MILESFORTIS

December 3

1586 – Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia

1736 – Swedish Astronomer Anders Celsius takes measurements that confirm Newton’s theory that the earth is an ellipsoid rather than the previously accepted sphere

1775 – Purchased by the Continental Congress on November 4th for the Continental Navy, USS Alfred, after fitting out, becomes the first vessel to fly Continental Colors, the first national flag of the United States, hoisted by Lieutenant John Paul Jones.

1800 – In the presidential election, the Electoral College casts votes for president and vice president that result in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr 35 times until on the 36th ballot, Jefferson is elected due to several Federalist Party Electors changing their vote

1818 – Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state.

1901 – In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of corporate trusts – at the time how large businesses were organized.

1904 – The Jupiter moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine in photographs taken with the Crossley 36 inch reflector of the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, at the University of California, San Jose.

1912 – Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia -the Balkan League – sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War. The armistice is not renewed and expires on February 3, 1913, with  hostilities resuming.

1929 – President Herbert Hoover delivers his first State of the Union message to Congress. It is presented in the form of a written message rather than a speech.

1938 – Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Property forcing Jews to sell real property, businesses, and stocks at below market value as part of Aryanization.

1960 – The musical Camelot debuts at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway starring, Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet.

1967 – At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a transplant team headed by Christiaan Barnard carries out the first human to human heart transplant from 25 year old Denise Darvall, killed in a traffic accident, to 53 year old Louis Washkansky, who survives until the 21st of the month.

1973 – NASA’s Space probe Pioneer 10 sends back the first close up images of Jupiter.

1979 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.

1984 – A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people and injures another 150,000–600,000.

1989 – In a meeting off the coast of Malta, President Bush and Soviet leader  Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end.

1992 – A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world’s first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.

1999 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.

2005 – Dick Rutan pilots the XCOR Aerospace rocket powered Long-EZ aircraft, making the first manned rocket aircraft delivery of U.S. Mail from the Mojave post office to California City, California.

2007 – Winter storms cause the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, and close a 20 mile stretch of Interstate 5 highway for several days. At least 8 deaths are blamed on the floods.

2019 – Kamala Harris ends her campaign to be the 2020 Democratic candidate for president even before the first primary election is held.

2022 – A targeted attack on 2 electric substations in North Carolina causes a blackout for 40,000 residents in the area

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.