979 - Yvonne Catterfeld, German singer and actress
- 1981 - Britney Spears, American singer
- 1982 - Matt Ware, American football player
[edit]
Deaths
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)
[edit]
Holidays and observances
- R.C. Saints - St Bibiana
- Laos - National Day
- United Arab Emirates - National Day (independence from Britain, 1971)
[edit]
External links
December 1 - December 3 - November 2 - January 2 — listing of all days
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