<< Dec 30|         HISTORY “4” “2”DAY          |Jan 01 >>
Events, deaths, births, of 31 DEC
[For Dec 31 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1582~1699: Jan 101700s: Jan 111800s: Jan 121900~2099: Jan 13]
ALL FOR 021231     ANY DAY  OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY        ART “4” DEC 31
On a 31 December:
2001 Of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, in the year 2001, Boeing Co. (BA), falling 41%, was the worst-performing, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), rising 52%, was the best. The DJI ($INDU) itself fell 7.1%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index ($OEX) a lost 13%, its worst annual performance since 1974, when it dropped nearly 30%. The Nasdaq index ($COMPQ) fell 21%. The stock averages had their second straight year of declines, the first time since 1973 and 1974.
2000 Bill Clinton suscribe el tratado para crear el Tribunal Penal Internacional (TPI) con capacidad para investigar y juzgar a individuos acusados de haber cometido graves delitos contra el Derecho Internacional Comunitario. Su sucesor en la presidencia de los EE.UU., George W. Bush, retirará la participación de los EE.UU. en el tribunal.
2000 Según lo anunciará el 20 febrero 2001 la fundación País Libre, en el año 2000 fueron secuestradas en Colombia 3706 personas, un 16 % más que el año de 1999. En promedio se secuestraron 10.5 personas diarias, de las cuales 305 eran menores de edad. El departamento que presentó mayor número de secuestros fue Antioquia con 723 víctimas, seguido de Santander con 302 casos y luego Valle con 286. De los secuestros de autoría establecida, el 34% se le atribuye al ELN, mientras que el 32% a las FARC, el 13 % a la delincuencia común y el 10% a las Autodefensas, el porcentaje restante lo presentaron grupos como EPL, ERP, ERG Y JBC. En total, los grupos alzados en armas registraron el 86% de los secuestros. Del total de secuestrados, continúan cautivas 1243 personas, 182 personas perdieron la vida, 1570 fueron liberadas, 658 fueron rescatadas por las autoridades y 53 se fugaron.
1999 Boris Nicolaievich Yeltsin presenta su dimisión como presidente de Rusia y deja a su último primer ministro, Vladimir Putin, como presidente interino y favorito para elecciones presidenciales de marzo del año 2000.
1999 Miembros de grupos guerrilleros cachemiríes liberan a los 155 pasajeros que aún seguían secuestrados desde el pasado 24 de diciembre en el aeropuerto de la ciudad afgana de Kandahar.
1999 Y2K, the showdown.
      As the Y2K hysteria culminates, computer technicians go on all-night duty all over the US and in many other parts of the world, to make sure that the "Y2K compliance" that, with great profit to themselves, they have implemented (or not, in less wealthy countries) prevents disastrous effects from the change of the two last digits of the year number "99" to "00". All along they have sold, to the tune of billions of dollars, that fear to the gullible public (including the US government and major corporations), unaware of the fact that computers internally don't operate on the decimal system of numeration, but the binary, for which 2000 is not a particularly round number, but just 11111010000, and going from 99 to 100 does not require an extra binary digit, but is just from 1100011 to 1100100.
     People have been advised to stock up on canned foods, drinking water, flashlight batteries, emergency power supplies, etc. for fear that electricity, transportation, and all the underpinnings of the modern economy will be disrupted for days, possibly weeks.
1999 Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama.
1998 Los ministros de Hacienda de los once estados del euro unen para siempre sus divisas en la nueva moneda común y fijan los tipos de cambio más importantes de la historia económica de Europa.
1998 El ejército de Saddam Hussein dispara contra aviones aliados que sobrevolaban cielo iraquí, lo que provoca la reacción militar de Estados Unidos.
1997 CompuServe goes to the Web
      CompuServe presents a new Web-based information service called "C from CompuServe. “ America Online had already announced its intention to purchase the company's subscriber list, and the new service was part of a turnaround effort to stem financial losses. The new service ported much of CompuServe's proprietary content, including discussion groups, e-mail, and online shopping, to the Web. The Web would be free during a trial period and depend at least partially on advertising to generate revenue.
1994 El presidente angoleño José Eduardo dos Santos, insta a la reconciliación nacional, después de 20 años de guerra civil.
1992 Se produce oficialmente la escisión de Checoslovaquia en dos nuevos estados: la República Checa y la República de Eslovaquia.
1992 Target date for Europe's single market.
1991 Se firma en Nueva York el alto el fuego entre el Gobierno de El Salvador y el Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMLN).
1991 Dow Jones closes at record high 3168.83
1990 Iraq begins a military draft of 17 year olds
1989 El Consejo del Frente de Salvación Nacional (FSN), presidido por Ion Iliescu, aprueba la composición provisional del nuevo Gobierno rumano, cuyo primer ministro es Petre Roman.
