Historical Events on December 1

Events 1 - 200 of 261

• 772 Pope Adrian I [Hadrian I] elected

• 1167 Northern Italian towns form Lombardi League

• 1626 Pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh, tyrannical governor of Jerusalem, driven out
• 1640 Portugal regains independence after 60 years of Spanish rule following a revolution by Portuguese nobility; the Portuguese Restoration War begins and lasts until 1668 with recognition by Spain of the country's independence
• 1641 Massachusetts becomes the first colony to give statutory recognition to slavery
• 1653 An athlete from Croydon is reported to have run 20 miles from St Albans to London in less than 90 minutes
• 1656 Germany promises Poland aid against Sweden
• 1708 Great Alliance occupies Brussels
• 1742 Empress Elisabeth orders expulsion of all Jews from Russia
• 1768 The slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøy in Norway (rediscovered 1974)
• 1783 Jacques Charles and Nicolas Roberts make first untethered ascension with gas hydrogen balloon in Paris
• 1821 Santo Domingo (Dominican Rep) proclaims independence from Spain
• 1822 Dom Pedro crowned emperor of Brazil

• 1831 Erie Canal closes for entire month due to cold weather
• 1852 Telegraph company opens throughout Netherlands
• 1864 Raid at Stoneman: Knoxville, Tennessee to Saltville, Virginia
• 1864 Skirmish at Millen Brutal, Georgia

• 1884 American Old West: Near Frisco, New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting Charles McCarthy.

• 1887 Sino-Portuguese treaty recognizes Portugal's control of Macao
• 1896 1st certified public accountants receive certificates (NY)

• 1900 Porfirio Díaz is inaugurated for his 6th consecutive term as President of Mexico
• 1903 "The Great Train Robbery" the 1st Western film, released starring Justus D. Barnes and G. M. Anderson
• 1906 German Shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt (Capt of Köpenick) sentenced to 4 years for forgery after posing as Prussian officer
• 1909 1st Christmas Club payment made, to Carlisle Trust Co, Pennsylvania
• 1909 1st Israeli kibbutz founded, Deganya Alef
• 1912 Boston Braves MLB franchise owner James Gaffney buys the Allston Golf Club on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston with a plan to construct a ball park there; ground breaking for Braves Field starts on March 20, 1915
• 1913 1st drive-up gasoline station opens in Pittsburgh
• 1913 Flag of Greece officially raised at Firka Fortress, Chania Crete symbolising the union of Crete and Greece

• 1915 The US requests that Germany withdraw its military and naval attaches from the Embassy in Washington

• 1917 Boys Town founded by Father Edward Flanagan west of Omaha, Nebraska
• 1918 Danish parliament passes an act to grant Iceland independence under Danish crown
• 1918 Yugoslavia declares independence with a monarchy proclaimed in Belgrade
• 1919 AA Milne's comedy play "Mr Pim Passes By" premieres in Manchester

• 1921 1st US helium-filled dirigible makes its 1st flight
• 1921 US Post Office establishes philatelic agency
• 1922 1st skywriting over US - "Hello USA"-by Capt Turner, RAF

• 1924 Boston Bruins beat fellow expansion team Montreal Maroons, 2-1 at Boston Arena; first NHL game to be played in the United States
• 1924 Plutarco Elías Calles becomes President of Mexico
• 1925 Peace Treaty of Locarno signed between Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy
• 1928 National League President John Heydler first to propose a baseball rule change calling for a 10th man, or 'designated hitter', to bat in place of the pitcher; ironically, the NL vote in favour of proposal, but the American League turn it down
• 1928 Railroad museum opens in Utrecht, Netherlands
• 1929 Game of Bingo invented by American toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe
• 1930 NHL drops 20 minute slashing-about-the-head penalty
• 1931 Ottawa branch of Royal Mint begins operation as Royal Canadian Mint

• 1935 Austria has world's 1st Day of Postage Stamp
• 1936 2nd Heisman Trophy Award: Larry Kelley, Yale (E)
• 1936 Bell Labs tests coaxial cable for TV use
• 1936 Ernest Brundin & Frank Lyon obtain US patent for hydroponic (soil-less) culture of plants

