TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Friday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2023. There are 30 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 1, 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

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 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.”

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 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.

In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

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.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor-director Woody Allen is 88. World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 84. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 78. Former child actor Keith Thibodeaux (TV: “I Love Lucy”) is 73. Actor Jeremy Northam is 62. Actorcomedian Sarah Silverman is 53. R&B singer-actor Janelle Monae is 38.