December 2nd in History
Le Couronnement de l’Empereur et de l’Impératrice, by Jacques-Louis David
Today in History
- Napoléon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French (1804)
- US President James Monroe proclaims the “Monroe Doctrine” in his State of the Union message (1823)
- Abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged (1859)
- A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (1942)
- A Luftwaffe raid on Bari, Italy, results in a release of World War I-era mustard gas on board the SS John Harvey; among its side effects is the development of an early form of chemotherapy (1943)
- The US Senate votes to censure Joseph McCarthy (1954)
- Fidel Castro formally declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba will adopt communism (1961)
- The EPA begins operations (1970)
- Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (1982)
- Benazir Bhutto becomes the first woman to head the government of an Islam-majority state (1988)
- Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (2001)
Birthdays
- Georges Seurat, painter (1859)
- Charles Ringling, circus promoter (1863)
- Adolph Green, playwright and composer (1914)
- Maria Callas, soprano (1923)
- Alexander Haig, general and politician (1924)
- Edwin Meese, attorney general (1931)
- Harry Reid, US senator (1939)
- Cathy Lee Crosby, actress (1944)
- Gianni Versace, fashion designer (1946)
- Stone Phillips, television journalist (1954)
- Lucy Liu, actress (1968)
- Monica Seles, tennis player (1973)
- Nelly Furtado, singer-songwriter (1978)
- Britney Spears, singer-songwriter (1981)
Deaths
- Hernán Cortés, explorer (1547)
- Gerardus Mercator, cartographer (1594)
- Marquis de Sade, philosopher and writer (1814)
- John Brown, abolitionist (1859)
- Jay Gould, financier (1892)
- Edmond Rostand, playwright (1918)
- John Ringling, circus promoter (1936)
- Harrison Ford, silent film star (1957)
- Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Pakistani politician (1980)
- Marty Feldman, actor (1982)
- Fifi D’Orsay, actress (1983)
- Desi Arnaz, actor, singer, and producer (1986)
- Aaron Copeland, composer (1990)
- Robert Cummings, actor (1990)
- Pablo Escobar, drug lord (1993)
- Odetta, singer-songwriter (2008)
Holidays and Celebrations
- Armed Forces Day (Cuba)
- International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (worldwide)
- National Day (Laos)
- National Day (United Arab Emirates)
Informal and made-up holidays include National Mutt Day, Safety Razor Day, and Special Education Day.
• • •
December 2 is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years). There are 29 days remaining until the end of the year.
December 2 is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years). There are 29 days remaining until the end of the year.