Today is Tuesday, Dec. 1, the 336th day of 2020. There are 30 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Dec. 1, 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.
On this date:
In 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.)
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 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.
In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.
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.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor-director Woody Allen is 85. World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 81. Singer Dianne Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 81. Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 76. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 75. Singer Gilbert O’Sullivan is 74. Former child actor Keith Thibodeaux (TV: “I Love Lucy”) is 70. Actor Treat Williams is 69. Actor Charlene Tilton is 62. Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is 50. Actor Ron Melendez is 48.
