It’s Santa’s List Day, which we’ve been told is being checked twice. I’m skeptical considering the worst people among us keep getting rewarded, and there is no evidence that any of them have received coal.
It’s also Wildlife Conservation Day, and specifically International Cheetah Day. I may celebrate by honoring Chester Cheetah.
Finally it’s National Sock Day. I’m notoriously barefoot, and only wear socks when it’s so cold I’m risking frostbite, but my girl MsFace — whose birthday it is today — has an impressive sock collection and this day is likely very important to her.
Now let’s get onto today’s history…
In Government…
Today is considered by many to be that actual first Thanksgiving in the Americas as, in 1619, 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish, England disembarked in Virginia and gave thanks to God.
The 17th Century was formative for our nation, and on this day in 1674 Father Marquette built the first dwelling in Chicago, and in 1682, the first General Assembly kicked off in Pennsylvania. Also in PA, in 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society was formed in Philly by Arthur Tappan and, in 1836, the first Whig party national convention took place in Harrisburg.
James Monroe was elected to 5th US President on this day in 1816, defeating Rufus King of the Federalist Party and, in 1844, James K. Polk was elected the 11th. Chief Crazy Horse, the Oglala Sioux chief famous for the Battle of the Little Bighorn, was born on this day in Nebraska in 1840.
Boss Tweed made history again today as, in 1875, he escaped from jail and fled to Spain. He was later recaptured.
Moving into the 20th Century, Henry Ford's “peace ship” Oscar II sailed for Europe in 1915, 'to get the boys out of the trenches by Christmas. On the same day three years later in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson sailed for the Versailles Peace Conference in France.
In 1933, FDR created the Federal Alcohol Control Administration, one day before the end of prohibition — which we will discuss tomorrow. FDR attempted to be president forever, serving a record four terms and prompting Congress to pass term limits and, in 1942, he ordered the Works Progress Administration to be dismantled.
On the same day in the same year, the US citizenship was granted to James Hoey, the first time citizenship was granted to an alien on foreign soil. From US Citizenship and Immigration Services:
During the War the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) oversaw the campaign to naturalize members of U.S. Armed Forces. Stateside, the INS worked with the military to identify noncitizen soldiers who wished to naturalize, helped soldiers complete the required petition, and organized swearing ceremonies. In many cases INS officials traveled to military camps to process large groups of soldier petitions. Because petitioners needed to swear the Oath of Allegiance in open court, a naturalization judge would then open a session of court at the camp and swear in the soldiers onsite.
The Second War Powers Act of 1942 also authorized the first overseas naturalizations in the nation’s history. Under its provisions, the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization could authorize designated representatives to naturalize members of the Armed Forces serving outside of the U.S. This eliminated the need for soldiers stationed overseas to swear the oath in open court and, for the first time, allowed administrative officials to perform naturalizations. The Commissioner designated representatives from the Department of State and U.S. District Attorney’s Office, but INS officials conducted the majority of overseas naturalizations.
On December 4, 1942, INS Assistant Commissioner Thomas B. Shoemaker (who served as INS’s first designated representative for overseas naturalization) naturalized James A. Finnell Hoey in the Panama Canal Zone, making Hoey the first person to receive U.S. citizenship abroad. Over the next year Shoemaker went on to naturalize 289 service members overseas.
A few months after FDR (finally) left office, the Senate voted for the US to join the United Nations, under the leadership of his success Harry Truman. The UN, of course, has been a net negative for individual liberty and national sovereignty, and is currently one of the primary drivers of global corporate communism in the US.
Nemo, a military service dog in Vietnam, became a hero on this day in 1966, saving the life of his handler and sustaining a gunshot wound to the nose. To the nose!
In lesser known civil liberty violations, Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333 in 1981, allowing the CIA to engage in domestic counterintelligence operations.
In world government history…
765: Jafar died
1691: Emperor Leopold I takes over Transylvania
1851: Napoleon crushed a coup attempt
1864: Romanian Jews forbidden to practice law
1905: Balfour resigned
1915: Panama-Pacific International Exposition closed
1941: Polish Jews lose due process rights
1975: Hannah Arendt died
1982: New Chinese constitution
2005: Hong Kong protested
2016: Brazil protested
In Culture…
In 1680, a hen in Rome laid a uniquely patterned egg — which was later believed to have predicted the "Great Comet of 1680." What was on that egg? From Atlas Obscura:
“In December 1680, when a comet shot past overhead, a hen in Rome was said to have laid an egg spangled with a cosmic pattern. When word of the ‘wonder egg’ spread, Marsden writes, the Paris Academy confirmed that ‘the event caused the hen to cackle extraordinarily loudly, that the egg was uncommonly large, and that it was marked … with several stars.’ If the report was true, one French journal noted at the time, ‘it would not be the first prodigy of this nature that has appeared in Italy during eclipses or comets.’”
