One hundred and fifty years ago, on Dec. 2, 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harpers Ferry the previous October. [Parallels drawn w/ today. You're welcome. — Ed.] Artist Georges-Pierre Seurat was born in Paris.
On this date:
In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French.
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 Oct. 16 raid on a federal armory at Harpers Ferry in present-day West Virginia. (Brown had hoped to start an anti-slavery rebellion.)
In 1927, Ford Motor Co. formally unveiled its second Model A automobile, the successor to its Model T. Model A roadsters were priced at $395.
Seventy years ago, 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 1967, Cardinal Francis Spellman died in New York City at age 78.
Forty years ago, in 1969, the Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, flew from Seattle to New York City.
In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency began operating under director William Ruckelshaus.
In 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered outside San Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were convicted in the killings.)
In 1982, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center performed the first implant of a permanent artificial heart in a human. Barney Clark lived 112 days with the device.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev held the first talks of their wind-tossed Malta summit aboard the Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky.
In 1990, Chancellor Helmut Kohl's center-right coalition easily won the first free all-German elections since 1932. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein declared that the chance for war was "50-50," depending on U.S. willingness to negotiate the Persian Gulf crisis.
In 1990, composer Aaron Copland died at age 90.
In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.
In 1999, Relative calm took over in Seattle, where a meeting of the World Trade Organization was greeted earlier with sometimes violent demonstrations. All six Republican presidential hopefuls, including Texas Governor George W. Bush, debated in Manchester, N.H. In Northern Ireland, a power-sharing Cabinet of Protestants and Catholics sat down together for the first time.
In 2001, Enron filed for Chapter 11 protection in one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history. A bomb went off aboard a bus in Haifa, killing 15 Israelis. U.S. forces in Afghanistan captured John Walker Lindh, 20, a U.S. citizen from San Anselmo, Calif., found fighting with the Taliban.
In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush said "the signs are not encouraging" that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would comply with U.N. resolutions on disarmament despite the prospect of military action should he fail to do so. Also in 2002, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston reportedly considered bankruptcy protection in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal. More than 200 alleged victims were involved.
In 2004, President George W. Bush chose former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik to run the Department of Homeland Security. (However, Kerik withdrew his name days later, citing immigration problems with a former nanny; he later pleaded guilty to eight felonies, including lying to the White House.) President Bush announced that Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns was his choice as the next agriculture secretary, replacing Ann Veneman. U.N. ambassador John Danforth resigned after five months representing the US at the world body. Dame Alicia Markova, one of the 20th century's greatest ballerinas, died in Bath, England, a day after turning 94. Pulitzer-winning poet Mona Van Duyn, the nation's first female poet laureate, died in University City, Mo. at age 83. Also in 2004, NATO officially handed over peacekeeping duties in Bosnia to European forces known as Eufor.
In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin's party dominated parliamentary elections. Putin, who cannot seek another consecutive term, is expected to name his successor and run for prime minister. Also in 2007, Venezuela voters rejected a referendum pushed by President Hugo Chavez that would have abolished presidential term limits and given Chavez new power to build a socialist economy.
In 2008, 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.
Today's Birthdays December 2: Character actor Bill Erwin is 95. Former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig is 85. ["Here at the White House, I am in control," he once said. Heh. — Ed.] Actress Julie Harris is 84. Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III is 78. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is 70. Actress Cathy Lee Crosby is 65. Movie director Penelope Spheeris is 64. [Jeeziz! — Ed.] Actor Ron Raines is 60. Country singer John Wesley Ryles is 59. Actor Keith Szarabajka is 57. Actor Dan Butler is 55. Broadcast journalist Stone Phillips is 55. Actor Dennis Christopher is 54. Actor Steven Bauer is 53. Figure skater Randy Gardner is 52. Country singer Joe Henry is 49. Rock musician Rick Savage (Def Leppard) is 49. Rock musician Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters) is 41. Actress Rena Sofer is 41. Rock singer Jimi HaHa (Jimmie's Chicken Shack) is 41. Actress Lucy Liu (loo) is 41. Tennis player Monica Seles is 36. Singer Nelly Furtado is 31. Pop singer Britney Spears is 28. Actress Daniela Ruah (TV: "NCIS: Los Angeles") is 26.
Today In Entertainment History December 2
In 1933, "Dancing Lady," Fred Astaire's first film, was released. Joan Crawford was his dance partner.
In 1943, "Carmen Jones" opened on Broadway. It was Oscar Hammerstein the Second's contemporary reworking of the Bizet opera "Carmen" with an all-black cast.
In 1949, Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" hit the pop charts.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, Stevie Wonder appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera House. He performed selections from his album "Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants" with the National Afro-American Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1983, MTV first aired Michael Jackson's 14-minute "Thriller" video.
In 1986, Jerry Lee Lewis checked into the Betty Ford Clinic to overcome an addition to painkillers.
In 1990, actress Katharine Hepburn made a rare appearance in Washington to accept the Kennedy Center Honor for Lifetime Achievement. Actor Bob Cummings died at age 80.
In 1996, actor Burt Reynolds filed for bankruptcy.
In 2000, Smashing Pumpkins played their last concert with the original lineup, at a club in Chicago. It was the same club where they had played their first show 13 years earlier.
In 2004, Brian Williams anchored his first "Nightly News" program on NBC, taking over from Tom Brokaw.
A UPI thought for the day: Casey Stengel once remarked, "There comes a time in every man's life and I've had many of them."
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