On this day in History - Dec. 04

• 0765 - Jafar Sadiq dies (b. 0702). Shia Imam
• 0771 - Carloman dies (b. 0721). King of the Franks.
• 1075 - Archbishop Anno II of Cologne dies.
• 1110 - First Crusade: The Crusaders conquer Sidon.
• 1123 - Omar Khayyám dies (b. 1048). Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher.
• 1154 - Nicolas Breakspear becomes Pope Adriano IV
• 1214 - William I of Scotland dies.
• 1259 - Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.
• 1270 - Theobald V of Champagne dies. King of Navarre
• 1334 - Pope John XXII dies (b. 1249).
• 1340 - Henry Burghersh dies (b. 1292). English bishop and chancellor.
• 1443 - Pope Julius II was born (d. 1513).
• 1459 - Adolf VIII dies (b. 1401). Duke of Southern Jutland.
• 1555 - Heinrich Meibom was born (d. 1625). German historian and poet.
• 1563 - The final session of the Council of Trent is held (it opened on December 13, 1545).
• 1576 - Rheticus dies (b. 1514). Austrian mathematician
• 1580 - Samuel Argall was born (d. 1626). English adventurer and naval officer.
• 1585 - John Cotton was born (d. 1652). American Puritan leader.
• 1585 - John Willock dies. Scottish reformer
• 1586 - Elisabeth I England confirms the death sentence against Marie Stuart
• 1595 - Jean Chapelain was born (d. 1674). French writer.
• 1609 - Alexander Hume dies. Scottish poet
• 1612 - Samuel Butler was born (d. 1680). English poet.
• 1619 - Thirty-eight colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God (this is considered to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas)
• 1639 - Jeremiah Horrocks made the first observation of a transit of Venus. (November 24 under the Julian calendar.)
• 1642 - Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu dies (b. 1585). French statesman.
• 1646 - Alain Emmanuel de Coëtlogon was born (d. 1730). Marshal of France.
• 1649 - William Drummond of Hawthornden dies (b. 1585). Scottish poet.
• 1660 - André Campra was born (d. 1744). French composer
• 1670 - John Aislabie was born (d. 1742). English politician
• 1674 - Father Jacques Marquette founded a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan to minister to the Illinois Indians (the mission later grew into Chicago, Illinois).
• 1676 - Battle of Lund: A Danish army under the command of King Christian V of Denmark engages the Swedish army commanded by Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt.
• 1679 - Thomas Hobbes dies (b. 1588). English philosopher.
• 1680 - Thomas Bartholin dies (b. 1616). Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian
• 1696 - Empress Meisho of Japan dies (b. 1624).
• 1711 - Maria Bárbara de Bragança was born. Daughter of the King of Portugal D. João V. Queen consort of Spain.
• 1713 - Gasparo Gozzi was born (d. 1786). Italian critic and dramatist.
• 1732 - John Gay dies (b. 1685). British playwright.
• 1762 - Manuel Ferreira [Frei Manuel de Santa Inês] was born in Baguim do Monte, Rio Tinto (d. 24 Jan. 1840). Portuguese religious.
• 1777 - Juliette Récamier was born (d. 1849). French socialite.
• 1783 - George Washington delivered his farewell address to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City.
• 1784 - Wiseman Claget dies (b. 1721). British classical scholar
• 1791 - The first issue of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published.
• 1795 - Thomas Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan (d. 1881). Scotish historian and essayst.
• 1798 - Jules Armand Dufaure was born (d. 1881). French statesman.
• 1798 - Luigi Galvani dies (b. 1737).Italian physicist.
• 1800 - Carl Ludvig Emil Aarestrup was born. Danish poet.
• 1816 - James Monroe of Virginia was elected (by electors) the fifth president of the United Sates.
• 1828 - Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool dies (b. 1770). Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1829 - In the face of fierce opposition, British Lord William Bentinck carries a regulation declaring that all who abetted suttee in India were guilty of culpable homicide.
• 1835 - Samuel Butler was born (d. 1902). British writer.
• 1844 - Franz Xavier Wernz was born (d. 1914). German Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
• 1845 - Gregor MacGregor dies. British con-man
• 1849 - Crazy Horse was born (d. 1877). Oglala Sioux chief .
• 1852 - Orest Khvolson was born (d. 1934). Russian physicist.
• 1857 - Francisco Filinto de Almeida was born in Porto (d. in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 28 Jan. 1945). Portuguese-born Brazilian writer.
• 1861 - Lillian Russell was born (d. 1922). American singer and actress.