1985 King Hussein of Jordan and President Assad of Syria hold talks
1984 Rajiv Gandhi takes office as India's 6th PM succeeds his mom, Indira.
1983 En Nigeria, un golpe militar encabezado por Muhammadu Buhari ha derrocado el régimen de Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliu Shagari.
1983 Brunei gains complete independence from Britain.
1981 Jerry John Rawlings protagoniza en Ghana un golpe de estado, que suspende la constitución y prohíbe los partidos políticos.
1981 Rawlings overthrows government in Ghana.
      Jerry J. Rawlings, the flight lieutenant who led a blood coup that ousted Ghana's ruling military junta in 1979, overthrows the elected government of President Hilla Limann, suspends the constitution, and forbids all political parties. In the first few months after the 1979 coup, Rawlings purged Ghana of his political opposition, before turning the government over to an elected president, Dr. Hilla Limann. When Limann proved ineffectual in achieving Rawlings's aims, he led his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council in a second coup. Limann was placed under house arrest and the democratic government of Ghana was dismantled. Over the next decade, Rawlings suppressed dissent, successfully enlisted economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and survived four coup attempts. In the late 1980s, Ghana showed signs of economic growth and Rawlings intiatiated a gradual democratization of the government. In 1992, a new constitution was established and the ban was lifted on opposition parties. That same year, Rawlings won the first national multiparty election for president by an apparent landslide. He was re-elected to another 4-year term in 1996, and, barred by the constitution from running for a third term, would hand over power on 07 January 2001 to opposition leader John Agyekum Kuffuor, winner of the run-off election of 28 December 2000..
1980 Leopold Segar Senghor dimite de la presidencia de Senegal, a favor de Abdou Diouf.
1978 Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with the US
1977 Donald Woods, a banned white editor flees South Africa
1974 Gold legal in US, Franklin Mint strikes Panama's Gold 100 balboa coin
1973 Carlos Arias Navarro es nombrado por Franco presidente del Gobierno español, tras el asesinato once días antes del almirante Luis Carrero Blanco.
1972 Leap second day; also in 1973-79, 1987
1971 US President Richard Nixon signs the National Air Quality Control Act, which calls for a 90% reduction in automobile emissions by 1975. The act also tightened air-pollution controls and fines in other industries.
1970 US Congress repeals the Gulf of Tonkin resolution of 7 August 1964, which, based on false reports of a North Vietnamese gunboat attack, led to dramatically increased US military involvement in Vietnam.
JOINT RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS — HJ Res 1145 — Aug. 7, 64
Formally titled: Southeast Asia Resolution
Approved by House, 88 to 2; Senate 416 to 0
      To promote the maintenance of international peace and security in Southeast Asia.
WHEREAS naval units of the Communist regime in Vietnam, in violation of the principles of the Charter of the UN and of international law, have deliberately and repeatedly attacked US naval vessels lawfully present in international waters, and have thereby created a serious threat to international peace; and
WHEREAS these attacks are part of a deliberate and systematic campaign of aggression that the Communist regime in NV has been waging against its neighbors and the nations joined with them in the collective defense of their freedom; and
WHEREAS the US is assisting the peoples of Southeast Asia to protect their freedom and has no territorial, mili or political ambitions in that area, but desires only that these peoples should be left in peace to work out their own destinies in their own way; Now, therefore be it
      Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the US of America in Congress assembled, That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Cmdr in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression.
SECTION 2. The US regards as vital its national interest and to world peace and security in Southeast Asia. Consonant with the Constitution of the US and Charter of the UN and in accordance with its obligations under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, [SACDT] the US is, therefore, prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the SACDT requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.
SECTION 3. This resolution shall expire when the President shall determine that the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured by international conditions created by action that it may be terminated earlier by concurrent resolution of the Congress.
1969 El Congo-Brazzaville se convierte en República Popular
1968 1st supersonic airliner flown (Russian TU-144) — Despega el primer avión comercial supersónico del mundo, el Tu-144, diseñado por Andrei Nikolaievich Tupolev.
1965 El coronel Jean Bedel Bokassa derroca al presidente David Dacko, y se hace con el poder en República Centroafricana.
1963 Los obreros españoles emigrados cubren el 20% de los nuevos puestos de trabajo creados en los países del Mercado común Europeo; en Francia representan el 33%.
1962 Katanga becomes part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1961 Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
1958 Ante el avance del ejército rebelde de Castro, el dictador Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar huye de Cuba.
1955 General Motors announces that it has earned $1'189'477'082 during the past year, the first US corporation whose annual earnings exceeds one billion dollars.
