On this day in History - Dec. 1

1081 - King Louis VI of France was born (d. 1137)
1083 - Anna Comnena was born (d. 1153). Byzantine historian.
1135 - Henry I of England dies at St. Denis le Fermont in Normandy of food poisoning from a surfeit of lampreys.
1135 - Henry I of England dies
1241 - Isabella of England dies (b. 1214). Wife of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
1377 - King Magnus II of Sweden dies (b. 1316)
1433 - Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan dies (b. 1377)
1455 - Lorenzo Ghiberti dies (b. 1378). Italian artist and metal smith.
1521 - Takeda Shingen was born (d. 1573). Japanese warlord.
1521 - Pope Leo X dies (b. 1475)
1525 - Tadeáš Hájek was born (d. 1600). Czech physician and astronomer
1530 - Margaret of Austria dies (b. 1480). Regent of the Netherland.
1575 - Diogo de Paiva de Andrade dies. Portuguese sacro orator and theologian.
1580 - Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc was born (d. 1637). French astronomer
1580 - Giovanni Morone dies (b. 1509). Italian cardinal
1581 - Edmund Campion dies martyred (b. 1540). English Jesuit.
1581 - Ralph Sherwin dies (b. 1550). English Catholic saint.
1602 - Kobayakawa Hideaki dies (b. 1582). Japanese samurai and warlord
1633 - Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain dies (b. 1566)
1640 - Portugal regains its independence from Spain and João IV of Portugal becomes king.
1660 - Pierre d'Hozier dies (b. 1592). French historian.
1690 - Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke was born (d. 1764). Lord Chancellor of England
1707 - Jeremiah Clarke dies (b. 1674). British composer.
1709 - Abraham a Sancta Clara dies (b. 1644). Austrian preacher.
1716 - Etienne-Maurice Falconet was born (d. 1791). French sculptor.
1723 - Susanna Centlivre dies. British dramatist and actress
1729 - Giacomo F. Maraldi dies (b. 1665). Italian-born French astronomer.
1743 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth was born (d. 1817). German chemist.
1750 - Johan Gabriel Doppelmayr dies (b. 1671). German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer
1755 - Maurice Greene dies (b. 1696). British composer.
1764 - Palacio Real de Madrid is inaugurated by Carlos III .
1766 - Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born (d. 1826). Russian writer.
1767 - Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan dies (b. 1710). British Freemason.
1792 - Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky was born (d. 1856). Russian mathematician.
1814 - General Andrew Jackson, commander of the U.S. Army of the Southwest, hastened to defend New Orleans, Louisiana, against British invasion; a series of skirmishes over the next few weeks culminated in the Battle of New Orleans.
1822 - Peter I is crowned as Emperor of Brazil.
1824 - U.S. presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner (as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution).
1825 - Tsar Alexander I of Russia dies (b. 1777)
1830 - Pope Pius VIII dies (b. 1761)
1835 - Hans Christian Andersen publishes his first book of fairy tales
1844 - Alexandra of Denmark was born (d. 1925). Queen of Edward VII of the United Kingdom
1866 - George Everest dies. British geodesist who gave his name to the well known mount.
1868 - First number of the newspaper "O Primeiro de Janeiro" (Porto, Portugal) is published.
1873 - Valery Bryusov was born (d. 1924). Russian poet.
1884 - American Old West - Near Frisco (now Reserve), New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting Charles McCarthy.
1884 - Karl Schmidt-Rottluff German artist noted for his landscapes and nudes, cofounded in 1905 Die Brücke, a group of German painters and printmakers who were pivotal to the development of Expressionism.
1885 - Although the exact date is unknown, the US Patent Office acknowledges December 1st of this year as the first day Dr Pepper was served.
1886 - Rex Stout was born (d. 1975). American author.
1887 - Sino-Portuguese treaty recognizes Portugal's control of Macao.
1887 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes appeared for the first time in print in the story "A Study in Scarlet."
1895 - Henry Williamson was born (d. 1977). British author.
1901 - Ilona Feher was born (d. 1988). Hungarian-born Israeli violinist.
