today.nukz.net: December 4

Events

1619 - Thirty-eight colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God (this is considered to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas).
1674 - Father Jacques Marquette founds a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan to minister to the Illinois Indians (the mission would later grow into the city of Chicago, Illinois).
1783 - At Fraunces Tavern in New York City, US General George Washington formally bids his officers farewell.
1791 - The first issue of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published.
1829 - In the face of fierce opposition, British Lord William Bentinck carries a regulation declaring that all who abetted suttee in India were guilty of culpable homicide.
1867 - Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange Movement).
1872 - The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia (the ship was abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged).
1875 - Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Cuba, then Spain.
1918 - US President Woodrow Wilson sails for Versailles for the World War I peace talks, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.
1921 - The Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against actor and film director Roscoe Arbuckle ends in a hung jury.
1942 - In Warsaw, two Christian women, Zofia Kossak and Wanda Filipowicz risk their lives by setting up the Council for the Assistance of the Jews.
1943 - In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.
1943 - Great Depression ends in the United States: With unemployment figures falling fast due to World War II-related employment, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration.
1945 - By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations (the UN was established on October 24, 1945).
1952 - A "killer fog" descends on London ("Smog" for "smoke" and "fog" becomes a word).
1958 - Dahomey (present-day Benin) becomes a self-governing country within the French Community.
1967 - US and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta (235 of the 300-strong Viet Cong battalion were killed).
1977 - Jean-Bdel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor.
1977 - A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 is hijacked and then blown up in mid-air over the Straits of Johore, killing 100.
1978 - Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco, California's first woman mayor (she served until January 8, 1988).
1981 - South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa).
1982 - The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.
1991 - Journalist Terry Anderson is released after a seven years' captivity as a hostage in Beirut (he was the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon).
1991 - Pan Am Airlines ends operations.
1992 - President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 US troops to Somalia.
1993 - A truce is concluded between the government of Angola and UNITA rebels.