This Day in History — December 2
Today is the 336th day of 2022. There are 29 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
1961: Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares himself a Marxist-Leninist who will lead Cuba to Communism.
OTHER EVENTS
1697: St Paul’s Cathedral is consecrated in London.
1763: Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what will become the United States.
1804: At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French.
1816: The first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opens for business.
1852: Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French as Napoleon III.
1927: Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
1969: The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its debut as 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, fly from Seattle to New York City.
1971: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.
1976: Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
1982: In the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implant a permanent artificial heart. Barney Clark, a retired dentist, lives 112 days with the device.
1988: Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the Government of an Islam-dominated State.
1991: Canada and Poland become the first nations to recognise the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.
1993: Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín. NASA launches the space shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
2001: Enron Corp, the largest United States energy-trading company, files for bankruptcy protection, dealing a blow to financial markets worldwide. It is the largest bankruptcy in US history.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY
Maria Callas, US opera singer (1923-1977); Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (1946-1997); Monica Seles, Yugoslav tennis player (1973- ); Britney Spears, US pop singer (1981- ); Lucy Liu, US actress (1968- ); Clive Bright, reggae and dancehall singer “Tenor Saw” (1966- 1989)
— AP
