Today in History
Today is Saturday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2023. There are 29 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Dec. 2, 1954, the U.S. Senate passed, 67-22, a resolution condemning Republican Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, saying he had “acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.”
On this date:
In 1823, President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.
In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry the previous October.
In 1942, an artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago.
In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial nuclear facility in the U.S., began operations.
In 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered in El Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were convicted in the killings.)
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin (meh-deh-YEEN’).
In 2000, Al Gore sought a recount in South Florida, while George W. Bush flatly asserted, “I’m soon to be the president” and met with GOP congressional leaders.
In 2001, in one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history, Enron filed for Chapter 11 protection.
In 2015, a couple loyal to the Islamic State group opened fire at a holiday banquet for public employees in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people and wounding 21 others before dying in a shootout with police.
In 2016, a fire that raced through an illegally converted warehouse in Oakland, California, during a dance party killed 36 people.
In 2018, Israeli police recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bribery charges, adding to a growing collection of legal troubles for the longtime leader.
In 2020, in a video released on social media, President Donald Trump stood before a White House lectern and delivered a 46-minute diatribe against the election results that produced a win for Democrat Joe Biden, unspooling one misstatement after another to back his baseless claim that he had actually won.
In 2021, Major League Baseball plunged into its first work stoppage in a quarter-century when the sport’s collective bargaining agreement expired and owners immediately locked out players. (An agreement would end the lockout after 99 days; the start of the season was delayed by about a week.)
In 2022, Democrats voted to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III is 92. Actor Cathy Lee Crosby is 79. Movie director Penelope Spheeris is 78. Actor Ron Raines is 74. Country singer John Wesley Ryles is 75. Actor Keith Szarabajka is 71. Actor Dan Butler is 69. Broadcast journalist Stone Phillips is 69. Actor Dennis Christopher is 68. Actor Steven Bauer is 67. Country singer Joe Henry is 63. Rock musician Rick Savage (Def Leppard) is 63. Actor Brendan Coyle is 60. Rock musician Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) is 55. Actor Suzy Nakamura is 55. Actor Rena Sofer is 55. Rock singer Jimi HaHa (Jimmie’s Chicken Shack) is 55. Actor Lucy Liu is 55. U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough is 54. Rapper Treach (Naughty By Nature) is 53. Actor Joe Lo Truglio is 53. International Tennis Hall of Famer Monica Seles is 50. Singer Nelly Furtado is 45. Pop singer Britney Spears is 42. Actor-singer Jana Kramer is 40. Actor Yvonne Orji is 40. Actor Daniela Ruah is 40. NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers is 40. Actor Alfred Enoch is 35. Pop singer-songwriter Charlie Puth is 32.
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