• 1862 - Nina Rodrigues was born in Vargem Grande (d. 17 Jul 1906 in Paris). Brazilian physician and anthropologist.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General William T. Sherman's campaign of destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to the Gulf of Mexico (Union forces did suffer more than three times the casualties as the Confederates, however).
• 1866 - Vasily Kandinsky was born (d. 1944). Russian-born French painter.
• 1867 - Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange movement).
• 1868 - Jesse Burkett was born (d. 1953). Baseball player.
• 1872 - The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged).
• 1875 - Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then Spain.
• 1875 - Rainer Maria Rilke was born in Prague (d. 1926). Austro-Hungarian poet.
• 1875 - Joe Corbett was born (d. 1945). Baseball player.
• 1879 - Hamilton Harty was born. Irish composer.
• 1881 - The Los Angeles Times is first published.
• 1881 - Erwin von Witzleben was born (d. 1944). German field marshal.
• 1889 - Lloyd Bacon was born (d. 1955). American actor and film director.
• 1892 - Francisco Franco was born (d. 1975). Dictator of Spain.
• 1895 - Fung Yu-lan was born (d. 1990). Chinese philosopher.
• 1902 - Charles Dow dies (b. 1851). American journalist (Dow Jones & Company - The Wall Street Journal).
• 1903 - Cornell Woolrich was born (d. 1968). American writer.
• 1905 - Emílio Garrastazu Médici (General) was born in Bagé - RS. 40th President of Brazil (30 Oct 1969 - 15 Mar 1974).
• 1906 - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity in the United States established for men of African descent, was founded at Cornell University.
• 1907 - Virgínia Rau was born (d. 1973). Portuguese historian.
• 1908 - Alfred Hershey was born (d. 1997). American bacteriologist and Nobel Prize laureate .
• 1910 - Alex North was born (d. 1991). American film music composer.
• 1910 - Ramaswamy Venkataraman was born. President of India (1987-1992)
• 1912 - Pappy Boyington was born (d. 1988). American pilot
• 1913 - Mark Robson was born (d. 1978). Canadian-born film director and producer.
• 1914 - Rudolf Hausner was born (d. 1995). Austrian artist.
• 1915 - Eddie Heywood was born (d. 1989). American jazz musician.
• 1916 - Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr. was born (d. 1994). American writer.
• 1918 - US President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office. President Wilson set sail for France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference.
• 1920 - Nadir Afonso was born in Chaves. Portuguese architect and painter.
• 1921 - Deanna Durbin was born. Canadian actress and singer.
• 1921 - The Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle ends in a hung jury.
• 1922 - Gérard Philipe was born (d. 1959). French actor.
• 1922 - Charles Keating was born. American lawyer
• 1926 - Ivana Kobilca dies (b. 1861). Slovenian-born painter.
• 1930 - Jim Hall was born. Jazz guitarist
• 1930 - Ronnie Corbett was born. Scottish actor.
• 1931 - Maximiliano Hernández Martínez becomes President of El Salavador.
• 1931 - Wally George was born (d. 2003). American TV commentator.
• 1931 - Alex Delvecchio was born. Canadian ice hockey Hall of Fame player
• 1932 - Roh Tae Woo was born. President of South Korea (1988-1993)
• 1933 - Horst Buchholz was born (d. 2003). German-born actor.
• 1933 - Stefan George dies (b. 1868). German poet.
• 1934 - Victor French was born (d. 1989). American actor.
• 1934 - Wink Martindale was born. American game show host
• 1935 - Johan Halvorsen dies (b. 1864). Norwegian composer
• 1935 - Charles Robert Richet dies (b. 1850). French physiologist and Nobel Prize laureate in 1913.
• 1937 - Max Baer, Jr. was born. American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer.
• 1938 - Yvonne Minton was born. Australian soprano
• 1939 - Freddy Cannon was born. American musician
• 1940 - John Cale was born. Rock musician (The Velvet Underground)
• 1942 - President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration, which had been created to provide jobs during the Depression.
• 1942 - U.S. bombers struck the Italian mainland for the first time in World War II.
• 1942 - Holocaust: In Warsaw, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Filipowicz set up Żegota.
• 1942 - Chris Hillman was born. American singer (The Byrds).
• 1942 - Gemma Jones was born. British actress.
• 1943 - World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.
• 1943 - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration.
• 1944 - Anna McGarrigle was born. Canadian folk music singer and songwriter
• 1944 - François Migault was born. French racing driver
• 1944 - Dennis Wilson was born (d. 1983). American musician and singer (The Beach Boys)
• 1944 - Roger Bresnahan dies (b. 1879). Baseball player.
