On Dec. 3, 1984, thousands of people died after a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.
In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state.
In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States by the Electoral College.
In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio -- the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States -- began holding classes.
In 1857, English novelist Joseph Conrad was born in Berdychiv, Poland. (Or: Berdichev, Russia [now Ukraine].)
In 1910, Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science movement, died.
In 1919, French painter and sculptor Pierre A. Renoir died at age 78.
In 1929, the Ford Motor Co. raised the pay of its employees from $5 to $7 a day despite the collapse of the U.S. stock market.
In 1948, The House Un-American Activities Committee announced that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm.
In 1964, Police arrested some 800 students at the University of California at Berkeley, one day after the students stormed the administration building and staged a massive sit-in. [The Free Speech Movement. — Ed.]
In 1967, surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the new heart. The 20th Century Limited, the famed luxury train, completed its final run from New York to Chicago.
In 1989, East German Communist leader Egon Krenz, the ruling Politburo and the party's Central Committee resigned.
In 1992, the Greek tanker Aegean Sea spilled 21.5 million gallons of crude oil when it ran aground off northwestern Spain. Also in 1992, Roman Catholic officials in Boston agreed to pay compensation to 68 people who claimed they were sexually abused 25 years ago by priest James Porter.
In 1994, Elizabeth Glaser, who became an AIDS activist after she and her two children were infected with HIV via a blood transfusion, died at age 47.
In 1997, President Clinton hosted his first town hall meeting on America's race relations in Akron, Ohio.
In 1999, World Trade Organization talks collapsed in Seattle. Six firefighters died while battling a fire in an abandoned Worcester, Mass. industrial building. Scientists failed to make contact with the Mars Polar Lander after it began its fiery descent toward the Red Planet; the spacecraft is presumed destroyed. Tori Murden of the United States became the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone as she arrived at the French Carribean island of Guadeloupe, 81 days after leaving the Canary Islands near the coast of Africa. Billionaire banker Edmond Safra suffocated in a smoke-filled bathroom in his Monaco apartment; American nurse Ted Maher confessed to setting the fire that killed the 67-year-old Safra.
In 2002, thousands of personnel files released under a court order showed that the Archdiocese of Boston went to great lengths to hide priests accused of abuse, including clergy who'd allegedly snorted cocaine and had sex with girls aspiring to be nuns. U.N. weapons inspectors made their first unannounced visit to one of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces.
In 2003, an international court in Tanzania convicted three Rwandan media executives of genocide for inciting a 1984 killing spree by machete-wielding gangs accused of slaughtering about 800,000 Tutsis.
In 2004, it was announced that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was staying on the job. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned, warning as he left of a possible terror attack on the nation's food supply. The Ukraine Supreme Court ordered a rerun of the head-to-head presidential contest, setting off rejoicing by supporters of Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko, who ended up the winner.
In 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won re-election, defeating Manuel Rosales.
In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama selected New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as his commerce secretary. (However, Richardson withdrew a month later when it appeared his confirmation hearings would be complicated by a grand jury investigation over how state contracts were issued to political donors; Gary Locke ended up being appointed.) Theological conservatives upset by liberal views of US Episcopalians and Canadian Anglicans formed a rival North American province.
Today's Birthdays December 3: Country singer Ferlin Husky is 84. Singer Andy Williams is 82. Movie director Jean-Luc Godard is 79. Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 78. Actor Nicolas Coster is 76. Actress Mary Alice is 68. Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne is 61. Actress Heather Menzies is 60. Rock singer Mickey Thomas is 60. Country musician Paul Gregg (Restless Heart) is 55. Actor Steven Culp is 54. Actress Daryl Hannah is 49. Actress Julianne Moore is 49. Olympic gold medal figure skater Katarina Witt is 44. Actor Brendan Fraser is 41. Singer Montell Jordan is 41. Actor Royale Watkins is 40. Actor Bruno Campos is 36. Actress Holly Marie Combs is 36. Actress Lauren Roman is 34. Pop-rock singer Daniel Bedingfield is 30. Actress Anna Chlumsky is 29. Actor Brian Bonsall is 28. Actress Amanda Seyfried is 24. Actor Michael Angarano is 22. Actor Jake T. Austin is 15.
In Show Biz Today:
In 1925, Concerto in F, by George Gershwin, had its world premiere at New York's Carnegie Hall, with Gershwin himself at the piano.
In 1947, the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway.
In 1960, the Lerner and Lowe musical "Camelot" opened on Broadway.
In 1965, the album "Rubber Soul" by the Beatles was released. [Seriously, is there a Beatle event every single day? — Ed.]
In 1966, The Monkees performed their first live concert in Honolulu.
In 1968, Elvis Presley's now famous comeback special was broadcast on NBC.
In 1971, the Montreux Casino in Switzerland burned down during a performance by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Deep Purple was the opening act and wrote about it in their song "Smoke on the Water." [22 yrs. & one day later, Frank would die. — Ed.]
In 1976, seven gunmen broke into singer Bob Marley's house in Jamaica. Marley, his wife, their manager and a house guest were shot and wounded. The gunmen were never caught. Also in 1976, Pink Floyd released a 40-foot inflatable pig at Battersea Power Station in England so they could photograph it for their "Animals" album cover. The pig broke loose, and authorities had to alert pilots to watch for a flying pig.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, eleven people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group the Who was performing. Dozens of others were injured.
In 1992, Stevie Wonder was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Songwriters.
In 1997, the country group Little Texas announced they planned to break up at the end of the year.
In 1998, rapper Coolio was found guilty of stealing clothes from a boutique in Stuttgart, Germany, and punching the boutique owner. He was fined $30,000 dollars.
In 1999, Oscar-nominated actress Madeline Kahn died of ovarian cancer in New York. She was 57.
In 2005, singer Marilyn Manson married burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese at a castle in Ireland. They have since divorced.
Thought for Today: "It is right noble to fight with wickedness and wrong; the mistake is in supposing that spiritual evil can be overcome by physical means." — Lydia Maria Child, American author (1802-1880). [Yes, we must crush their spirits, not just their bodies. — Ed.]
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