Events on December 2 43
Year 1763
Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what will become the United States.
Year 1775
The USS Alfred becomes the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Stars and Stripes); the flag is hoisted by John Paul Jones.
Year 1804
At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French.
Year 1805
War of the Third Coalition: Battle of Austerlitz: French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte decisively defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
Year 1823
Monroe Doctrine: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James Monroe proclaims American neutrality in future European conflicts, and warns European powers not to interfere in the Americas.
Year 1845
Manifest destiny: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James K. Polk proposes that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
Year 1859
Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Year 1867
At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
Year 1899
Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.
Year 1917
World War I: Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk, and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk begin.
Year 1927
Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
Year 1930
Great Depression: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Herbert Hoover proposes a $150 million (equivalent to $2,150,000,000 in 2016) public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
Year 1942
World War II: During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
Year 1943
World War II: A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks numerous cargo and transport ships, including the American SS John Harvey, which is carrying a stockpile of World War I-era mustard gas.
Year 1947
Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.
Year 1950
Korean War: Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River ended, with decisive Chinese victory, UN forces were completely expelled from North Korea.
Year 1954
Cold War: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to censure Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute".
Year 1954
The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Taiwan, is signed in Washington, D.C.
Year 1956
The Granma reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente Province. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.
Year 1961
In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
Year 1962
Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress.
Year 1971
Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.
Year 1975
Laotian Civil War: The Pathet Lao seizes the Laotian capital of Vientiane, forces the abdication of King Sisavang Vatthana, and proclaims the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
Year 1980
Salvadoran Civil War: Four American missionaries are raped and murdered by a death squad.
Year 1982
At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
Year 1988
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
Year 1991
Canada and Poland become the first nations to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.
Year 1993
Space Shuttle program: STS-61: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
Year 1999
The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive following the Good Friday Agreement.
Year 2015
San Bernardino attack: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik kill 14 people and wound 22 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.
Year 2016
36 people die in a fire at a converted Oakland, California, warehouse serving as an artist collective.