Important Events From This day in History December 2nd

 

1969 U.S.A. - - Boeing 747

The Boeing 747 ( Often Known as Jumbo Jet ) a long-haul, wide body commercial airliner receives its FAA airworthiness certificate paving the way for its introduction into commercial service in 1970.

1942 U.S.A. - - First Nuclear Demonstration

A self sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at a racquet court below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago.

1939 U.S.A. - - LaGuardia Airport

New York's LaGuardia Airport (dedicated as New York Municipal Airport) located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay is opened and from the beginning proved popular with major US Airlines including Pan American Airways, American. United, Eastern Air Lines and Transcontinental & Western Air.

1907 Canada - - Immigrant Workers

Toronto faced a throng of immigrant workers who faced poverty and starvation unless employment could be found for them. The worst off were 300 people from Bulgaria who were in danger of perishing in a matter of days. Advertisements had brought a large group of immigrants over from Europe to work on railways and in construction, but they were laid off until spring.

1927 Hawaii - - Sacred Stone Pilgrimage

Near Honolulu the faithful have been making pilgrimages to a sacred stone called the Wahiawa, which natives claim has healing powers. The site has attracted crowds of sick people and on the previous Sunday 1,200 visitors came to the site. Twenty miles out of Honolulu, the holy monolith is devotedly hung with garlands and it is rumored that bad luck follows those who scoff.

1930 U.S.A. - - Unemployment

President Herbert Hoover goes before Congress to make a plea for a $150 million public works program to work on various construction projects and help to put America back to work.

1932 Germany - - Economy

Germany's economy had not rallied despite the government's cut backs and 20 million Germans were at the point of starvation. Begging was common place, there was nation-wide unemployment, and industries were failing.

1943 U.S.A. - - Food Rationing

In early 1943 rationing of food was to take place starting with meat and then including canned foods. Each household was limited to 48 points in a ration book. Rationing had been in effect in England for a year before it took place in America.

1947 Palestine - - Jerusalem Riots

Following the vote by the United nations to create two states, one Jewish and one Arab in Palestine (1947 UN Partition Plan), riots break out in Jerusalem when the Arab Higher Committee declare a three-day strike and public protest against the United nations ruling.

1954 U.S.A. - - Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy

The US Senate votes to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R Wis., for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."

1954 Cuba - - Cuban Revolution

The yacht Granma arrives on the shores of Cuba after travelling from Mexico where Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the Cuban Revolution movement disembark to begin the Cuban Revolution.

1957 Japan - - US Restrictions On Imports

Aiichiro Fujiyama, foreign minister of Japan, strenuously protested American restrictions on Japanese exports to the United States. He asserted that Japan was the biggest importer of American goods and limiting Japan's exports was "a matter of life or death" for his country.

1959 France - - Dam Collapses

The Malpasset Dam in France collapses resulting in a flood that devastates Frejus and leaves over 400 dead.

1961 Cuba - - Fidel Castro

On a national radio broadcast in Cuba Fidel Castro declares that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was to adopt Communism.

1964 U.S.A. - - Student Protesters

Students storm the administration building (Sproul Hall) on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley which protesters took over in a massive sit-in as part of the Free Speech Movement (FSM).

1967 U.K. - - Foot and Mouth

The rate of slaughter for animals affected by the Foot and mouth disease continues to increase with 134,000 animals slaughtered in the latest epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

1967 Egypt - - Israeli Planes Shot Down

Egyptian anti-aircraft armaments shot down two Israeli planes near Suez City. This was the first skirmish between Egypt and Israel since Israel demolished Egypt's oil refineries.

1970 U.S.A. - - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed by President Richard Nixon to protect human health and with safeguarding the natural environment: air, water, and land begins operation. Among other things they do are to provide and monitor the EPA fuel economy test manufacturers use to advertise the gas mileage of their vehicles.

