DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 1, the 336th day of 2020. There are 30 days left in the year.
On this date:
1824: The presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)
1860: The Charles Dickens novel “Great Expectations” was first published in weekly serial form.
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.”
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.
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 (as in tires) that was desperately needed for the war effort.
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 Black Americans.
1965: An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.
1969: The U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.
1974: TWA Flight 514, a Washingtonbound 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).
1990: British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries finally met after knocking out a passage in a service tunnel.
1991: Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.
2006: Felipe Calderon took the oath of office as Mexico’s president amid catcalls and brawling lawmakers.
Actor-director Woody Allen is 85. Singer Dianne Lennon of the Lennon Sisters is 81. Singer-guitarist Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult is 76. Drummer John Densmore of The Doors is 76. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 75. Actor Treat Williams is 69. Country singer Kim Richey is 64. Actor Charlene Tilton is 62. Model-actor Carol Alt is 60. Actor Nestor Carbonell (“Lost,” “Suddenly Susan”) is 53. Actor Golden Brooks (“Girlfriends”) is 50. Comedian Sarah Silverman is 50. Actor David Hornsby (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) is 45. Actor Nate Torrence (“Hello Ladies”) is 43. Singer Mat Kearney is 42. Drummer Mika Fineo of Filter is 39. Actor Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) is 38.