Behind History For December 1 – Today in History

Behind History For December 1

1913 – The Buenos Aires Metro, the 1st underground railway system in the Southern Hemisphere and in Latin America starts working.

1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the 1st moving assembly line.

1913 – Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War (against Ottomon Empire), is annexed by Greece.

1918 – Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.

1918 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.

1934 – In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergey Kirov is assassinated. Stalin uses the incident as a key point to start the Great Purge.

1941 – World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan sanctions the last approval to initiate war against the United States.

1941 – World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.

1952 – The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgensen, the first notable case of sex reassignment surgery (gender reassignment surgery).

1958 – The Central African Republic attains self-rule within the French Union.

1958 – Lady of the Angels School fire accident in Chicago kills 92 children and three nuns.

1959 – Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.

1960 – Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested (and later deported) from Hamburg, West Germany, after accusations of attempted arson.

1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.

1969 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.

1971 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.

1973 – Papua New Guinea gains self-governance from Australia.

1974 – TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on board.

1974 – Northwest Airlines Flight 6231, another Boeing 727, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.

1977 – Pinwheel is launched, which is now Nickelodeon.

1980 – Ecatepec, State of Mexico, Mexico, becomes a city.

1981 – Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.

1984 – NASA conducts the Controlled Impact Demonstration, wherein an airliner is deliberately crashed in order to test technologies and gather data to help improve survivability of crashes.

1988 – World AIDS Day was proclaimed worldwide by the UN member states.

1989 – Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d’état.

1989 – Cold War: East Germany’s parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state.

1990 – Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the seabed.

1991 – Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.

1997 – In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacked the CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.

2000 – Vicente Fox Quesada is inaugurated as the president of Mexico, marking the first peaceful transfer of executive federal power to an opposing political party following a free and democratic election in Mexico’s history.