What happened on December 2? There are more than 273 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About December 2
December 2 is the 337th day of the year 2024. There are 29 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday. This day falls under the 49th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Dubuque, Iowa 52003 sunrise will occur at 07:12 AM and sunset will occur at 04:32 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Sagittarius. The modern birthstone for this month is Turquoise while the mystical birthstone is Onyx.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 58 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 26 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For December 2
- 1409The University of Leipzig opens.
- 1755The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.
- 1763Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what became the United States.
- 1775The 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.
- 1804At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French, the first French Emperor in a thousand years.
- 1805Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz – French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
- 1823Monroe Doctrine: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
- 1845Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
- 1848Franz Josef I becomes Emperor of Austria.
- 1851French President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
- 1852Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French (Napoleon III).
- 1859Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper’s Ferry.
- 1867At Tremont Temple in Boston, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
- 1899Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed “The Filipino Thermopylae”, is fought.
- 1908Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends the Chinese throne at the age of two
- 1917An armistice is signed between Russia and the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk and peace talks leading to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk began.
- 1920Following more than a month of Turkish-Armenian War, the Turkish dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.
- 1927Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
- 1930Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before the United States Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
- 1939New York City’s La Guardia Airport opens.
- 1942Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
- 1943A Luftwaffe bombing raid on the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinks numerous cargo and transport ships, including an American Liberty ship, the John Harvey, with a stockpile of World War I-era mustard gas.
- 1946The British Government invites four Indian leaders, Nehru, Baldev Singh, Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan to obtain the participation of all parties in the Constituent Assembly.
- 1947Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan.
- 1954Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute”.
- 1954The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and the Republic of China, is signed in Washington, D.C.
- 1956The Granma yacht reaches the shores of Cuba’s Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.
- 1961In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
- 1962Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of US President John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official not to make an optimistic public comment on the war’s progress.
- 1970The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
- 1971Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.
- 1975Pathet Lao seizes power in Laos, and establishes the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
- 1976Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.
- 1980Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a death squad in El Salvador.
- 1982At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
- 1988Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
- 1993Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.
- 1993Space Shuttle program: STS-61 – NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
- 1999Glenbrook rail accident near Sydney, New South Wales.
- 1999The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.
- 2001Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Who Were Born On December 2?
- 1578Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and music theorist (d. 1640)
- 1694William Shirley, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1771)
- 1703Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian explorer (d. 1759)
- 1710Bertinazzi, Italian actor and writer (d. 1783)
- 1738Richard Montgomery, Irish-born soldier (d. 1775)
- 1754William Cooper, American judge (d. 1809)
- 1760John Breckinridge, American politician and 5th United States Attorney General (d. 1806)
- 1810Henry Yesler, American entrepreneur and politician (d. 1892)
- 1811Jean-Charles Chapais, French Canadian politician, Father of the Canadian Confederation (d. 1885)
- 1817Heinrich von Sybel, German historian (d. 1895)
- 1825Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (d. 1891)
- 1846Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (d. 1904)
- 1859Georges Seurat, French painter (d. 1891)
- 1863Charles Ringling, American circus owner (d. 1926)
- 1884Erima Harvey Northcroft, New Zealand lawyer and judge (d. 1953)
- 1885George Richards Minot, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize (d. 1950)
- 1886Harry Burleigh, American composer (d. 1949)
- 1891Charles H. Wesley, author writer and Brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. (d. 1987)
- 1891Otto Dix, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1969)
- 1893Leo Ornstein, Russian-born composer and pianist (d. 2002)
- 1894Warren William, American Broadway and film actor (d. 1948)
- 1895Harriet Cohen, British pianist (d. 1967)
- 1897Hovhannes Bagramyan, Marshall of the Soviet Union (d. 1982)
- 1898Indra Lal Roy, Indian pilot (d. 1918)
- 1899John Barbirolli, British conductor (d. 1970)
- 1899John Cobb, British racing driver (d. 1952)
- 1899Ray Morehart, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1901Raimundo Orsi, Argentine-born footballer (d. 1986)
- 1906Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-born recording engineer (d. 1977)
- 1910Russell Lynes, American art historian, photographer, author and managing editor of Harper’s Magazine (d. 1991)
- 1914Adolph Green, American composer (d. 2002)
- 1914Bill Erwin, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1914Ray Walston, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1915Prince Mikasa, Japanese royal
- 1917Sylvia Syms, American jazz singer (d. 1992)
- 1921Carlo Furno, Cardinal Grand Master Emeritus of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
- 1922Iakovos Kambanelis, Greek poet, playwright, lyricist, and novelist
- 1923Maria Callas, Greek soprano (d. 1977)
- 1924Alexander Haig, American Soldier & Civil servant, 7th Supreme Allied Commander Europe, 5th White House Chief of Staff and 59th United States Secretary of State (d. 2010)
- 1924Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish writer and film director (d. 2006)
- 1925Julie Harris, American actress
- 1930David Piper, British race car driver
- 1930Gary Becker, American economist, recipient of the Bank of Sweden Prize
- 1931Edwin Meese, American jurist and 75th United States Attorney General
- 1931Masaaki Hatsumi, founder and head of the Bujinkan Dojo organization
- 1931Nigel Calder, British science writer
- 1931Wynton Kelly, American jazz pianist (d. 1971)
- 1933K. Veeramani, Indian anti-caste activist
- 1933Mike Larrabee, American athlete (d. 2003)
- 1934Andre Rodgers, baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1934Sissela Bok, Swedish philosopher and ethicist
- 1934Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Secretary of State and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church
- 1935David Hackett Fischer, American historian
- 1937Manohar Joshi, Indian politician
- 1939Francis Fox, Canadian politician, member of the Senate
- 1939Harry Reid, American politician
- 1939Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician
- 1943Wayne Allard, American politician
- 1944Botho Strauß, German author
- 1944Cathy Lee Crosby, American actress
- 1944Dionysis Savvopoulos, Greek musician and songwriter
- 1944Ibrahim Rugova, first President of Kosovo (d. 2006)
- 1944Inger Davidson, Swedish politician
- 1945Penelope Spheeris, American film director
- 1946Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d. 1997)
- 1947Isaac Bitton, French rock band drummer (Les Variations)
- 1947Ivan Atanassov Petrov, Bulgarian neurologist
- 1947Tommy Jenkins, English football player
- 1948T. Coraghessan Boyle, American writer
- 1949Ron Raines, American actor
- 1950Amin Saikal, Afghan-Australian academic
- 1950Benjamin Stora, French historian
- 1950Bob Kevoian, American radio personality
- 1950Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd on Whale Wars.