• 1944 - Anna McGarrigle was born. Canadian folk music singer and songwriter
• 1945 - Roberta Bondar was born. Canadian astronaut and scientist
• 1945 - By a vote of 65 to 7, the The Senate approved U.S. participation in the United Nations (the UN was established on October 24, 1945).
• 1945 - Mira Amaral was born. Portuguese politician and engineer.
• 1945 - Thomas Hunt Morgan dies (b. 1866). American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1947 - Terry Woods was born. Irish musician (The Pogues, Steeleye Span)
• 1948 - Southside Johnny was born. American singer, born John Lyon
• 1949 - Jeff Bridges was born. American actor.
• 1949 - Pamela Stephenson was born. Actress
• 1951 - Mir Waiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusouf appointed President of Azad Kashmir Government.
• 1951 - Gary Rossington was born. American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
• 1952 - Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descended on London ("Smog" for "smoke" and "fog" became a word).
• 1953 - Rick Middleton was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1954 - Ghanaian government breaks off diplomatic relations with Belgium.
• 1954 - Tony Todd was born. American actor and producer.
• 1955 - Dave Taylor was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1956 - During a Carl Perkins recording session also involving Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, Elvis Presley visits the studio and jams with Perkins and Lewis extensively with the tapes rolling. (Cash reportedly participates briefly in the jam before leaving the studio with his wife and daughter.) The four men become known as the Million Dollar Quartet, and the complete tape from this legendary session is eventually released on compact disc in 1987.
• 1956 - Alexandr Rodchenko dies (b. 1891). Russian painter and photographer.
• 1957 - Eric S. Raymond was born. American open source advocate.
• 1957 - Raul Boesel was born. Brazilian racing driver.
• 1958 - Dahomey (present-day Benin) becomes a self-governing country within the French Community.
• 1958 - Steve Sailer was born. American political commentator.
• 1959 - A monkey returns to Earth safely, after being launched 55 miles high into outer space by the United States space program.
• 1959 - Christa Rothenburger was born. German speed skater and cyclist.
• 1959 - Susan W Krebs was born. American politician.
• 1959 - Paul McGrath was born. Irish footballer.
• 1960 - David Green was born. Baseball player.
• 1960 - Glynis Nunn was born. Australian heptathlete and Olympic gold medalist.
• 1961 - Frank Reich was born. American football player.
• 1962 - Alexander Litvinenko was born (d. 2006). Russian ex-spy.
• 1962 - Kevin Richardson was born. English footballer.
• 1963 - Sergey Bubka was born. Soviet-born Ukrainian athlete (pole vault). IAAF World Champion, Olympic gold medalist and current world-record holder.
• 1964 - Marisa Tomei was born. American actress
• 1965 - The United States launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Cmdr. James A. Lovell aboard.
• 1965 - Álex de la Iglesia was born. Spanish film director
• 1966 - Fred Armisen was born. American actor and musician
• 1966 - Chris Shepherd was born. British film director
• 1966 - Fred Armisen was born. American actor and musician.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: US and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta.
• 1967 - Bert Lahr dies (b. 1895). American actor.
• 1968 - Margaret Cho was born. American comedienne and actress.
• 1969 - Jay-Z was born. American rapper.
• 1969 - Surfer Greg Noll rides a 65-foot wave on the North Shore of Oahu, still the highest ever recorded.
• 1969 - Black Panther members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers.
• 1969 - Shawn Carter was born. American singer.
• 1969 - Lucas Radebe was born. South-African football player.
• 1969 - Jay-Z (Shawn Carter), American rapper
• 1969 - Fred Hampton dies (b. 1948). American activist.
• 1970 - Kevin Sussman was born. American actor
• 1970 - Sylvester Terkay was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1971 - UN Security Council calls emergency session to consider deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan.
• 1971 - Attack on Pakistan Navy and Karachi by the Indian Navy.
• 1971 - The Montreux Casino in Switzerland is set ablaze by someone wielding a flare gun during a Frank Zappa concert; the incident would be noted in the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water".
• 1972 - Nikki Tyler was born. American actress.
• 1973 - Tyra Banks was born. American supermodel.
• 1973 - Steven Menzies was born. Australian rugby league player.
• 1974 - Tadahito Iguchi was born. Japanese baseball player.
• 1975 - Hannah Arendt dies (b. 1906). German political theorist.
• 1976 - Amie Comeaux was born (d. 1997). American singer.
• 1976 - Ysabella Brave was born. American singer
• 1976 - Kristina Groves was born. Canadian speed skater.
• 1976 - Tommy Bolin dies (b. 1951). American guitarist.