1971 United Arab Emirates - - UAE Formed

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is formed as a federation from the seven emirates of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain becoming one united country, which has evolved into a modern, high-income nation.

1974 England - - Birmingham Pub Bombing

Suspected IRA Terrorists plant bombs in two central Birmingham pubs, killing 19 people and injuring over 180.

1976 Cuba - - Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro becomes the President of Cuba who is the chief executive of the Council of State of Cuba.

1979 Pakistan - - US Embassy

A mob in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, has burned the US Embassy to the ground, killing a US marine.

1982 U.S.A. - - First Artificial Heart

Doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center performed the first implant of a permanent artificial heart in Barney Clark the artificial heart used was designed by Robert Jarvik The Jarvik-7. Barney Clark lived 112 days with the device.

1985 Switzerland - - US / USSR Meeting

After a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev end of their two-day meeting in Switzerland announcing the Geneva Accord, which commits the two countries to speeding up arms talks, working towards the abolition of chemical weapons and a new commitment to human rights.

1988 Soviet Union - - School Bus Hijack

A bus full of school children and teachers was hijacked in southern Russia. The two armed men demanded to have an airplane at their disposal. It wasn't clear what the men were armed with, however, to protect the children Russian officials gave them an Ilyushin-76 to fly to Israel in.

1990 Germany - - Free Elections

Chancellor Helmut Kohl's center-right coalition won the first free elections since 1932 for a combined East and West Germany.

1995 U.S.A. - - Dayton Accord

Bosnian, Serb and Croat leaders agree to the Dayton Accord peace plan for war-torn Bosnia Herzegovina brokered by Bill Clinton in the United States.

1995 U.K. - - Nick Leeson

Nick Leeson a former general manager of Barings future tradings operations who broke Barings Bank with his reckless trading receives 6 1/2 years jail time in Singapore when he is found guilty of two charges of fraud.

1998 Chile - - Augusto Pinochet

Great Britain may have lost its reputation for fairness over its treatment of 83-year-old General Augusto Pinochet. Instead of granting him diplomatic immunity when he visited Britain for surgery, the British government gave in to a Spanish magistrate who wanted him tried for genocide, torture, and killings. Relations between Chile and Great Britain are strained because of this. When Pinochet staged a coup in Chile over Marxist, Salvador Allende, 3,200 persons were killed or went missing.

1999 Northern Ireland - - Power Sharing

In Northern Ireland, a power-sharing cabinet of Protestants and Catholics sit down together for the first time.

2001 U.S.A. - - Enron

Enron an energy trading company filed for Chapter 11 protection in one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history. By the end of the year, Enron's collapse had cost investors including pension plans billions of dollars.

2006 Italy - - Rome Film Festival

An old western, "Once upon a Time", starring Henry Fonda and Claudia Cardinale (1968) was going to be restored and shown at the Rome Film Festival. Thanks to Martin Scorsese and the Festival a three year conservation program for old Italian movies will continue.

2006 U.S.A. - - New York Times publishes Donald Rumsfeld's memo on Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld's classified memo to the White House that acknowledges how ineffective the administration's strategy in Iraq is, and calls for change in direction, is published in the New York Times. The memo is dubious of there being an alternative course of action or tactics. In order to limit the political fallout of changing the strategy, he suggests that the administration lowers the publics' expectations on Iraq.

2006 Cuba - - Raúl Castro attends a military parade and gives a speech

The parade starts with the Cuban national anthem and a multiple cannon fire salute. Raúl Castro talks about the the government's willingness to negotiate with the United States. He makes no reference to his brother, Fidel's, health, and commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Revolution. It is Fidel Castro's eightieth birthday. A celebration of the Revolutionary Armed Forces' unity, the army and the communist party are part of the parade, which includes amphibious transports and tanks (modernized T-55's and T-62's). The parade is culminated with a march by of the Cuban people.

