December 2

1763 – The Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island is dedicated, the first synagogue in what will become the United States.

1766 – Swedish parliament approves the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act and implements it as a ground law, the first nation in the world with legislated freedom of speech.

1823 – In a State of the Union message, President Monroe proclaims American neutrality in future European conflicts, and warns European powers not to interfere in the Americas; the ‘Monroe Doctrine’.

1845 – In a State of the Union message, President Polk proposes that the United States should aggressively expand into the West; the ‘Manifest Destiny’.

1859 – In Charles Town Virginia, abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

1865 – Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia ratify the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

1899 – During the Philippine–American War, at Tirad Pass on Luzon, a 60 man Filipino force commanded by Brigadier General Gregorio del Pilar fights a rear guard action against 500 Americans, mostly of the 33rd Volunteer Infantry Regiment under Major Peyton C. March, delaying the American advance long enough to ensure that President Emilio Aguinaldo and his troops escape before all but 8 solders are killed. It’s remembered as the “Filipino Thermopylae”.

1917 – During World War I, Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk, ending Russian involvement in the war.

1927 – The Ford Motor Company unveils the Model A as its new model of automobile.

1930 –In a State of the Union message, President Hoover proposes a $150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.

1942 – Somewhere in the Pacific ocean, approximately half way between Japan and the Hawaiian islands, the coded radio message, Niitakayama Nobore “Climb Mount Niitaka”, is received on the flagship of Japan’s 1st Air Fleet and given to Admiral Nagumo. The code words are his orders to open a set of top secret documents which confirm that Japan will be going to war with the United States, and to execute the plan to attack Pearl Harbor. It also gives the date to commence the attack, December 8th, which is the 7th on the Hawaiian side of the International Date Line.
At the same time, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first artificial self sustaining nuclear chain reaction in the hand built Chicago Pile-1 reactor under the University of Chicago’s Stagg Field as part of the Manhattan Project.

1947 – Arab residents of Jerusalem break out in riot in response to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

1954 – The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Taiwan, is signed in Washington, D.C., remaining in effect until 1980.

1962 – After a trip to Vietnam at the request of President Kennedy, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to comment adversely 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.

1980 – 4 American missionaries, Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Ursuline Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovanare kidnapped, raped and murdered by El Salvadoran National Guard troops near San Salvador.

1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart, surviving for 112 days afterwards.

1993 – Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.

2015 – Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik attack a Christmas party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people and wounding 22 before finally being killed in a running street shootout with police

2016 – Fire breaks out at a warehouse converted into an artist’s collective, in Oakland, California, killing 36 people

2020 – Cannabis is removed from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.