TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Wednesday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2021. There are 30 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

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 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 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.

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 2005, a roadside bomb killed 10 U.S. Marines near Fallujah, Iraq.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor-director Woody Allen is 86. World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 82. Singer Dianne Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 82. Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 77. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 76. Singer Gilbert O’Sullivan is 75. Former child actor Keith Thibodeaux (TV: “I Love Lucy”) is 71. Actor Treat Williams is 70. Actor Charlene Tilton is 63. Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is 51.

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