This Day in History – December 3, 2011

1586 Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England, from Colombia 1621 Galileo perfects the telescope 1639 1st annulment by court decree passes 1775 1st official US flag raising (aboard naval vessel Alfred) 1818 Illinois admitted as 21st US state 1828 Andrew Jackson elected 7th President of US, John C Calhoun Vice-President 1834 1st US dental society organized (New York) 1835 1st US mutual fire insurance company issues 1st policy (Rhode Island) 1847 Frederick Douglass publishes 1st issue of his newspaper “North Star” 1866 Paid fire department replaces volunteer companies 1868 Trial of Jefferson Davis starts; 1st blacks on US trial jury 1901 Milwaukee is dropped from the American League & replaced by St Louis Browns 1910 Neon lights, 1st publically seen (Paris Auto Show) 1922 1st successful technicolor movie (Tall of the Sea), shown in New York NY 1923 1st Congressional open session broadcast via radio (Washington DC) 1930 Air-borne chemicals combine with fog to kill 60 (Meuse Valley Belgium) 1931 Alka Seltzer goes on sale 1944 NFL Cardinals-Pittsburgh merger dissolves 1944 Hungarian death march of Jews ends 1948 1st US woman army officer not in medical corps sworn-in 1950 Cleveland Browns last NFL team with no-pass game (beat Philadelphia 13-7) 1950 Cleveland Browns’ Horace Gillom sets club record with 12 punts 1950 Paul Harvey begins his national radio broadcast 1952 1st TV broadcast in Hawaii 1953 Eisenhower criticizes McCarthy for saying communists are in Republican party 1956 Wilt Chamberlain’s 1st collegiate basketball game (scores 52) 1962 Edith Spurlock Sampson sworn-in as 1st US black female judge 1964 Police arrests 800 sit-in students at University of California at Berkeley 1964 “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” 1st airs on TV 1967 1st human heart transplant performed (Dr Christiaan Barnard, South Africa) 1968 Pitcher’s mound drops from 15″ to 10″ & strike zone reduced from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits, to help hitters 1969 John Lennon is offered role of Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar 1971 President Nixon commutes Jimmy Hoffa’s jail term 1979 11 trampled to death at Cincinnati Who concert 1979 Christie’s auctions a thimble for a record $18,400 1984 Oldest groom – Harry Stevens, 103, weds Thelma Lucas, 83, in Wisconsin 1989 George Bush & Mikhail Gorbachev end summit in Malta 1991 Hulk Hogan defeats Undertaker to become 4th time WWF champion 1991 Muslim Shiites release US hostage Alan Steen]]]]> ]]>