On this day in History - Dec. 05

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
• 1776 - A group of undergraduates at the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia organize an honor society called Phi Beta Kappa. The first of the "Greek letter" societies formed in the US, members met regularly to write, debate, and socialize. They adopted an oath of secrecy, a code of laws, Latin and Greek mottoes, and an elaborate initiation rite.
• 1782 - Martin Van Buren, born , eighth president of the United States
• 1791 - Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.
• 1792- George Washington was re-elected president; John Adams was re-elected vice president.
• 1839 - General George Custer, born, American soldier
• 1870 - Alexandre Dumas , died, writer
• 1872 - Having left New York on Nov. 5, the brigantine Mary Celeste was found adrift off Portugal with everyone aboard mysteriously missing.
• 1890 - Fritz Lang, film director (d. 1976)
• 1891 - O imperador brasileiro D. Pedro II morreu em Paris, no exílio.
• 1901 - Walt Disney, born in Chicago, [d. 1966] American cartoonist and film producer, started an entertainment empire with his creation of animated movies and world-renowned amusement parks.
• 1901 - Werner Karl Heisenberg, German physicist - Born at Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany [d. 1976]
• 1906 - Otto Preminger, born, American producer, director, and actor (He directed is first film The Great Love, in 1931 and a highly acclaimed play, Libel, in 1935; Anatomy of a Murder in 1959 and Exodus in 1960 ...)
• 1911 - Turks defeated by Italian forces at Tripoli.
• 1917 - Sidónio Pais, embaixador de Portugal em Berlim de 1912 a 1916, na altura professor da escola de Guerra (Academia Militar), e major, chefiou uma revolução que o levará ao poder três dias depois. O movimento e a situação política que criou será conhecido pelo «Dezembrismo».
• 1926 - Claude Monet, died, impressionist painter
• 1932 - Little Richard, born,American singer and songwriter
• 1932 - The first Ford Model C and V-8 automobile was introduced on this day
• 1932 - German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States.
• 1933- The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America
• 1934 - Joan Didion, born, American novelist
• 1936 - The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution.
• 1938 - J.J. Cale, born, musician
• 1941 - The nonfiction book Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck is published (Steinbeck used knowledge gained writing this book to develop the marine biologist character Doc in Cannery Row).
• 1945- Flight 19, a United States Navy training flight was lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
• 1946- Jose Carreras , born, Opera singer
• 1947 - Egberto Gismonti , born compositor e multiinstrumentista brasileiro
• 1952 The Abbott and Costello Show debuts.Comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello launch their TV show. They made only 52 episodes, but the show appeared in reruns for decades
• 1955: The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a federation of autonomous trade unions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is formed.
• 1962 - José Cura, born, Argentine tenor
• 1964 - Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.
• 1969 - Writer-director Morgan J. Freeman born, writer - director
• 1974 - The last new episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is broadcast on the BBC.
• 1977 - Egypt severs ties with Arab hardliners President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt breaks all relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen.
• 1978 - USSR and Afghanistan sign "friendship treaty"; In an effort to prop up an unpopular pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Afghan government agreeing to provide economic and military assistance.
• 1979 - feminist Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church because of her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.
• 1992 - Aid agencies are stripped by gunmen in Somalia on eve of US troop arrival.
• 2002 - At Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday celebration, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott praised Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid. Lott subsequently resigned his leadership position.