Wednesday, December 02nd
The 336th day of 2009.
There are 29 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Dec. 2, 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R Wis., for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." (Go to article.)
On Dec. 2, 1923, Maria Callas, the legendary American soprano opera singer, was born. Following her death on Sept. 16, 1977, her obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On December 2, 1876, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Electoral College Controversy of 1876-1877. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1804 Napoleon was crowned emperor of France.
1816 The first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened.
1823 President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.
1859 Militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his Oct. 16 raid on a federal armory at Harpers Ferry in present-day West Virginia. (Brown had hoped to start an anti-slavery rebellion.)
1939 New York's La Guardia Airport began operations.
1942 A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago.
1961 Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist who would lead Cuba to Communism.
1967 Cardinal Francis Spellman died in New York City at age 78.
1969 The Boeing 747 jumbo jet debuted.
1970 The Environmental Protection Agency began operations.
1980 Four American churchwomen were raped, murdered and buried in El Salvador. (Five national guardsmen were later convicted of murder.)
1982 Doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center performed the first implant of a permanent artificial heart in a human. Barney Clark lived 112 days with the device.
1990 Chancellor Helmut Kohl's center-right coalition easily won the first free all-German elections since 1932.
1990 Composer Aaron Copland died at age 90.
1993 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.
1999 A power-sharing cabinet of Protestants and Catholics sat down together for the first time in Northern Ireland.
2001 Enron filed for Chapter 11 protection in one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history.
2001 A bomb went off aboard a bus in Haifa, killing 15 Israelis.
Current Birthdays
Harry Reid turns 70 years old today.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., turns 70 years old today.
95 Bill Erwin
Actor
85 Alexander M. Haig
Former secretary of state
84 Julie Harris
Actress
78 Edwin Meese III
Former attorney general
65 Cathy Lee Crosby
Actress
64 Penelope Spheeris
Director
60 Ron Raines
Actor
59 John Wesley Ryles
Country singer
57 Keith Szarabajka
Actor
55 Dan Butler
Actor
55 Stone Phillips
Broadcast journalist
54 Dennis Christopher
Actor
53 Steven Bauer
Actor
49 Joe Henry
Country singer
49 Rick Savage
Rock musician (Def Leppard)
41 Jimi Haha
Rock singer (Jimmie's Chicken Shack)
41 Lucy Liu
Actress
41 Nate Mendel
Rock musician (Foo Fighters)
41 Rena Sofer
Actress
39 Treach
Rapper (Naughty by Nature)
36 Monica Seles
Tennis player
31 Nelly Furtado
Rock singer
28 Britney Spears
Singer
26 Aaron Rodgers
Football player
26 Daniela Ruah
Actress ("NCIS: Los Angeles")
21 Alfie Enoch
Actor ("Harry Potter" movies)
Historic Birthdays
Maria Callas
12/2/1923 - 9/16/1977
Greek-American opera singer
(Go to obit.)
46 John Breckinridge
12/2/1760 - 12/14/1806
American politician
57 Rene Waldeck-Rousseau
12/2/1846 - 8/10/1904
French premier
31 Georges Seurat
12/2/1859 - 3/29/1891
French painter
63 Charles Ringling
12/2/1863 - 12/3/1926
American circus owner
72 Ruth Draper
12/2/1884 - 12/30/1956
American entertainer
64 George Richards Minot
12/2/1885 - 2/25/1950
American physician and Nobel Prize winner
70 Sir John Barbirolli
12/2/1899 - 7/29/1970
English conductor and cellist
71 Peter Carl Goldmark
12/2/1906 - 12/7/1977
Hungarian-American engineer; developed the first commercial color television
50 Gianni Versace
12/2/1946 - 7/15/1997
Italian-American fashion designer
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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