TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 1.
Today’s highlight:
On Dec. 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln sent his Second Annual Message to Congress, in which he called for the abolition of slavery, and went on to say, “Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”
On this date:
In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed among John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)
In 1941, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito approved waging war against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands after his government rejected U.S. demands contained in the Hull Note.
In 1942, during World War II, nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States; the goal was not so much to save on gas, but to conserve rubber that was desperately needed for the war effort by reducing the use of tires.
In 1955, Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus; the incident sparked a year-long boycott of the buses by Blacks.
In 1965, an airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.
In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.
In 1973, David Ben-gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, died in Tel Aviv at age 87.
In 1974, TWA Flight 514, a Washington-bound Boeing 727, crashed in Virginia after being diverted from National Airport to Dulles International Airport; all 92 people on board were killed. Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, a Boeing 727, crashed near Stony Point, New York, with the loss of its three crew members (the plane had been chartered to pick up the Baltimore Colts football team in Buffalo, New York).
In 1990, British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries finally met after knocking out a passage in a service tunnel.
In 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.
In 2005, a roadside bomb killed 10 U.S. Marines near Fallujah, Iraq.
In 2009, President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops into the war in Afghanistan but promised during a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to begin withdrawals in 18 months.
Five years ago: During the first stop of a “Thank you” tour, President-elect Donald Trump made a surprise announcement from the stage in Cincinnati, saying he had decided to offer the post of defense secretary to retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis. Former NFL player Joe Mcknight, 28, was shot to death in Louisiana in what authorities said was a road-rage incident.
One year ago: Disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims, Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press that the U.S. Justice Department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election. Trump filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin seeking to disqualify more than 221,000 ballots in a longshot attempt to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the battleground state.