On December 5th...

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1443 Pope Julius II was born.

1560 Francis II, King of France, died.

1749 Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, French explorer of the Canadian northwest, died.

1766 The London auction house Christie's held its first sale.

1776 The honorary scholastic fraternity Phi Beta Kappa was founded at the College of William and Mary.

1782 Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States, was born.

1791 Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died.

1848 President James Polk announced the discovery of gold in California.

1854 Aaron Allen patented the folding theater chair.

1870 Author Alexandre Dumas died.

1876 Daniel Stillson patented the first practical pipe wrench.

1890 Film director Fritz Lang was born.

1891 Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, died.

1899 Philanthropist Sir Henry Tate died.

1901 Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, was born.

1902 U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond was born.

1906 Film director Otto Preminger was born.

1908 The University of Pittsburgh football team became the first in the U.S. to put numbers on players' jerseys.

1914 The Italian Parliament formally declared the country's neutrality.

1926 Painter Claude Monet died.

1929 The first nudist organization in the United States, the American League for Physical Culture, opened in New York City.

1932 Albert Einstein was granted a visa to enter the United States.
1932 Singer Little Richard was born.

1933 The 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing prohibition, was proclaimed.

1935 Mary McLeod Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women.
1935 Humorist Calvin Trillin was born.

1941 The Football Writers Association of America was organized.

1945 Five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo bombers disappeared during a routine training mission over the "Bermuda Triangle."

1946 Opera tenor José Carreras was born.

1947 Football player Jim Plunkett was born.
1947 Musician Jim Messina was born.

1951 Actress Morgan Brittany was born.
1951 Baseball player "Shoeless Joe" Jackson died.

1955 The American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) merged into a single union (AFL-CIO).
1955 Rosa Parks led a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.
1955 Aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin died.

1957 New York City enacted the first fair housing act in the United States.
1957 Football player Art Monk was born.

1964 Captain Roger Donlon became the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War.

1965 A truck ran into a carnival crowd in Sotouboua, Togo, killing at least 100 persons.

1967 War and draft protestors demonstrated in New York City, New York.

1968 Comedian Margaret Cho was born.

1974 The last episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus was aired by BBC-TV.

1983 Film director Robert Aldrich died.

1985 The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 1,500 for the first time.
1985 Actor Frankie Muñoz was born.

1988 A North Carolina federal grand jury indicted PTL founder Jim Bakker on fraud and conspiracy charges.
1988 Space Shuttle Atlantis launched the world's first nuclear-war-fighting satellite.
1988 Actor Ross Bagley was born.

1989 A France TGV train reached a world record speed of 482.4 kph (just under 300 mph).

1991 Mass murderer Richard Speck died.

1993 Astronauts began a repair of the Hubble Space Telescope.

1998 U.S. Senator Al Gore, Sr. died.

2002 Sports commentator Roone Arledge died.

2010 Football player Don Meredith died.

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This page was last updated on July 09, 2018.