- 1951Adrian Devine, American baseball pitcher
- 1952Carol Shea-Porter, American Congresswoman
- 1954Dan Butler, American actor
- 1954Stone Phillips, American television journalist
- 1956Steven Bauer, American actor
- 1957Dagfinn Høybråten, Norwegian politician
- 1958George Saunders, American writer
- 1958Uladzimir Parfianovich, Belarusian canoer
- 1959Boman Irani, Indian actor
- 1959Frank Dietrich, German footballer
- 1960Nicholas Dingley alias Razzle, British drummer (Hanoi Rocks) (d. 1984)
- 1960Rick Savage, British bassist (Def Leppard)
- 1962Kardam, Prince of Turnovo, titular Bulgarian royal family
- 1963Ann Patchett, American novelist
- 1963Brendan Coyle, English actor
- 1963Dan Gauthier, American actor
- 1963Rich Sutter, Canadian hockey player
- 1963Ron Sutter, Canadian hockey player
- 1966Jinsei Shinzaki, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1967Laurie Morgan, Channel Islands chief minister
- 1968Darryl Kile, baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1968Lucy Liu, American actress
- 1968Nate Mendel, American bassist (Foo Fighters)
- 1968Rena Sofer, American actress
- 1970Joe Lo Truglio, American actor, writer and comedian
- 1970Treach, American rapper (Naughty by Nature)
- 1970Yang Hyun Suk, South Korean record producer
- 1971Francesco Toldo, Italian football player
- 1971Wilson Jermaine Heredia, American actor
- 1972Sergei Zholtok, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1973Graham Kavanagh, Irish footballer
- 1973Jan Ullrich, German cyclist
- 1973Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player
- 1976Eddy Garabito, Dominican baseball player
- 1976Masafumi Gotō, Japanese singer (Asian Kung-Fu Generation)
- 1977Siyabonga Nomvethe, South African footballer
- 1978Chris Wolstenholme, British bassist (Muse)
- 1978David Rivas, Spanish footballer
- 1978Jarron Collins, American basketball player
- 1978Jason Collins, American basketball player
- 1978Luigi Malafronte, Italian footballer
- 1978Maëlle Ricker, Canadian snowboarder, Olympic Gold Medalist
- 1978Nelly Furtado, Portuguese-Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1978Peter Moylan, Australian baseball player
- 1979Melissa Archer, American actress
- 1979Michael McIndoe, Scottish professional footballer
- 1979Yvonne Catterfeld, German singer and actress
- 1980Adam Kreek, Canadian rower
- 1981Britney Spears, American singer, dancer and entertainer
- 1981Danijel Pranjić, Croatian football player
- 1982Christos Karipidis, Greek footballer
- 1982Matt Ware, American football player
- 1982Michelle Banzer, model/beauty queen
- 1982Pizon, American rapper/producer
- 1983Aaron Rodgers, American football player
- 1983Bibiana Candelas, Mexican volleyball player
- 1983Chris Burke, Scottish footballer
- 1983Daniela Ruah, Portuguese actress
- 1983Jana Kramer, American actress
- 1984Péter Máté, Hungarian footballer
- 1985Amaury Leveaux, French swimmer
- 1985Dorell Wright, American basketball player
- 1986Adam Le Fondre, English football player
- 1986Claudiu Keserü, Romanian football player
- 1986Tal Wilkenfeld, Australian electric bass player
- 1987Teairra Mari, American R&B singer
- 1988Alfred Enoch, British actor
- 1988Soniya Mehra, Indian actress
- 1989Cassie Steele, Canadian actress
- 1990Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Ghanaian footballer
- 1990Hikaru Yaotome, Japanese idol (Hey! Say! JUMP)
- 1991Brandon Knight, American basketball player
- 1993Kostas Stafylidis, Greek football at PAOK F.C.
