5 December

Events

• 1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
• 1560 - Francis II of France dies and is succeeded by Charles IX of France.
• 1766 - In London, James Christie holds his first sale (he later founded Christie's, the world's oldest auction house).
• 1776 - At the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the Phi Beta Kappa is founded as the first scholastic fraternity in the United States.
• 1831 - Former US President John Quincy Adams takes a seat in the United States House of Representatives.
• 1848 - California gold rush: In a message before the United States Congress, US President James Knox Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
• 1873 - In Boston, Massachusetts, Warren Avenue Baptist Church sexton Thomas Piper strangles and beats to death his first victim, Bridget Landregan (the press later dubbed the then unknown serial killer "The Boston Belfry Murderer").
• 1933 - Prohibition ends: Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 3/4th of states needed to enact the amendment (this overturned the 18th Amendment which had outlawed alcohol in the United States).
• 1934 - Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Ethiopia (it took four days to capture the city).
• 1936 - The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution.
• 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.
• 1952 - The Abbott and Costello Show starring comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, debuts.
• 1955 - The trade unions American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations decided to merge and form the AFL-CIO.
• 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.
• 1974 - The last new episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is broadcast on the BBC.
• 1978 - The Soviet Union signs a 'friendship treaty' with the communist government of Afghanistan.
• 1979 - Sonia Johnson is formally excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
• 2003 - Johannes Heesters, the world's oldest living actor, turns 100.

Births

• 1782 - Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States and first US President born in the United States (d. 1862)
• 1822 - Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, American educator, first president of Radcliffe College (d. 1907)
• 1830 - Christina Rossetti, poet (d. 1894)
• 1839 - George Armstrong Custer, American general (d. 1876)
• 1841 - Marcus Daly, American mining tycoon (d. 1900)
• 1870 - Vitezslav Novák, composer (d. 1949)
• 1871 - Bill Pickett, rodeo star (d. 1932)
• 1875 - Arthur Currie, soldier (d. 1933)
• 1879 - Clyde Cessna, founder Cessna Aircraft Company (d. 1954)
• 1886 - Rose Wilder Lang, writer (d. 1968)
• 1890 - David Bomberg, painter (d. 1957)
• 1890 - Fritz Lang, film director (d. 1976)
• 1901 - Werner Karl Heisenberg, physicist (d. 1976)
• 1901 - Walt Disney, film producer (d. 1966)
• 1902 - Strom Thurmond, American politician (d. 2003)
• 1903 - Johannes Heesters, singer and actor
• 1906 - Otto Preminger, director, producer (d. 1986)
• 1914 - Hans Hellmut Kirst, author (d. 1989)
• 1927 - Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand (r. 1946-)
• 1932 - Little Richard, singer
• 1932 - Sheldon Lee, physicist
• 1934 - Joan Didion, writer
• 1935 - Calvin Trillin, writer
• 1944 - Jeroen Krabbé, actor
• 1946 - José Carreras, singer
• 1947 - Jim Plunkett, American football star
• 1947 - Jim Messina, musician
• 1956 - Krystian Zimerman, pianist
• 1968 - Margaret Cho, comedian, actress

Deaths

• 1663 - Severo Bonini, composer
• 1758 - Johann Friedrich Fasch, composer
• 1784 - Phillis Wheatley, poet
• 1791 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer
• 1870 - Alexandre Dumas père, writer
• 1926 - Claude Oscar Monet, impressionist painter
• 1931 - Vachel Lindsay, poet
• 1940 - Jan Kubelík, violinist
• 1950 - Shri Aurobindo, guru
• 1963 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, composer
• 1991 - Richard Speck, murderer
• 2001 - Franco Rasetti, physicist
• 2002 - Einar Skinnarland, SOE agent
• 2002 - Roone Arledge, sports broadcasting pioneer
• 2002 - Ne Win, Burmese dictator

Holidays and observances

• The Netherlands and the UK- Saint Nicholas Eve (who they call Sinterklaas, which became in other languages Santa Claus)
• Roman Empire - Faunalia celebrated in honor of Faunus

See also

December 4 - December 6 - November 5 - January 5 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By