1951 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced
1946 President Truman officially proclaims end of WW-II
1946 French troops leave Lebanon
1945 Ratification of UN Charter completed.
1945 Hirohito abjura de su supuesto origen divino y promete a los japoneses que gobernará democráticamente.
1944 Los sovieticos entregan la administración de Polonia a un Gobierno provisional comunista títere.
1943 ENIAC computer progress report
      John Mauchly and Presper Eckert, leaders of the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School's efforts to develop an electronic computer, sent a progress report to the US army, which had commissioned the computer to calculate firing tables for heavy artillery. Although since the time ENIAC was proposed the engineers had devised a way to include stored memory, the memo explained why memory was not necessary for the army's computer. In the progress report, Mauchly and Eckert explained that because the machine only needed to do one thing--calculate ballistics--it would not need to store other programs in its memory. Early computers had to be completely rewired in order to program them to perform a new task. The army commissioned the computer in the spring of 1943; unfortunately, it took more than three years to build, and it was not finished until after World War II had ended.
1941 America's last automobiles with chrome-plated trim are manufactured on this day. Starting in 1942, chrome is reserved for the war effort. Anyhow practically no civilian automobiles would be produced in the US from 1942 through the end of World War II.
1935 Manuel Portela Valladares preside un nuevo Gobierno en España.
1933 El avión de caza Polikarpov I-16, Rata, lleva a cabo su vuelo inaugural.
1933 Al constatar el fracaso del pacto de los Cuatro, Benito Mussolini declara: "Hablará la majestad del cañón"
1933 US Treasury Secretary resigns because of health
     Industrialist and businessman William Woodin helped guide a bank, manufacturing plant, and shipping firm before being named 51st secretary of the Treasury by President Franklin Roosevelt in March of 1933. Woodin took office while America was deep in the Great Depression and he was charged with reviving the nation's faith in the economy. Woodin and Roosevelt wasted little time taking action: just four days into the secretary's term, Roosevelt closed the nation's banks to mete out a new series of fiscal regulations. Ten days later, the president lifted the so-called "banking holiday" and handed Woodin the responsibility of steering banks along a strict and sound financial course. The secretary was also charged with infusing the economy with a hefty batch of Federal Reserve notes, as well as helping the newly elected president kick start the New Deal program of economic initiatives. However, the strain of guiding the nation back to prosperity took a fast and severe toll on Woodin; he suffered a breakdown in December of '33 and was forced to step down after less than a year on the job. Woodin passed away in the spring of 1934.
1930 Troops lead by the Sandinista Miguel Angel Ortiz ambushes a US Marine patrol in the muddy ravines of Achuapa, Nicaragua.
1929 El Congreso Nacional Indio, inspirado por Gandhi, se declara a favor de la completa independencia de la India.
1929 Pío XI publica la encíclica Divini Illius Magistri, dedicada a la educación cristiana.
1924 Hubble announces existence of distant galaxies.
1924 Se encarga al investigador Oskar Vogt que haga la autopsia del cerebro del fundador de la URSS Vladimir Ilich Ulianov “Lenin”, muerto el 21 Jan 1924.
1923 1st transatlantic radio broadcast of a voice, Pittsburgh-Manchester
1921 Last San Francisco firehorses retired.
1913 El Ministerio de la Gobernación español establece la censura sobre el material cinematográfico.
1911 Marie Curie first to receive a 2nd Nobel Prize.
      Prize Marie Sklodowska Curie receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her isolation of the element of metallic radium and other earlier discoveries in the field of chemistry. She is the first person to be awarded a second Nobel Prize, eight years after she became the first woman ever to be honored with a Nobel Prize. In 1903, the prestigious Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Curie, her husband, Pierre Curie, and the physicist, A. H. Becquerel, with a joint Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of radioactivity and the elements of polonium and radium. The Polish-born Marie Sklodowska married French scientist Pierre Curie in Paris in 1895, and Marie conducted independent research in the facilities of the municipal school in which Pierre was the director of laboratories. Following A. H. Becquere's discovery of radioactivity, she began to investigate uranium, a radioactive element found in pitchblende, and in 1898 she reported that another unknown element likely existed in the mineral. Pierre Curie joined in her research and later in the year, the couple discovered the elements of polonium and radium. Three years after receiving the Nobel Prize, Pierre Curie was killed in a road accident. Marie took over his chair for physics at Sorbonne University in Paris, and continued her research into radioactive elements. In 1910, Curie and her assistant, Andre Debierne, isolated metallic radium and in the next year she was later awarded her second Nobel Prize. She was made director of the laboratory of radioactivity at the Curie Institute of Radium, established jointly by the Pasteur Institute and the University of Paris, and began influential research on radioactivity and the value of radiological services and radium therapy in medicine.
1906 La documentación necesaria para la ratificación de los acuerdos de Algeciras es entregada en Madrid.
1901 End of the worst year in the 20th century for lynchings in the US: 105 Blacks, 25 Whites.
1897 Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898)
1890 Ellis Island (New York NY) opens as a US immigration depot, replacing Castle Garden.
1879 Public light bulb demonstration
      The Pennsylvania Railroad runs special trains to Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory so that the public can witness a demonstration of his newest invention, the incandescent light bulb. In October 1879, Edison and a young assistant Francis Upton finally developed a carbon filament that would burn in a vacuum in a glass bulb for forty hours. They demonstrated the bulb to their financial backers on 01 December 1879.