We had some other interesting cultural milestones today:
1791: "The Observer" first published
1812: Horse-drawn mower patented
1843: Manila paper patented
1858: The inventor of earmuffs was born
1881: LA Times first published
1954: The first Burger King opened in Miami
1991: Pan American Airways closed
Trust the Science
In 1930, the Vatican approved “the rhythm method” for birth control, which is super scientific. Coincidentally, Britain made birth control pills available via the NHS on the same day in 1961.
In space science, Roberta Lynn Bondar was born on this day in 1945 in Ontario. Bondar was a Canadian neurologist and astronaut (STS 42) and the first Canadian woman in space. In in 1965, NASA launched Gemini 7.
In 2006, an adult giant squid was caught on video near the Ogasawara Islands, 620 miles south of Tokyo.
And in 2019, the University of Michigan claimed that North American migratory birds are getting smaller. It must be climate change.
Ode to the Arts
In the 47 days since Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau" was hanged at MoMA in NY, 116,000 people noticed. Finally, on this day in 1961, they hung it right side up.
In 1997, "Diary of Anne Frank" opened at Music Box Theater NYC.
All the World’s a Stage
There aren’t major media releases today, but there are several celebrity birthdays, including:
1949: Jeff Bridges
1964: Marisa Tomei
1973: Tyra Banks
There are music birthdays as well today, and some key music milestones as well. In birthdays, three of our spotlights were born in the same year:
1944: Anna McGarrigle (Canadian Folk)
1944: Chris Hillman (American Bluegrass)
1944: Craig Doerge (American Keyboardist)
1947: Terry Woods (Irish Folk)
1969: Jay-Z (American Rap)
1977: Big Pokey (American Rap)
1992: Kim Seok-jin (Korean Pop)
In 1993, Frank Zappa died from prostate cancer at 52. In other music milestones, Duke Ellington opened at Harlem’s Cotton Club in 1927, and the Beatles released their fourth studio album "Beatles For Sale" in 1964.
Finally in culture, on this day in 1980, Led Zeppelin broke up.
In Death & Destruction…
American murderer Gary Gilmore was born on this day in 1940 in McCamey, Texas. From Britannia:
“Gary Gilmore… execution by the state of Utah in 1977 ended a de facto nationwide moratorium on capital punishment that had lasted nearly 10 years. His case also attracted widespread attention because Gilmore resisted efforts made on his behalf to commute the sentence.”
Also on this day in 2022, Indonesia’s highest volcano Mt. Semeru erupted, forcing 2,500 to evacuate and releasing gas clouds and rivers of lava.
Mount Semeru volcano spews volcanic ash during an eruption as seen from Candipuro in Lumajang, East Java province, Indonesia, December 4, 2022, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Iwan/ via REUTERS
Here’s today’s D&D:
1948: 2,750 killed when SS Kiangya hit mine in China
1951: 500 killed when superheated gasses rolled down Mount Catarman, Philippines
1957: 92 killed when two commuter trains collide in heavy fog killing in England
1965: 4 killed when two passenger planes collide above Danbury, Connecticut
1971: 15 killed, 17 winded in McGurk's Bar bombing in Belfast
1974: 192 killed when Dutch DC-8 charter crashes in Sri Lanka
1975: 1 killed when 6 South Molukkans occupy Indonesian consulate in The Hague
2012: 29 killed by a mortar attack in Syria
2012: 81 killed when Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines
2015: 260 killed, thousands stranded in flooding in India
2019: 58 killed (migrants that drowned), 83 saved when boat sinks near Mauritania
2021: 14 killed, 56 injured and Mt. Semeru erupts on Java island, Indonesia
2022: 27 killed after a landslide buried a bus in western Colombia
On This Day is published Monday through Friday. Watch the Today’s History podcast weekdays at 12PM ET! Don’t forget to visit bootlegproducts.com and use coupon code MYAMERICA!
Meant to tell you I love this!!!
Today would have been my brother Don's 66th Birthday, but he passed away from a blood clot in August of 2013. 💔