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Today is Sunday, December 1, the 336th day of 2024. There are 30 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama; The incident led to a years-long boycott of the buses and contributed to the American civil rights movement.
Also on this date:
In 1824, the presidential election was transferred to the U.S. House of Representatives after none of the candidates (John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay) won more than 50% of the electoral votes. Despite Jackson winning the most electoral votes, Adams would ultimately win the presidency.
In 1965, the first ‘Freedom Flight’ from Cuba to the United States landed in Miami. Over the next eight years, the twice-daily flights allowed more than 250,000 Cuban refugees to migrate to the United States through a joint U.S.-Cuban agreement.
In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery for military service since World War II.
In 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.
In 2009, President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to be deployed to the war in Afghanistan, but during a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point he vowed to begin the withdrawal within 18 months.
In 2017, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who served as President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacting the Russians on Trump’s behalf. (Trump would later pardon Flynn.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 85.
- Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 80.
- Actor-singer Bette Midler is 79.
- Florida Senator Rick Scott is 72.
- Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is 66.
- Model-actor Carol Alt is 64.
- Actor Jeremy Northam is 63.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Walker is 58.
- Actor Néstor Carbonell is 57.
- Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is 54.
- Actor Riz Ahmed is 42.
- Singer-actor Janelle Monáe is 39.
- Actor Sarah Snook is 37.
- Actor Zoë Kravitz is 36.