      In the first public demonstration of his incandescent lightbulb, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison lights up a street in Menlo Park, New Jersey. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran special trains to Menlo Park on the day of the demonstration in response to public enthusiasm over the event.
      Although the first incandescent lamp had been produced 40 years earlier, no inventor had been able to come up with a practical design until Edison embraced the challenge in the late 1870s. After countless tests, he developed a high-resistance carbon-thread filament that burned steadily for hours and an electric generator sophisticated enough to power a large lighting system.
      Born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847, Edison received little formal schooling, which was customary for most Americans at the time. He developed serious hearing problems at an early age, and this disability provided the motivation for many of his inventions. At age 16, he found work as a telegraph operator and soon was devoting much of his energy and natural ingenuity toward improving the telegraph system itself. By 1869, he was pursuing invention full-time and in 1876 moved into a laboratory and machine shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
      Edison's experiments were guided by his remarkable intuition, but he also took care to employ assistants who provided the mathematical and technical expertise he lacked. At Menlo Park, Edison continued his work on the telegraph, and in 1877 he stumbled on one of his great inventions--the phonograph--while working on a way to record telephone communication. Public demonstrations of the phonograph made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the "Wizard of Menlo Park."
      Although the discovery of a way to record and play back sound ensured him a place in the annals of history, the phonograph was only the first of several Edison creations that would transform late 19th-century life. Among other notable inventions, Edison and his assistants developed the first practical incandescent lightbulb in 1879 and a forerunner of the movie camera and projector in the late 1880s. In 1887, he opened the world's first industrial research laboratory at West Orange, where he employed dozens of workers to investigate systematically a given subject.
      Perhaps Edison's greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came from his work in electricity. He developed a complete electrical distribution system for light and power, set up the world's first power plant in New York City, and invented the alkaline battery, the first electric railroad, and a host of other inventions that laid the basis for the modern electrical world. One of the most prolific inventors in history, he continued to work into his 80s and acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime. He died in 1931 at the age of 84.
1874 Se decreta la restauración de la monarquía española, tras la adhesión del capitán general de Castilla la Nueva, Primo de Rivera, al pronunciamiento de Arsenio Martínez Campos.
1870 J D Schneiter patents rocket mail in France, (not done)
1862 President Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to the Union
1862 Battle of Parker's Crossroads
      Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest narrowly escapes capture during a raid in western Tennessee. Despite the close call, the raid was instrumental in forcing Union General Ulysses S. Grant to abandon his first attempt to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi.
      Forrest set out from Columbus, Tennessee, on 11 December 1862 to raid Union supply lines. He defeated a Union force at Lexington, Tennessee, on 18 December 1862 and spent the week of Christmas destroying Federal rail lines north of Jackson, Tennessee. By the end of December, several Union forces were bearing down on Forrest's cavalry. As the Confederates approached Parker's Crossroads, they detected a Yankee force ahead and Forrest decided to attack.
      Forrest approached the Union troops and sent part of his force around their flank. His dismounted cavalry were enjoying great success when firing suddenly sounded behind Forrest's troops. Another Yankee detachment had surprised the Confederates. The men assigned to hold the horses of the attacking Confederates were now fleeing in panic right past Forrest. At one point, Forrest himself came upon Union troops, who demanded that he surrender. He agreed and rode off to gather his force. The Rebel commander then calmly surveyed the situation and reportedly said, "Charge them both ways." He diverted part of his men from the initial attack to turn against the Federals coming from behind.
      Though 300 of Forrest's men were captured, the bulk of his forces escaped. The close call only served to enhance Forrest's reputation as a brilliant battlefield commander. Despite the loses, the raid--combined with General Earl Van Dorn's raid on Union supply lines further to the west--convinced Grant to abort his attempt on Vicksburg.
1862 Battle of Stones River (Murfeesboro), begins in central Tennessee. The armies struggled in the bitter cold for three days before the Union army, commanded by General William Rosecrans, defeated the Confederates under Braxton Bragg.
1857 Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada — La ciudad de Ottawa se convierte en la capital de Canadá.
1832 El rey Fernando VII declara públicamente que el decreto por el que había derogado la Pragmática Sanción carecía de valor.
1805 (10 nivôse An XIV) End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorian calendar.
1784 Carlos III establece en España la pena de galera para reforzar la lucha contra los piratas.
1781 Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
1776 Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is $0.70 a day for carpenters, $0.42 for tailors
1744 James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's motion of nutation
1687 The first shipload of emigrating Huguenots (French Protestants) leaves France for the Cape of Good Hope, where they would later create the South African wine industry with the vines they took with them on the voyage.