Who Died On December 2?
- 1348Emperor Hanazono of Japan (b. 1297)
- 1381John of Ruysbroeck, Flemish mystic
- 1463Archduke Albert VI of Austria (b. 1418)
- 1469Piero di Cosimo de' Medici of Florence (b. 1416)
- 1515Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and statesman (b. 1453)
- 1547Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer and conqueror (b. 1485)
- 1594Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (b. 1512)
- 1615Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon, French general
- 1665Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b. 1588)
- 1694Pierre Paul Puget, French artist (b. 1622)
- 1719Pasquier Quesnel, French Jansenist theologian (b. 1634)
- 1726Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (b. 1665)
- 1747Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b. 1695)
- 1748Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician (b. 1662)
- 1774Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer and organist (b. 1720)
- 1814Marquis de Sade, French writer (b. 1740)
- 1844Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (b. 1768)
- 1849Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
- 1859John Brown, American abolitionist (b. 1800)
- 1860Alfred Bunn, British theatrical manager (b. 1796)
- 1888Namık Kemal, Turkish poet (b. 1840)
- 1892Jay Gould, American entrepreneur (b. 1836)
- 1899Gregorio del Pilar, Filipino general (b. 1875)
- 1918Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist (b. 1868)
- 1924Kazimieras Būga, Lithuanian philologist (b. 1879)
- 1931Vincent d'Indy, French composer (b. 1851)
- 1936John Ringling, American circus owner (b. 1866)
- 1943Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian author and journalist (b. 1902)
- 1944Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player (b. 1917)
- 1944Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian writer (b. 1876)
- 1944Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist (b. 1874)
- 1950Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (b. 1917)
- 1953Reginald Baker, Australian athlete and actor (b. 1884)
- 1953Tran Trong Kim, Vietnamese scholar and politician (b. 1883)
- 1957Harrison Ford, American actor (b. 1884)
- 1957Manfred Sakel, Polish psychiatrist (b. 1902)
- 1963Sabu Dastagir, Indian-born American actor (b. 1924)
- 1963Thomas Hicks, British-born American runner (b. 1875)
- 1966Giles Cooper, Anglo-Irish playwright (b. 1918)
- 1967Billy Chapman, English footballer (b. 1902)
- 1968Adamson-Eric (Eric Adamson), Estonian painter (b. 1902)
- 1969José María Arguedas, Peruvian novelist, poet, and anthropologist (b. 1911)
- 1969Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, Russian politician (b. 1881)
- 1972Yip Man, Chinese martial artist (b. 1893)
- 1974Max Weber, Swiss politician (b. 1897)
- 1976Danny Murtaugh, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
- 1980Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Pakistani politician (b. 1905)
- 1980Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b. 1914)
- 1980Roza Eskenazi, Greek singer (b. 1890s)
- 1982Marty Feldman, British comedian, writer and actor (b. 1933)
- 1983Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (b. 1904)
- 1985Aniello Dellacroce, American organized crime figure (b. 1914)
- 1985Philip Larkin, English writer and jazz critic (b. 1922)
- 1986Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor and band leader (b. 1917)
- 1986John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist (b. 1912)
- 1987Luis Federico Leloir, French-born chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
- 1987Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (b. 1914)
- 1988Karl-Heinz Bürger, German SS-Oberführer (b. 1904)
- 1988Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer and lyricist (b. 1922)
- 1990Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
- 1990Robert Cummings, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1992Michael Gothard, English actor (b. 1939)
- 1993Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug trafficker (b. 1949)
- 1995Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist (b. 1913)
- 1995Roxie Roker, American actress (b. 1929)
- 1997Michael Hedges, American guitarist (b. 1953)
- 1997Shirley Crabtree, British professional wrestler (b. 1930)
- 2000Gail Fisher, American actress (b. 1935)
- 2002Arno Peters, German historian (b. 1916)
- 2002Ivan Illich, Austrian priest and philosopher (b. 1926)
- 2003Alan Davidson, British author (b. 1924)
- 2004Alicia Markova, British ballerina (b. 1910)
- 2004Mona Van Duyn, American poet (b. 1921)
- 2005Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (b. 1948)
- 2005Nat Mayer Shapiro, American painter (b. 1919)
- 2005Van Tuong Nguyen, Thai-born Australian drug smuggler (b. 1980)
- 2005William P. Lawrence, American naval officer (b. 1930)
- 2006Mariska Veres, Dutch singer (Shocking Blue) (b. 1947)
- 2007Jennifer Alexander, Canadian ballet dancer (b. 1972)
- 2008Edward Samuel Rogers, Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1933)
- 2008Kathleen Baskin-Ball, American religious figure (b. 1958)
- 2008Odetta, American singer (b. 1930)
- 2009Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer and producer (The Alan Parsons Project) (b. 1945)
- 2009Foge Fazio, American college football coach (b. 1938)
- 2009Maggie Jones, English actress (b. 1934)
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