2007 Russia - - Russian general election

The Russian general elections is expected to confirm President Vladimir Putin's power-base, despite the claims of fraud. Polls have closed across Russia's eleven time zones. Turnout is said to have been high. Eleven parties are competing for places in the lower house, or Duma. Opposition parties have accused the government of stifling their campaigns, and Vladimir Putin's party is predicted to win a landslide victory.

2008 Iraq - - Chemical Ali sentenced to death again

An Iraqi court has sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majid to death. He was known as Chemical Ali, for his role in crushing a Shi'ite uprising in 1991, and this is the second death sentence passed on him. He is a cousin of Saddam Hussein. The court has also condemned another senior Baath Party official, Abdulghani Abdul Ghafour, to hang for the same crime. In February, al-Majid had been condemned to hang for genocide over the killing of one hundred thousand people during the 1988 Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurds.

2008 United States - - Weapons of Mass Destruction Report

Congress has established a bipartisan Commission for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism to look at the threat that the proliferation of these will pose to the United States. The Commission's report, World at Risk, recognizes that the U.S. government has yet to fully adapt to the threats of terrorism, and has identified specific actions to take on their accessing certain weapons. The Director of National Intelligence agrees with the Report, saying that the danger of biological attack is the worst of these.

2009 Afghanistan - - Taleban rebuke increasing U.S. troop numbers

The Taleban say they will be continuing their fight in Afghanistan, after pledges by the N.A.T.O. allies to send larger reinforcements to the country. A Taleban commander has said that if more U.S. troops came, more will die. Barack Obama has announced a long-awaited strategy, and deployment of another thirty thousand troops. The Taleban have expressed defiance at Obama's commitment to sending additional forces. A Taleban commander, who did not give his name but is part of the ruling council in Wardak province, has said that there would be no peace talks until all of the foreign troops had left Afghanistan. Some have said that the strategy is very similar to George Bush's, but that the dating of the withdrawal is a mistake, and been made for popular consumption in the U.S.

2009 United States - - Fort Hood shooter charged with premeditated murder

The U.S. Army has charged Nidal Hasan with the Fort Hood shooting spree on November 5th, with thirty-two counts of attempted premeditated murder. The charges are in addition to the thirteen premeditated murder charges already filed against Hasan. The Army says the attempted murder charges filed today are related to the thirty soldiers and two civilian police officers that were injured in the shooting at the soldier processing center on the central Texas post. Hasan's attorney, John Galligan, says that the additional charges may not affect Hasan's punishment if he is convicted, because premeditated murder carries the death penalty. Authorities have not said whether they plan to seek the death penalty.

2009 United Nations - - The United Nations calls on Iraq to set a date for elections

The United Nations has called on the Iraqi politicians to put aside their differences, and work together to set a final date for the country's elections. In today's statement, the world body said that a feasible election date would be February 27th, 2010. The U.N. has been following the doubts expressed by Iraq's electoral officials, who said it was unlikely that the country would be able to hold the crucial vote before the end of January. The delay comes amid divisions over the number of seats that have been allocated to Iraq's Kurdish population. The Sunni Muslim Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi has also been asking for a greater say for Iraqi nationals living abroad.

2011 United States - - Honda to Recall Over 300,000 Vehicles

Honda has announced that it will be recalling 313,000 Honda Civics and Accords built between 2001 and 2003 and sold mostly in the US and Canada after findings that the vehicles could have airbags that malfunction. The malfunction in the airbags could cause them to inflate with too much pressure to the point that they burst causing injuries or even death to the passengers.

2012 Russia - - Giant Traffic Jam

Inclement weather including heavy snow and ice caused a huge back-up of traffic on the M-10 highway in Russia. The media stated that the traffic jam was about 124 miles long while officials stated it was only about 12 miles long. The traffic started to break up after three days.

2013 Venezuela - - Blackout in Caracas

Power was cut in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in the evening, around the same time the president Maduro had been giving a televised speech. Maduro blamed the power outage on sabotage, saying that it was similar to a power outage that happened a few months previously.

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