1600 Charter granted to the East India Company
      Queen Elizabeth I of England grants a formal charter to the London merchants trading to the East Indies, hoping to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade. In the first few decades of its existence, Britain's East India Company makes far less progress in the East Indies than it does in India itself, where it acquires unequaled trade privileges from India's Mogul emperors. By the 1630s, the company abandons its East Indies operations almost entirely, and concentrates on its lucrative trade of Indian textiles and tea. In the early eighteenth century, Mogul power declines, and the company begins to protect its interests by intervening more and more in Indian political affairs. The company, which has its own military, defeats the rival French East India Company in 1752 and the Dutch in 1759. With a near monopoly in India, the East India Company takes over the administration of the Indian state of Bengal. In 1773, the British government passes the Regulating Act to reign in the company, and its possessions in India are subsequently managed by a governor general. Under the East India Act of 1784, the British government assumes more direct responsibility for British activities in India, setting up a board of control for India. The parliamentary acts of 1813 and 1833 end the East India Company's trade monopoly, and the British government becomes increasingly the effective ruler of India. In 1857, a revolt by Indian soldiers in the Bengal army of the company develops into a widespread uprising against British rule in India. After the so-called Indian Mutiny is crushed in 1858, the British government assumes direct control over India, and the East India Company is dissolved.
1582 Dernier jour de l'année: En 1582, sous l'impulsion du pape Grégoire XIII, tous les pays catholiques romains décidèrent que le premier jour de l'année sera désormais le 01 janvier.
1566 Felipe II de España informa a Margarita de Austria duquesa de Parma que un ejército de 10'000 veteranos españoles, bajo el mando de Fernando III duque de Alba marchará, en abril, de Lombardía a los Países Bajos para restaurar el poder real.
1494 Charles VIII de France entre à Rome par la Porte du Peuple. Il est acclamé tout au long du parcours qui le mène au palais San Marco. Selon les témoins entourant Louis d'Orléans, qui accompagne le roi, celui-ci "entra dans Rome plus triomphalement et mieux accompagné que ne fit aucun prince qui soit en la mémoire de ceux qui sont vivants". Sur les étendards du roi, les mots "Voluntas Dei. Missus a Deo" Le pape Alexandre Borgia reste dans son palais...
1492 Jews are expelled from Sicily.
1431 Yusuf IV es proclamado sultán de Granada tras una sublevación popular que destrona a Muhammad IX.
1229 Jaime I "el Conquistador", rey de Aragón, toma la ciudad de Mallorca a los árabes.
1147 Ramón Berenguer IV , conde de Barcelona, reconquista la ciudad de Tortosa.
0406 (date approximative). Vandales, Burgondes et Francs venus d'Allemagne pénètrent dans la Gaule romaine, suivis par les Wisigoths venus du Danube.
TO THE TOP
Deaths which occurred on a 31 December:
2000 Sister Theresa Egan, 72, of Ireland, at communion time at mass in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Castries, Santa Lucia, as machete-wielding men hack at worshippers, douse them with gasoline and set them ablaze with a blowtorch. The celebrant, Father Charles Gaillard, and at least 12 others are severely injured.
2000 Thabet Thabet, secretary-general of Fatah in the Tulkarem area of the West Bank, Palestine, shot near his home, a few hours after the Kahane murder (see below).
2000 Binyamin Zeev Kahane, 34, and wife Talia, 31. They are driving near the Israeli West Bank enclave settlement of Ofra when shots are fired at their car as it passed the Palestinian village of Ein Yabroud. The car flipped over and fell into a ditch, trapping the Kahanes inside. Five of their children, ranging in age from 2 months to 10 years, were injured, one seriously. Their sixth child had been dropped off at school earlier.
      Binyamin Kahane was born in New York, the son of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who headed the now-outlawed Kach movement, which advocated expelling Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and was gunned down in 1990 in a Manhattan hotel after a speech. A Muslim extremist was later convicted of conspiracy to commit the murder. Binyamin Kahane lived in the militant West Bank settlement of Tapuah and ran a religious school that adhered to his father's teachings. After his father's assassination he founded the anti-Arab movement Kahane Chai ("Kahane Lives").
2000 Manuel de Rivacoba y Rivacoba, penalista y político español.
1999 Sarah Knauss, who was born on 24 September 1880. She was the world's oldest person at this time.
1997 Michael Kennedy, 39, killed by a tree while skiing. He was a son of Robert F. Kennedy. After Sonny Bono is killed in exactly the same way 5 days later, rumor has it that the trees threaten to kill a celebrity each week unless abusive logging is stopped. Family members, including Michael, were playing a form of ski football and were not using ski poles as they skied at about 16:15. The Aspen Mountain Ski Patrol reportedly had warned the family that such activity was too dangerous. They were using a snow-packed water bottle as a ball, when the accident happened. Michael Kennedy went out for a pass, caught the ball and slammed head-first into the tree. Kennedy had been recording the game on video, skiing and taping at the same time.
1993 Georgia Zviad Gamsajurdia, ex presidente de Georgia huido de su país a Chechenia, se suicida en Grozni de un disparo en la cabeza, tras declarar que moría en protesta contra el régimen de Eduard Ambroseyevitch Shevardnadze.