• 1938 School bus & train collide in Salt Lake City Utah

• 1940 Four sets of brothers play in one NHL game when Chicago Blackhawks beat NY Rangers, 4-1; Lynn & Muzz Patrick and Neil & Mac Colville (Rangers); Max & Doug Bentley and Bob & Bill Carse (Chicago)
• 1941 British cruiser HMS Dorsetshire forces crew of German submarine supply ship MV Python to scuttle vessel in the South Atlantic 1,150 miles west of South Africa

• 1941 US Civil Air Patrol (CAP) organizes
• 1942 Gasoline rationed in US
• 1942 The Beveridge Report is published by the British government unveiling plans for a post-war welfare state
• 1942 With WWII travel restrictions in mind, MLB owners decide to restrict travel to a 3-trip schedule rather than customary 4; Spring training in 1943 limited to locations north of Potomac or Ohio rivers and east of the Mississippi
• 1943 At the end of the Tehran Conference, the Big Three (Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt) agree that the invasion of Normandy should take place in May 1944

• 1944 Mail routing resumes in free South Netherlands

• 1948 Arabic Congress names Abdullah of Trans Jordan as King of Palestine
• 1948 Piet Roozenburg becomes world champion checker player
• 1949 MLB announces attendance for the season is 20.2 million, down from 20.9 in 1948; New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians each finish with over 2.2 million, but the St. Louis Browns fall to 270,000
• 1949 WBNG TV channel 12 in Binghamton, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1949 WKTV TV channel 2 in Utica, NY (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1951 17th Heisman Trophy Award: Dick Kazmaier, Princeton (HB)

• 1951 Golden Gate Bridge closes due to high winds

• 1952 The New York Daily News reports the first successful sexual reassignment operation

• 1953 Red Sox trade for slugger Jackie Jensen, sending pitcher Mickey McDermott and outfielder Tom Umphlett to Washington; Jensen averages 25 HRs a year for his 7 seasons in Boston; AL RBI leader x 3, and AL MVP in 1958
• 1953 WAIM (now WAXA) TV channel 40 in Anderson, SC (IND) 1st broadcast
• 1953 WCSH TV channel 6 in Portland, ME (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1954 Nationalist China & US sign dike agreement
• 1954 NY Yankees and Baltimore Orioles complete largest trade in MLB history as 17 players, including Don Larsen, Gene Woodling, Bob Turley change teams; first phase of transaction began November 18 and concludes today after the MLB draft

• 1956 Algerian-born French long-distance runner Alain Mimoun wins the men's marathon in 2:25:00.0 at the Melbourne Olympics; first time runners follow painted line
• 1956 American Mildred McDaniel jumps world record 1.76m to win the women's high jump gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; Briton Thelma Hopkins and Russian Mariya Pisareva dead-heat for silver (1.67m)

• 1956 Hungarian boxer László Papp wins his 3rd straight Olympic gold medal when he beats future Hall of Famer José Torres representing the US on points in the light-middleweight final at the Melbourne Olympics
• 1956 In front of 100,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a US Army baseball team beats an Australian all-star team, 11–5 in an Olympic exhibition game; Sergeant Vance Sutton belts a grand slam for Army
• 1956 Indonesian VP Mohammed Hatta resigns

• 1956 Romanian canoeist Leon Rotman wins the men's C-1,000m gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics; claims the singles double after also winning the C-1 10,000m gold

• 1958 Central African Republic made autonomous member of the French Community (National Day)
• 1958 Liberty Records releases single "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" by David Seville and the Chipmunks; it becomes a #1 hit, and wins 3 Grammy Awards (Comedy Performance, Children's Recording, and Best Engineered),
• 1958 Our Lady of Angels School fire kills 92 students & 3 nuns in Chicago, Illinois
• 1959 12 nations sign treaty for scientific peaceful use of Antarctica