• 1976 - Benjamin Britten dies (b. 1913). British composer.
• 1976 - W. F. McCoy dies (b. 1886). Northern irish politician.
• 1977 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.
• 1977 - A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 is hijacked and then blown up in mid-air over the Straits of Johore, killing 100.
• 1977 - Big Pokey was born. Rapper.
• 1978 - Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco, California's first woman mayor (she served until January 8, 1988).
• 1978 - Kyle Lohse was born. Baseball pitcher (Cincinnati Reds)
• 1979 - The Hastie fire in Hull, kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee.
• 1979 - Walther Müller dies (b. 1905). German physicist
• 1980 - The rock group Led Zeppelin formally announces its breakup.
• 1980 - Francisco Sá Carneiro, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister and Adelino Amaro da Costa, Portuguese politician, Minister of Defense die in office, when their plane crashed into a building in Camarate, soon after taking-off from Lisbon airport, when heading to Oporto to take party in a rally for the coalition presidential candidate, António Soares Carneiro.
• 1980 - Diogo Freitas do Amaral, with the death of Francisco Sá Carneiro, becomes Prime Minister of Portugal.
• 1980 - Stanislawa Walasiewicz (Stella Walsh) dies (b. 1911). Polish-born American athlete and Olympic gold medalist (competing for Poland).
• 1981 - South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa).
• 1982 - The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.
• 1982 - Ho-Pin Tung was born. Dutch-Chinese racing driver
• 1982 - Louis Aragon dies (b. 1897). French poet and writer.
• 1983 - Jimmy Bartel was born. Australian rules footballer
• 1984 - A five-day hijack drama began as four armed men seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to Pakistan and forced it to land in Tehran, where the hijackers killed American passenger Charles Hegna.
• 1984 - Hezbollah militants hijack a Kuwait Airlines plane, killing four passengers.
• 1984 - Lindsay Felton was born in Seattle, Washington. American actress.
• 1984 - Lauren London was born. American actress.
• 1984 - Brooke Adams born. American model.
• 1985 - Andrew Brackman was born. American baseball player.
• 1986 - Martell Webster was born. American basketball player.
• 1987 - Rouben Mamoulian dies (b. 1897). Armenian-American film director.
• 1988 - Carlos Andres Perez wins the Presidential elections in Venezuela.
• 1991 - Journalist Terry Anderson is released after seven years as a hostage in Lebanon.
• 1991 - US airline Pan Am ends operations.
• 1992 - President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 US troops to Somalia.
• 1992 - Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 US troops to Somalia, east Africa.
• 1993 - A truce is concluded between the government of Angola and UNITA rebels.
• 1993 - Frank Zappa dies (b. 1940). American rock musician and composer
• 1994 - Bosnian Serbs released 53 out of some 400 U.N. peacekeepers they were holding as insurance against further NATO airstrikes.
• 1995 - Lionel Giroux dies (b. 1935). Canadian midget wrestler.
• 1997 - Richard Vernon dies (b. 1925). British actor.
• 1998 - Unity, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
• 1999 - Rose Bird was born (d. 1936). American judge.
• 2001 - Lisa Beamer, wife of Todd Beamer, through the Todd M. Beamer Foundation, registers the trademark "Let's Roll" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office less than three months after his death in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
• 2003 - Interpol put the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, on its most-wanted list.
• 2003 - Maria de Arruda Müller dies (b. 09 Dec 1888 in Cuiabá). Brazilian educator and poet.
• 2003 - Iggy Katona dies (b. 1916). American race car driver.
• 2004 - Maria Julia Mantilla García, Peruvian, is crowned Miss World 2004
• 2004 - Elena Souliotis dies (b. 1943). Greek soprano.
• 2005 - Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protested for democracy and called on the Government to allow universal and equal suffrage.
• 2005 - O Sport Club Corinthians Paulista lost against Góias (2-3) but won the Brazilian football Championship.
• 2005 - Gregg Hoffman dies (b. 1963). American film producer.
• 2005 - Gloria Lasso dies (b. 1922). French-Spanish singer.
• 2006 - Adult giant squid is caught on video by Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo.
• 2006 - James Kim dies (b. 1971). CNET Reviewer.
• Roman festivals - secret ceremonies in honor of Bona Dea
• R.C. Saints - Saint John of Damascus: optional memorial; also Saint Barbara
• First day that rain is prayed for in the Diaspora in Judaism. It is notably the only Jewish day which is tied to the civil calendar.
• Santería, Lukumí - Day of Shango
• International Hug Day.
• Navy Day in India
• Festa da Santa Bárbara em Salvador, Bahia.