1986: 97 in fire of Dupont Plaza Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The fire was started, in the ballroom, by two hotel workers after a meeting of their union.
1984 Luciano Jaramillo Trujillo, pintor colombiano.
1982 Friedrichs, mathematician.
1980 Herbert Marshall McLuhan, ensayista canadiense.
1970 Henri de Waroquier, French artist born on 08 January 1881.
1969 Jock Yablonski, dissident UMW leader, his wife, and daughter
     They are killed by hired killers for the United Mine Workers (UMW) union leadership. Yablonski's murder eventually brought down the whole union leadership and ended the widespread corruption of Tony Boyle. Their bodies would be discovered only on 05 January 1970 in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania, farmhouse by Jock's brother Kenneth.
      Jock Yablonski ran against Boyle in a 1969 election for the leadership of the UMW union. He accused Boyle of nepotism and misuse of union funds, while also pushing for greater voting rights for rank-and-file members. On 09 December 1969, Boyle won the election but Yablonski asked the US Labor Department to investigate the election for possible fraud.
      At that point, Boyle sought to have Yablonski killed. Paul Gilly and Claude Vealey were hired by a UMW leader, Albert Pass, to carry out the murder. In mid-December, Gilly and Vealey went to Yablonski's house but lost their nerve at the last moment. When they returned two weeks later with Buddy Martin, they shot Yablonski, his wife, Margaret, and 25-year-old daughter, Charlotte.
Gambetta      Eventually, an investigation into the murders exposed the conspiracy and nine people were convicted for their involvement, including Tony Boyle, who died in prison. Gilly, Vealey, Martin, and Pass all remained in jail past the end of the century. Fortunately, the scandal prompted serious reform of the UMW union.
1968 Trygve Halvdan Lie, primer secretario general de la ONU. [not good enough to be Wholdan? Well, a Halvdan is better than Nodan.]
1944 Kochin, mathematician.
1936 Miguel de Unamuno Jugo, escritor y pensador español.
1933 Jakob Wassermann, novelista alemán.
1894 Thomas Stieltjes, mathematician.
1889 Ion Creanga. Created many of Romania's most loved stories (e.g. “The Goat and its Three Kids," "The Story of the Pig," "The Story of a Lazy Man," "The Mother-in-law and her Three Daughters-in-law")
1889 Joseph Pierre Olivier Coomans, Belgian artist born on 28 July 1816.
1882 Léon Gambetta, 44, [photo >] in Ville-d'Avray, near Paris.
      Born on 02 April 1838 son of an Italian immigrant, he was a French republican statesman who helped direct the defense of France during the Franco-German War of 1870-71. In helping to found the Third Republic, he made three essential contributions: first, by his speeches and articles, he converted many Frenchmen to the ideals of moderate democratic republicanism. Second, by his political influence and personal social contacts, he gathered support for an elective democratic political party, the Republican Union. Finally, by backing Adolphe Thiers, who was elected provisional head of government by the National Assembly of 1871, against royalists and Bonapartists, he helped transform the new regime into a parliamentary republic. Gambetta was briefly premier of France from 14 November 1881 to 16 January 1882.
     Une dispute avec sa maîtresse, qu'il a décidé d'épouser depuis qu'il s'est retiré à Ville-d'Avray, dans sa propriété des Jardies, serait la cause indirecte de sa mort. Léon Gambetta a voulu arracher lui un revolver de la main qui menaçait alors de se suicider. Le coup est parti. Mais Gambetta est blessé à la main. Quelques jours plus tard, de violentes douleurs lui déchirent le ventre. Les médecins tergiversent, hésitent, cherchent la liaison de cause à effet entre la blessure à la main et la douleur au ventre. On songe au cæcum. Mais on redoute d'opérer Gambetta. “Ah ! que ne suis-je un simple malade. “ Une péritonite l'emporte.
1877 Gustave Courbet, 58, French painter.[Les Roches d'Étretat]
French painter and leader of the realist movement. Courbet rebelled against the Romantic painting of his day, turning to everyday events for his subject matter. His huge shadowed canvases with their solid groups of figures ("The Artist's Studio," 1855) drew sharp criticism from the establishment. From the 1860s a more sensuous and colorful manner prevailed in his work.
     Revolutionary socialist, Courbet was placed in charge of all art museums under the 1871 Commune of Paris and saved the city's collections from looters. With the fall of the Commune he was accused of allowing the destruction of Napoleon's triumphal column in the Place Vendôme; he was imprisoned & condemned to pay for its reconstruction, but fled to Vevey, Switzerland, where he died. Camille Pissarro's circle was strongly influenced by Courbet

. Falaises d'Etretat .