• 1959 The 1st color photograph of Earth received from outer space

• 1961 The independent Republic of West Papua is proclaimed in modern-day Western New Guinea.
• 1962 Classifications in minor league baseball are overhauled; Eastern and South Atlantic leagues are promoted from Class-A to Class-AA; classes B, C and D are abolished with those leagues being promoted to Class-A
• 1962 KGMB TV channel 9 in Honolulu, HI (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1963 Nagaland becomes a state of the Indian union
• 1963 Wendell Scott wins the Grand National Series Jacksonville 200 at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, becoming the first black driver to win a race at NASCAR's premier level
• 1964 After just 3 seasons in MLB the Houston Colt .45s change name of the team to Astros; owners say move signals a step into the future for the franchise and the city of Houston

• 1965 Airlift of refugees from Cuba to US begins
• 1965 South Africa's government says children of white fathers are white
• 1966 Ecuadorian national baseball team defends its title with a 4-3 win over Brazil in the South American Championship; last win for next 50 years; Eloy Guerrero drives in Ramón Sotomayor with the winning run
• 1966 Georg Kiesinger elected West German chancellor
• 1966 Radio time signal WWV moves from Greenbelt, Maryland to Boulder, Colorado
• 1967 Pacific Northwest Sports, Inc. is awarded one of the 2 American League baseball expansion franchises; new team named the Seattle Pilots

• 1967 Seattle awarded one of the 2 AL expansion franchise teams

• 1968 Gonzalo Barrios, Venezuelan presidential candidate
• 1969 LAPD Police Chief Edward Davis announces warrants for the arrest of the Manson cult for murder
• 1969 US government holds its 1st draft lottery since WW II
• 1970 Independent People's Republic of South Yemen renames itself as People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
• 1970 Luis Echeverria Alvarez sworn in as president of Mexico
• 1971 Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.

• 1972 2 people killed and 127 injured when 2 car bombs explode in the centre of Dublin, Ireland
• 1972 Wings release "Hi, Hi, Hi" in UK
• 1973 Australia grants self-government to Papua New Guinea

• 1974 American Jacqueline Hansen runs female world record marathon 2:43:54.5 in Culver City, California
• 1974 Boeing 727 crashes in Upperville, Virginia, killing 92
• 1974 LA Skid Row slasher kills 1st of 8
• 1975 "The Robert MacNeil Report", later "The MacNeil-Lehrer Report", currently known as "PBS NewsHour" program premieres nationally in US on PBS
• 1975 Kuwait and Gulf and BP agree on terms of nationalization

• 1976 Angola admitted to the UN

• 1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1980 46th Heisman Trophy Award: George Rogers, South Carolina (RB)
• 1980 Mel Harris appears on M*A*S*H in "Cementing Relationships"
• 1980 US Justice Department sues Yonkers siting racial discrimination

• 1981 Yugoslavian charter flight crashes into Mont San-Pietro in Corsica, 180 killed

• 1982 Dentist Barney B Clark gets 1st artificial heart
• 1982 Miguel de la Madrid inaugurated as President of Mexico

• 1984 American boxer Greg Page KOs home town favourite Gerrie Coetzee in 8th round to win WBA heavyweight title in Sun City, South Africa
• 1984 France performs nuclear test
• 1985 Noraly Beyer becomes the Netherland's 1st black TV newscaster
• 1985 South Africa's Cosatu union centre forms
• 1985 STS 61-C vehicle moves to launch pad

• 1986 Musée d'Orsay opens in Paris
• 1986 Paul McCartney releases single "Only Love Remains"
• 1987 Digging begins to link England & France under English Channel
• 1988 596 dead after cyclone hits Bangladesh, half a million homeless

• 1988 Chinese minister of Foreign affairs Qian Qichen visits Moscow
• 1988 First World AIDS day to raise awareness of the AIDS global epidemic
• 1988 NBC bids a record $401 million to capture television broadcasting rights for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games

• 1989 "Day Without Art" - Artists demonstrate against AIDS
• 1989 East Germany drops communist monopoly from its constitution
• 1989 Mark Langston signs record $3.2 million per year Cal Angels contract

• 1990 56th Heisman Trophy Award: Ty Detmer, Brigham Young (QB)

• 1990 Iraq accepts Bush's offer for talks
• 1990 Lithuania, Estonia & Latvia hold their 1st joint session

• 1991 Colorado party wins Paraguay parliamentary election

• 1991 Ukrainian people vote for independence

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