This Week in History: November 29th – December 5th

Welcome to this week’s edition of the staff blog’s ‘This Week in History!’ You will find historical facts, happenings, and associated books; #1 box office movies; and #1 NY Times best sellers from years gone by. This will be a weekly feature, so make sure to check out each week’s posting! NOTE: Click on any of the below book/movie titles to be taken to them in our online Café catalog!

 

NY Times Fiction Bestsellers

 

#1 Box Office Movies

This Week in History

  • November 29th
    • 1947- The United Nations passes a resolution for the partition of Palestine that would divide Palestine into two separate Arab and Jewish states. The resolution, however, is not implemented. (World)
    • 1967- U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation. (United States)
    • 2001- George Harrison, the lead guitarist for the Beatles, dies at the age of 58 from cancer. (World)
  • November 30th
    • 1874- Winston Churchill is born. (World)
    • 1982- Michael Jackson’s seminal album Thriller is released. (United States)
    • 2004- Ken Jennings, after 74 consecutive victories, loses for the first time on Jeopardy! (United States)
  • December 1st
    • 1824- With no presidential candidate receiving a majority of the electoral votes needed for victory, Congress decides to turn over the presidential election to the House of Representatives, as dictated by the 12th Amendment. They end up selecting John Quincy Adams as the next president two months later, despite his main opponent, Andrew Jackson, receiving 15 more electoral votes and 44,804 more popular votes than Adams. (United States)
    • 1955- Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white passenger. (United States)
    • 1959- Antarctica is declared to be a military-free continent by all major world powers, including the U.S. and the USSR. (World)
  • December 2nd
    • 1804- Napoleon is crowned emperor in France. (World)
    • 1954- Joseph McCarthy is censured by the U.S. Senate. (Wisconsin/United States)
    • 2001- Enron files for bankruptcy. (United States)
  • December 3rd
    • 1818- Illinois is admitted into the Union as the 21st state. (United States)
    • 1947- The first television station in Wisconsin, WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee, is established. WTMJ was also the seventeenth overall TV station established in the US at the time and the first in the entire Midwest. (Wisconsin)
    • 1967- The first human heart transplant occurs in South Africa. (World)
  • December 4th
    • 1783- General George Washington bids farewell to his officers as he resigns his commission and heads to Mount Vernon for a comfortable retirement as a private citizen (we all know how that turned out). (United States)
    • 1947- Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Name Desire premieres on Broadway starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy. (United States)
    • 1992- U.S. President George H.W. Bush orders 28,000 troops to Somalia during the Somali Civil War. (United States/World)
  • December 5th
    • 1879- The Humane Society of Wisconsin is organized for the first time. (Wisconsin)
    • 1933- The 21st Amendment is ratified and Prohibition ends. (United States)
    • 2013- Nelson Mandela dies at the age of 95. (World)

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