1889 Joseph Pierre Olivier Coomans, Belgian artist born on 28 July 1816.
1864 August-Karl-Friedrich von Kloeber, German artist born on 21 August 1793.
1805 Manuel María Barbosa de Boccage, poeta portugués.
1775 General Richard Montgomery and many other US Patriots in failed assault on Québec
      During the American War for Independence, Patriot forces under generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery are defeated by the British defenders of the city of Quebec in Canada. On December 2, Arnold and Montgomery met on the outskirts of Quebec, and demanded the surrender of the city. Governor Sir Guy Carleton rejected their demand, and on December 9, the Patriots commenced a bombardment of Quebec. However, the British defenders launched a counterbattery that disabled several of the Patriots' guns. On December 30, the American generals decided to attack the city, and at approximately four o'clock in the morning on 31 December the combined Patriot forces advanced under the cover of a blizzard. However, the British defenders were ready, and when Montgomery's forces had come within fifty meters of the fortified city they opened fire with a barrage of artillery and musket fire.
      Montgomery is killed in the first assault, and after several more attempts at penetrating Quebec's defenses, his men were forced into retreat. Meanwhile, Arnold's division suffered a similar fate during their attack of the northern wall of the city. A two-gun battery opened fire on the advancing Americans, killing a number of patriots and wounding Arnold in the leg. Patriot Daniel Morgan assumed command, made progress against the defenders, but halted at the second wall of fortifications to wait for reinforcements. When the rest of Arnold's army finally arrived the British had reorganized and the attack on Quebec was called off. Of the nine hundred Americans who participated in the attack, sixty were killed and wounded and over four hundred were captured. The remaining Patriot forces retreated from the invasion of Canada. As the Americans crossed the St. Lawrence River to the safety of the other side, Benedict Arnold remained in Canadian territory until the last of his soldiers had escaped. With the pursuing British forces almost in firing range, Arnold checked one last time to make sure all his men had escaped, shot his horse, and fled down the St. Lawrence in a canoe. Less than five years later, Benedict Arnold, as commander of West Point, agrees to surrender the important Hudson River fort to the British for the price of six thousand pounds. The plot is uncovered after British spy John Andre is captured, forcing Arnold to flee to British protection where he joins in their fight against the country that he once so valiantly served.
1872 Aleksis Stenwall "Kivi", in Tuusula, Finland. His most widely read novel is Seitsemän veljestä (Seven Brothers).
1862 Monitor, Union ironclad ship, sinks at Cape Hatteras, NC
1719 John Flamsteed, mathematician.
1698 Joost (or Jan) van Geel, Dutch artist born on 20 October 1631.
1679 Ottmar Elliger I, Swedish artist born on 08 September 1633.
1679 Juan Alfonso Borelli, médico, matemático y físico napolitano.
1676 Klaes Molenaer, Dutch artist born before 1630.
1610 Ludolph van Ceulen, mathematician.
1588 Fray Luis de Granada, escritor y orador sagrado español.
1502 Mutinous captains of Cesare Borgia on which he takes bloody vengeance, at the town of Sinigaglia, of which Machiavelli would write a famous account, Descrizione del modo tenuto dal Duca Valentino nello ammazzare Vitellozzo . . .
1384 John Wycliffe, 54, of a stroke
     English theologian, philosopher, church reformer, and promoter of the first complete translation of the Bible into English. He was one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. The politico-ecclesiastical theories that he developed required the church to give up its worldly possessions, and in 1378 he began a systematic attack on the beliefs and practices of the church. The Lollards, a heretical group, propagated his controversial views.
      Almost thirty years later the Church Council of Constance condemned Wyclif's teachings and ordered his bones dug up and burned. But the burning of his bones would not end John Wycliff's influence. Wiclif [various spellings exist] had been a leading scholar at Oxford and a chaplain to the King of England. He boldly spoke out against the pope, the organizational hierarchy of the Roman Church, and the corruption of the clergy. He criticized not only the organization of the medieval church but its theology as well.
      Under Wicliffe's direction, the entire Bible was translated into English for the first time. It greatly influenced William Tyndale and the translators of the King James Version.
      John Foxe in his book of martyrs wrote of Wycliffe: "though they digged up his body, burnt his bones, and drowned his ashes, yet the Word of God and the truth of his doctrine, with the fruit and success thereof, they could not burn; which yet to this day...doth remain.
0335 Saint Silvester I, Pope.
Births which occurred on a 31 December:
1952 Vaughan Jones, mathematician.
1917 José María Gironella, novelista español.
1905 Guy Mollet (Socialist) French premier (1956-57)
1910 Holbrook Jackson, in Liverpool, editor, poet, critic, essayist, and journalist (The Anatomy of Bibliomania; The Fear of Books; The Printing of Books).
1905 Guy Mollet, político francés.
1910 Paul Bowles, compositor y escritor norteamericano.
1900 Stephen C. Neill, British clergyman and biblical scholar. A prolific writer, some of Neill's better-known titles are A History of Christian Missions(1964), The Interpretation of the New Testament: 1871-1961 (1966) and The Modern Reader's Dictionary of the Bible (1966).