1904 - the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis closed after seven months and some 20 million visitors. 1909 - Alberto Sampaio dies. Portuguese historian.
1910 - Alicia Markova was born (d. 2004). British ballerina
1911 - Walter Alston was born (d. 1984). American baseball manager.
1911 - Calvin Griffith was born (d. 1999). American baseball executive.
1912 - Minoru Yamasaki was born (d. 1986). American architect (World Trade Center de New York )
1913 - Mary Martin was born (d. 1990). American actress and singer.
1913 - The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
1918 - Iceland becomes a self-governing kingdom, yet remains united with Denmark.
1918 - Transylvania unites with Romania, following the March 27 incorporation of Bessarabia and Bucovina.
1918 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
1919 - Lady Astor becomes first the female member of Parliament to take her seat (she had been elected to that position on November 28).
1922 - Paul Picerni was born. American actor
1923 - Morris was born († 2001) . Belgian cartoonist who was the criator of Lucky Luke.
1923 - Stansfield Turner was born. American admiral and Central Intelligence Agency director
1925 - World War I aftermath: - The final Locarno Treaty is signed in London, establshing post-war territorial settlements.
1926 - Maria Fernanda Botelho was born. Portuguese writer.
1928 - José Eustasio Rivera dies (b. 1888). Colombian writer.
1930 - Joachim Hoffmann was born (d. 2002). German historian.
1931 - Vincent d'Indy dies. French composer.
1932 - Matt Monro was born. British singer.
1934 - Sergei Kirov, a member of Politburo, was assassinated in Leningrad, by Leonid Nikolayev resulting in a massive purge. (It is widely thought that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered this murder).
1934 - Benny Goodman debuts on radio. Jazz clarinet pioneer Benny Goodman debuts as a regular on radio variety show Let's Dance. Goodman, who was white, became one of the first bandleaders to use both black and white musicians.
1934 - Billy Paul was born in Philadelphia. Singer ( Me and Mrs. Jones).
1934 - Pedro Tamen was born. Portuguese poet and translator.
1934 - In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergei Kirov is shot dead at the Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad by Leonid Nikolayev.
1935 - Woody Allen was born. American Academy-award film director, actor, and comedian (Annie Hall [1977]; Radio Days, Alice, New York Stories, Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan, Bananas, etc);
1935 - Lou Rawls was born. American singer
1938 - Sandy Nelson was born. American drummer
1939 - Lee Trevino was born. American golfer
1940 - Richard Pryor was born. American actor and comedian
1941 - World War II: Mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, and the director of the Office of Civilian Defense, sign an order creating the Civil Air Patrol.
1942 - John Crowley was born. American author.
1943 - President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin concluded their Teheran Conference
1943 - Damrong Rajanubhab dies (b. 1862). Thai prince and historian.
1944 - John Densmore was born. American drummer (The Doors)
1944 - Edward Stettinius Jr. becomes the last United States Secretary of State of the Roosevelt administration. 1945 - Bette Midler was born. American actress
1946 - Gilbert O'Sullivan was born. Irish singer.
1947 - Aleister Crowley dies (b. 1875). British occultist.
1948 - George Foster was born. American baseball player
1949 - Sebastián Piñera was born. Chilean businessman and presidential candidate
1950 - Keith Thibodeau was born. American actor and drummer.
1950 - E. J. Moeran dies (b. 1894). British composer.
1951 - Jaco Pastorius was born (d. 1987). American bassist.
1952 - The New York Daily News reports the first successful sexual reassignment operation.
1953 - Anselmo Vasconcelos was born. Brazilian actor.
1953 - First number of Playboy with Marilyn Monroe.
1954 - O Estádio da Luz ("The Stadium of Light") of Sport Lisboa e Benfica is inaugurated in Lisbon.
1955 - American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1958 - The Central African Republic becomes independent from France.
1958 - A fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, Illinois kills 92 children and three nuns.
