On December 1st...

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1081 King Louis VI of France was born.

1135 King Henry I of England died.

1521 Pope Leo X died.

1640 Portugal regained its independence from Spain.

1641 Massachusetts became the first colony to give statutory recognition to slavery.

1708 The Great Alliance occupied Brussels.

1750 The first school in the United States to offer manual training courses opened in Maryland.

1761 Madame Marie Tussaud, wax sculptor and founder of Tussaud's Wax Museum, was born.

1821 Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) proclaimed its independence from Spain.

1822 Dom Pedro was crowned Emperor of Brazil.

1825 Tsar Alexander I of Russia died.

1835 Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1844 Queen Alexandra of Denmark was born.

1866 Explorer George Everest died.

1878 The first White House telephone was installed.

1879 Fashion designer Lane Bryant was born.

1886 Author Rex Stout was born.

1887 Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print, in A Study in Scarlet.

1906 Cinema Omnia Pathe, the world's first cinema, opened in Paris, France.

1909 The first Christmas Club payment was made, to Carlisle Trust Company, Pennsylvania.

1913 The first drive-up gasoline station opened, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1913 The continuous moving assembly line was introduced by Ford.
1913 Actress Mary Martin was born.

1917 Boys Town was founded by Father Edward Flanagan, west of Omaha, Nebraska.

1918 Yugoslavia declared itself an independent monarchy.

1925 The Treaty of Locarno was signed.

1929 Edwin S. Lowe invented the game of BINGO.

1935 Woody Allen, actor, director, producer, and writer, was born.
1935 Singer Lou Rawls was born.

1936 Bell Labs tested coaxial cable for television use.

1939 Golfer Lee Trevino was born.

1940 Comedian George Pryor was born.

1941 Japan declared war on the United States.
1941 The U.S. Civil Air Patrol was organized.

1942 Gasoline rationing began in the United States.

1945 Entertainer Bette Midler was born.

1949 Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellin Cartel, was born.

1953 The first edition of Playboy was published.

1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus.

1958 Fire killed 90 children and 3 nuns at Our Lady of the Angels parochial school in Chicago, Illinois.
1958 The Cornwall-Massena high-level suspension bridge was officially opened.
1958 Actress Charlene Tilton was born.

1959 An Antarctic treaty -- providing that the continent would be used for scientific research free from political and military strife -- was signed by twelve nations.
1959 The first color photograph of the Earth was received from outer space.
1959 An Allegheny Airlines 2-engine plane crashed into Bald Eagle Mountain, near Montoursville, Pennsylvania, killing 25.
1959 A strike by the International Longshoremen's Union against east coast employers ended with new contracts.

1961 The Soviet Union announced that a 5-ton space capsule carrying two dogs and other animals had been put into orbit.
1961 The independent Republic of West Papua was proclaimed in what is now Western New Guinea.

1965 An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began.

1969 The United States held its first draft lottery since World War II.

1970 The People's Republic of South Yemen renamed itself the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

1973 Australia granted self-government to Papua New Guinea.
1973 David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, died.

1974 A Boeing 727 crashed in Upperville, Virginia, killing 92 persons.

1981 A Yugoslavian charter plane crashed into Mont San-Pietro in Corsica, killing 180 persons.

1982 Barney B. Clark became the first recipient of an artificial heart.
1982 Michael Jackson released Thriller.
1982 Tootsie premiered in Hollywood, California.

1984 Beverly Hills Cops premiered in Los Angeles, California.

1987 Digging of a tunnel under the English Channel began.

1988 Benazir Bhutto was named the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim country (Pakistan).

1989 Dancer Alvin Ailey died.

1990 British and French workers met in the Chunnel.

1991 Ukraine declared itself independent of the Soviet Union.

1997 Westinghouse formally changed its name to CBS.

2001 The last Trans World Airlines flight landed at St. Louis International Airport.

2004 Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands died.

2016 Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn was declared King of Thailand.

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This page was last updated on November 30, 2017.