Today in History: December 1, Ukraine chooses independence from Soviet Union

Today in History

Today is Friday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2023. There are 30 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 1, 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

On this date:

In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed among John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln sent his Second Annual Message to Congress, in which he called for the abolition of slavery, and went on to say, “Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”

In 1941, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito approved waging war against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands after his government rejected U.S. demands contained in the Hull Note.

In 1942, during World War II, nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States; the goal was not so much to save on gas, but to conserve rubber that was desperately needed for the war effort by reducing the use of tires.

In 1952, the New York Daily News ran a front-page story on Christine Jorgensen’s sex-reassignment surgery with the headline, “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty”.

In 1955, Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus; the incident sparked a year-long boycott of the buses.

In 1965, an airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.

In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

In 1974, TWA Flight 514, a Washington-bound Boeing 727, crashed in Virginia after being diverted from National Airport to Dulles International Airport; all 92 people on board were killed. On the same day, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, a Boeing 727, crashed near Stony Point, New York, with the loss of its three crew members (the plane had been chartered to pick up the Baltimore Colts football team in Buffalo, New York).

In 2005, a roadside bomb killed 10 U.S. Marines near Fallujah, Iraq.

In 2009, President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops into the war in Afghanistan but promised during a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to begin withdrawals in 18 months.

In 2012, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and took his own life in front of the team’s coach and general manager.

In 2013, a New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve derailed, killing four people and injuring more than 70.

In 2017, retired general Michael Flynn, who served as President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about reaching out to the Russians on Trump’s behalf. (Trump would later pardon Flynn.)

In 2020, disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims, Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press that the U.S. Justice Department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.

In 2021, the U.S. recorded its first confirmed case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, in a vaccinated traveler who returned to California after a trip to South Africa.

In 2022, legislation to avert what could have been an economically ruinous freight rail strike won final approval in Congress as lawmakers responded to President Joe Biden’s call for federal intervention in the long-running labor dispute.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor-director Woody Allen is 88. World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 84. Singer Dianne Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 84. Television producer David Salzman is 80. Rock singer-musician Eric Bloom (Blue Oyster Cult) is 79. Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 79. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 78. Singer Gilbert O’Sullivan is 77. Former child actor Keith Thibodeaux (TV: “I Love Lucy”) is 73. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is 71. Country singer Kim Richey is 67. Actor Charlene Tilton is 65. Actor-model Carol Alt is 63. Actor Jeremy Northam is 62. Actor Katherine LaNasa is 57. Producer-director Andrew Adamson is 57. Actor Nestor Carbonell is 56. Actor Golden Brooks is 53. Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is 53. Actor Ron Melendez is 51. Contemporary Christian singer Bart Millard (MIL’-urd) is 51. Actor-writer-producer David Hornsby is 48. Singer Sarah Masen is 48. Rock musician Brad Delson (Linkin Park) is 46. Actor Nate Torrence is 46. Rock/Christian music singer-songwriter Mat Kearney is 45. Actor Riz Ahmed is 41. Actor Charles Michael Davis is 39. Actor Ilfenesh Hadera is 38. R&B singer-actor Janelle Monae is 38. Actor Ashley Monique Clark is 35. Pop-rock-rap singer Tyler Joseph (Twenty One Pilots) is 35. Actor Zoe Kravitz is 35. Pop singer Nico Sereba (Nico & Vinz) is 33. Actor Jackson Nicoll is 20.