Today in History: Dec. 2

FILE - John Brown, leader of the historic raid on the federal arsenal and armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, is seen in this 1857 picture.   An important piece of Civil War history is going on the auction block, the 19th century mansion that sits on the  land where abolitionist John Brown was hanged more than 150 years ago.  Although the house was built 30 years after Brown's execution, the site is well known. It even hosts re-enactments of the hanging. The actual execution site is outside, is marked by a white obelisk with a plaque.   (AP Photo)
In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry the previous October. Brown is pictured here in 1857.  (AP Photo)
A salesman shows a four-door Ford Model  A to a customer in a showroom in 1931. (AP Photo)
In 1927, Ford Motor Co. unveiled its Model A automobile that replaced its Model T. Here, a salesman shows a four-door Ford Model A to a customer in a showroom in 1931. (AP Photo)
A view of the original terminal building at New York Municipal Airport, renamed LaGuardia, New York city, circa 1940. (Photo by Atlas Photos/Getty Images)
In 1939, New York Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field (later LaGuardia Airport) went into operation as an airliner from Chicago landed at one minute past midnight. A view of the original terminal building at New York Municipal Airport, renamed LaGuardia, New York city, circa 1940. (Photo by Atlas Photos/Getty Images)
In 1954, the U.S. Senate passed, 67-22, a resolution condemning Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., saying he had “acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.”  
William D. Ruckelshaus is sworn in as administrator of the new Environmental Protection Agency with President Richard Nixon behind him in the White House ceremony in Washington on Dec. 4, 1970. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)
In 1970, the newly created Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors; its first director was William D. Ruckelshaus. Here, Ruckelshaus is sworn in as administrator of the EPA with President Richard Nixon behind him in the White House ceremony in Washington on Dec. 4, 1970. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)
Artificial heart recipiant Barney B. Clark, left, smiles at his surgeon, Dr. William DeVries, in Salt Lake City, in this Dec. 3, 1982 photo. Clark, who lived 112 days with the Jarvik-7 heart after the landmark surgery, had little expectation of longtime survival. "He had faced his mortality," said his widow UnaLoy Clark-Ferrar. "He knew he was going to die. He knew he had to be in that position (for doctors) to consider him. He saw it as a real opportunity for him to contribute something to medical science. That was the reason he did it." (AP Photo)
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. Clark, left, smiles at his surgeon, Dr. William DeVries, in Salt Lake City, in this Dec. 3, 1982 photo. (AP Photo)
In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin. (AP Photo, File)
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FILE - John Brown, leader of the historic raid on the federal arsenal and armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, is seen in this 1857 picture.   An important piece of Civil War history is going on the auction block, the 19th century mansion that sits on the  land where abolitionist John Brown was hanged more than 150 years ago.  Although the house was built 30 years after Brown's execution, the site is well known. It even hosts re-enactments of the hanging. The actual execution site is outside, is marked by a white obelisk with a plaque.   (AP Photo)
A salesman shows a four-door Ford Model  A to a customer in a showroom in 1931. (AP Photo)
A view of the original terminal building at New York Municipal Airport, renamed LaGuardia, New York city, circa 1940. (Photo by Atlas Photos/Getty Images)
William D. Ruckelshaus is sworn in as administrator of the new Environmental Protection Agency with President Richard Nixon behind him in the White House ceremony in Washington on Dec. 4, 1970. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)
Artificial heart recipiant Barney B. Clark, left, smiles at his surgeon, Dr. William DeVries, in Salt Lake City, in this Dec. 3, 1982 photo. Clark, who lived 112 days with the Jarvik-7 heart after the landmark surgery, had little expectation of longtime survival. "He had faced his mortality," said his widow UnaLoy Clark-Ferrar. "He knew he was going to die. He knew he had to be in that position (for doctors) to consider him. He saw it as a real opportunity for him to contribute something to medical science. That was the reason he did it." (AP Photo)

Today is Sunday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2018.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 2, 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.

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. Artist Georges-Pierre Seurat was born in Paris.

In 1927, Ford Motor Co. unveiled its Model A automobile that replaced its Model T.

In 1939, New York Municipal Airport-LaGuardia Field (later LaGuardia Airport) went into operation as an airliner from Chicago landed at one minute past midnight.

In 1942, an artificially created, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago.

In 1954, the U.S. Senate passed, 67-22, a resolution condemning Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., saying he had “acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.”

In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale commercial nuclear facility in the U.S., began operations. (The reactor ceased operating in 1982.)

In 1970, the newly created Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors under its first director, William D. Ruckelshaus.

In 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered outside San Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were convicted in the killings.)

In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

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 Islamic State 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.

Ten years ago: President-elect Barack Obama promised swift action on an economic plan “to solve this crisis and to ease the burden on our states.” Republican Saxby Chambliss won a Georgia runoff, denying Democrats a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (until Al Franken’s belated victory over Norm Coleman in Minnesota). Folk singer Odetta died in New York at age 77. Henry Molaison, the patient known as “H.M.” whose severe amnesia led to groundbreaking studies of how memory works, died in Connecticut at age 82.

Five years ago: On “Cyber Monday,” perhaps the busiest online shopping day of the year, the Supreme Court refused to wade into a dispute over state sales taxes for purchases on websites like Amazon.com, paving the way for more states to attempt to collect taxes on Internet sales. Actor Christopher Evan Welch, 48, died in Santa Monica, California.

One year ago: President Donald Trump changed his story on why he fired Michael Flynn as his national security adviser, now suggesting that he knew at the time that Flynn had lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. ABC News suspended investigative reporter Brian Ross for four weeks without pay for an erroneous report about Flynn. (Ross had reported that then-candidate Trump had directed Flynn to make contact with the Russians; Ross clarified the report hours later, saying that his source now said Trump had not done so as a candidate, but as president-elect.)

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