1896 Siegel, mathematician.
1889 José Miguel Barandiarán Ayerbe, etnólogo español.
1880 George C. Marshall, Uniontown PA, general, US Secretary of State [1947]; designer of Marshall Plan; Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff during WWII (Nobel 1953)
1879 The opera The Pirates of Penzance is produced (New York NY) Pirates of Penzance Web Opera -- Includes MIDI files for all of the music from the opera -- nearly 1½ hours of music -- accompanied by an illustrated libretto so that you can sing-along with the music.
1878 Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan short story writer who has been compared to Edgar Allan Poe. Quiroga wrote over 200 short stories.
1874 Lilli (Alfhild) Porthan.
Finnish teacher and children's book writer. Porthan's fairy tales represented the romantic tradition, which concentrated on wonders and adventures. She died in 1967.
1872 Levytsky, mathematician.
1869 Henri Matisse, French painter who died on 03 November 1954. — Henri Matisse web galleryMORE ON MATISSE AT ART “4” DECEMBER LINKSLa Jeune Fille en RoseFleursAutoportraitSelf-Portrait in a Striped T-ShirtLe bonheur de vivreSea at CollioureThe BankThe MusicThe Dance — The Dance
1864 Hans am Ende, German artist whose end on this earth came in 1918.
1863 Alfredo Panzini, Italian novelist, short story writer, essayist.
1861 René François Xavier Prinet, French artist who died on 01 February 1946.
1846 Domela Ferdinand Nieuwenhuis, Protestant pastor, elected to office as a socialist in 1891, then abandoned politics for the anarchism of Bakunin. Author of Socialism in Danger (1894), Libertarian Socialism & Authoritative Socialism (1895). He died in 1919.
1844 Ricardo Balaca y Canseco, pintor español.
1842 Giovanni Boldini, Italian painter who died on 12 January 1931. MORE ON BOLDINI AT ART “4” DECEMBER The Misses Muriel and Consuelo VanderbiltMrs. Graham Fair Vanderbilt Mrs. Whitney Warren, SrMadame XCafe ScenePortrait Study of a WomanPortrait of Whistler AsleepLady Colin CampbellCount Robert de MontesquieuParigi di NotteReclining NudeMadame Charles Max - Count Robert de MontesquiouHenri Rochefort Cecilia de Madrazo Fortuny
1830 Alexander Smith, poet / writer, in Kilmarnock, Scotland.
1753 Abraham van Stry I, Dordrecht painter of oils and watercolors, who died on 07 March 1826. MORE ON VAN STRY AT ART “4” DECEMBER Young Sweethearts
1751 Giovanni-Battista Lampi I, Italian artist who died on 11 February 1830.
1738 Charles Lord Cornwallis solider/statesman "fire when ready Gridley"
1720 Carlos Eduardo Estuardo, pretendiente al trono de Italia.
1514 Andreas Vesalius Brussels Belgium, anatomist (Fabrica)
Holidays Austria : Imperial Ball / Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Mexico, Phil, Sri Lanka : Bank Holiday / Benin : Feed Yourself Day / Congo : National Day / Indians at Mitla, Oaxaca : Noche de Pedimento/Wishing Night / Japan : Omisoka Day/Grand Purification / Lebanon : Evacuation Day (1946) / Mauritania : People's Party Day / Scotland : Hogmanay Day / World : New Year's Eve/Watch Night

Religious Observances RC : Saint Sylvester I, 33rd pope (314-35) (opt) / Santos Silvestre, Celestino, Donato, Mario, Saturnino, Columba, Donata y Paulina.

DICTIONNAIRE TICRANIEN: soudure: petite monnaie en acier trempé.
Thoughts for the day: “He whom you wake up and finds himself a success hasn`t been asleep.”
“He who wakes you up and finds himself a success hasn`t been asleep.”
“He who wakes up and finds himself a success hasn`t been asleep.”
“He who wakes up and finds himself exhausted hasn`t been asleep.”
“He who finds himself a success at putting you to sleep, hasn't been exciting.”
“He who keeps you awake and finds himself asleep, hasn't been a success.”
“He who falls asleep and finds himself a success, has been dreaming.”
“He who wakes up and finds you a success hasn`t been truthful.”
“Follow not too closely on the heels of the truth, lest it bash in your teeth.”
“Prudes are offended by the naked truth.”
“If my political opponents will stop telling lies about me, I'll stop telling the truth about them.”
“Don't ask for who the bell tolls, ask for whom the bell tolls.”
“Don't ask for whom the belle toils, she toils for herself to seem young.”
“Don't ask for whom the bell tolls, get earplugs.”
TO THE TOP
IF SOMETHING'S WRONG HERE, TRY MIRROR 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO WRITE TO “HISTORY 4 2DAY”
http://www.jcanu.hpg.ig.com.br/history/h4dec/h4dec31.html
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/all42day/history/h4dec/h4dec31.html
Tuesday 03-Dec-2002 14:43 UT
safe site
site safe for children safe site