1958 - Charlene Tilton was born. Actress (Lucy Ewing-Dallas)
1959 - Cold War: The Antarctic Treaty is signed, setting aside Antarctica as a scientific reserve and banning military activity on the continent.
1959 - Wally Lewis was born. Australian international rugby league player
1960 - Carol Alt was born. Actress and model (Amazon, Beyond Justice, Thunder in Paradise, Private Parts, Grownups)
1961 - Jeremy Northam was born. British actor
1961 - The independent Republic of West Papua is proclaimed in modern-day Western New Guinea.
1963 - Nagaland becomes the 16th state of India
1963 - Arjuna Ranatunga was born. Sri Lankan test cricketer
1964 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.
1964 - Salvatore Schillaci was born. Italian footballer.
1964 - J. B. S. Haldane dies (b. 1892). British geneticist.
1965 - The Border Security Force is formed in India.
1968 - Gonzalo Barrios elected President of Venezuela
1969 - Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States since World War II is held.
1970 - Luis Echeverria Alvarez sworn in as President of México
1971 - Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
1971 - Emily Mortimer was born. British actress
1973 - Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia.
1973 - David Ben-Gurion dies (b. 1886). Polish-born first Prime Minister of Israel
1974 - TWA Flight 514 crashes northwest of Washington Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on-board.
1974 - Costinha (Francisco José da Costa) was born. Portuguese international footballer
1975 - Long-running soap opera The Edge of Night switches networks to ABC after 19 years on CBS.
1975 - Nellie Fox dies (b. 1927). American baseball player.
1975 - Anna E. Roosevelt dies (b. 1906). American radio personality.
1975 - Alya Rohali was born. Miss Universe-Indonesia (1996)
1975 - Sandra Maidana was born. Miss Universe-Uruguay (1996)
1976 - Matthew Shepard was born (d. 1998). American murder victim.
1976 - Angola admitted to United Nations
1977 - Brad Delson was born. American guitarist (Linkin Park)
1980 - Mohammad Kaif was born. Indian test cricketer
1981 - A Yugoslavian Inex Adria Aviopromet DC-9 crashes in Corsica killing 178.
1982 - Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado inaugurated as President of México
1982 - Michael Jackson releases "Thriller"
1985 - Alvin Ailey dies (b. 1931). American dancer and choreographer.
1986 -The President of the Republic, François Mitterrand, inaugurated the new Musée d'Orsay in Paris and it opened to the public on December 9th.
1987 - James Baldwin dies (b. 1924). American writer.
1987 - NASA announces the names of four companies who are awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom.
1987 - Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen resigns as Premier of Queensland after 19 Years.
1988 - Benazir Bhutto named 1st female PM of a Moslem country (Pakistan)
1988 - Ashley Monique Clark was born. Actress.
1988 - Carlos Salinas de Gortari sworn as President of Mexico
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.
1991 - George Joseph Stigler dies (b. 1911). American economist and Nobel Prize laureate.
1994 - Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León inaugurated as President of Mexico (succeeding to Carlos Salinas de Gortari ).
1995 - The NATO alliance chose Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana to be its new secretary-general
1996 - 85th Davis Cup: France beats Sweden in Malmo (3-2)
1997 - Stéphane Grappelli dies (b. 1908). French jazz violinist.
1997 - Representatives from more than 150 countries gathered at a global warming summit in Kyoto, Japan, and over the course of ten days forged an agreement to control the emission of greenhouse gases. President Bush pulled the U.S. out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.
1998 - Exxon announces a US$73.7 billion deal to buy Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the largest company on the planet.
2000 - Vicente Fox is sworn-in as President of Mexico, ending the 75 year control of the PRI.
2001 - Trans World Airlines flies its last flight, after being bought by American Airlines
2001 - Jean-Pierre Chabrol dies. French writer
2003 - Clark Kerr dies (b. 1911). First Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley
2004 - Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands dies (b. 1911)
Portugal - Restauration of Independence Day
Iceland Independence Day (1918)
Ancient Latvia - Barbes Diena observed
Feast day of St Eligius
Romania - Union Day (the national holiday)
Angola's Pioneers' Day
World AIDS Day