This Day in History...Advent and Christmas November 27 1926 Williamsburg, Virginia began restoration processes. 1954 Alger Hiss, convicted of being a Soviet spy, is freed after 44 months in prison. 1967 Lyndon Johnson appoints Robert McNamara to presidency of the World Bank. Birthdays Anders Celsius--Born in Sweden, 1701 (died April 25, 1744). Celsius invented the Celsius temperature scale and was an astronomer. Joe Mack--Born in 1870, Mack was the builder of gasoline-powered delivery wagons which eventually evolved into the Mack Truck Company. Jimi Hendrix--Rock musician, born 1942. November 28 1520 After discovering a strait at the tip of South America, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan sets off on the Pacific. 1863 The the first annual national Thanksgiving Day is celebrated. Back in October, President Lincoln had proclaimed the fourth Thursday of each November from that time forward as a national day of thanks. 1868 Mt. Etna erupts in Sicily. 1895 The first automobile race in the United States. The race was 55 miles long and only 6 cars took part. The winner averaged speeds of 7 miles per hour! Albania celebrates Liberation Day because it was released from Turkish control on this day in 1912. 1919 Lady Astor, born in America, became the first woman to be elected to British Parliament. 1929 Admiral Richard E. Byrd made the first flight over the South Pole. 1948 The first batch of Dr. Edwin Land's new Polaroid cameras go on sale in Boston. 1963 Cape Canaveral is renamed Cape Kennedy. Birthdays John Bunyon English preacher and writer who wrote Pilgrim's Progress, born this day in 1628. William Blake English poet, born 1757. November 29 1825 New York hosted the first performance of the Italian opera, The Barber of Seville 1890 The first Army vs. Navy football game was played at West Point. (Navy won.) 1944 The first open-heart surgery was performed at Johns Hopkins. 1948 The Metropolitan Opera is televised for the first time as the season opens with Shakespeare's Othello. 1949 The United States announces it will conduct atomic tests at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. 1961 NASA launches a chimpanzee named Enos into Earth orbit. 1963 President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints Chief Justice Earl Warren head of a commission to investigate the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Birthdays Louisa May Alcott, novelist. Born Philadelpha, PA in 1832. Died Boston, MA on March 6, 1888. Christian Johann Doppler, physicist. Born in Austria, 1803; died 1853. He proposed the Doppler Effect. Madeleine L'Engle, children's author. Born in New York, NY in 1918. C.S. Lewis, Christian writer and professor of medieval literature, was born in Belfast, Ireland, 1898. Died in 1963. November 30 1782 The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War. 1940 Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married. 1974 The fossilized remains of a female human ancestor named Lucy (after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) were found in Ethiopia. Birthdays Sir Winston Churchill, the British statesman, orator and author who served as prime minister during World War II, was born. Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, 1835. December 1 1887 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes appeared for the first time in print in the story "A Study in Scarlet." 1917 Father Ed Flanagan founds Boys Town, a home for orphaned or delinquent children, in Omaha, Nebraska. 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her front-section bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, AL. 1959 Twelve nations, including the United States, signed a treaty setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve free from military activity. 1963 The Beatles' first single, ''I Want to Hold Your Hand,'' was released in the United States. Birthdays Marie Tussaud, 1761. December 2 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor of France in Paris by Pope Pius VII. 1816 The first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business. 1823 President James Monroe outlined his famous doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere. 1942 The first controlled nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated at the University of Chicago. 1969 The Boeing 747 jumbo jet debuted. 1970 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established. Birthdays Georges Seurat, French painter, born 1859. Charles Ringling, American circus owner, was born in 1863. December 3 1818 Illinois became the 21st state in the United States. 1828 Andrew Jackson was elected the seventh president of the United States. 1833 Oberlin College in Ohio became the first coed institution of higher learning in the U.S. 1947 ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway. 1967 Surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, performed the first human heart transplant. Louis Washkansky lived 18 days with the new heart. Birthdays Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American flour miller and food products manufacturer was born in 1842. Joseph Conrad, English novelist, born in 1857. December 4 1816 James Monroe of Virginia was elected the fifth president of the United States. 1945 The Senate approved U.S. participation in the United Nations. Birthdays Crazy Horse, Native American chief, was born in 1849. December 5 1792 George Washington was re-elected president and John Adams was re-elected vice president. 1848 President Polk triggered the Gold Rush of 1848 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California. 1933 The 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing prohibition, was ratified. Birthdays Walt Disney, American television producer and creator of Mickey Mouse, was born in 1901. Martin Van Buren, eighth American president, was born in 1782. Christina Rossetti, English poet, born 1830. C.T. Studd, pioneer missionary, is born in England in 1862. Originally famous as a cricket star, he converted at age 21 under the preaching of D.L. Moody, and he dedicated his life and considerable inherited wealth to Christ. In 1885 he and six others, the "Cambridge Seven," sailed to Asia to serve with the China Inland Mission. He later ministered in India and Africa as well. December 6 345 A.D. (traditional date) Nicholas, bishop of Myra, one of the most popular saints in the Greek and Latin churches—and Santa Claus's namesake—dies. 1790 Congress moved from New York City to Philadelphia. 1884 Construction of the Washington Monument was completed. 1947 Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by President Harry S. Truman. Birthdays December 7 374 A.D. Ambrose is consecrated bishop of Milan, Italy. The first bishop to stand up to the emperor and win (thus creating a church-state precedent that would influence the West for a millennium), he was also an influential theologian, especially regarding the Holy Spirit. His preaching led to the conversion of Augustine. 1787 Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1796 Electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States. 1836 Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States. 1917 The U.S. declared war on Austria-Hungary in World War I. 1941 Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II. 1972 America's final moon mission, Apollo 17, blasted off from Cape Canaveral. Birthdays R.W. Sears, American merchant and founder of Sears, Roebuck retail company, born in 1863. December 8 Birthdays Sammy Davis, Jr. was born in 1925. Eli Whitney, American inventor of the cotton gin, born in 1765. Diego Rivera, Mexican painter, was born in 1886. James Thurber, American writer and cartoonist, was born in 1894. December 9 1843 The first Christmas cards—actually more like postcards—are created and sold for a shilling. 1965 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premiered. Birthdays December 10 Birthdays December 11 1792 Jacob Mohr, author of the poem "Silent Night," is born. 1984 The White House displays a nativity scene for the first time since courts ordered its removal in 1973. Birthdays December 12 Birthdays December 13 1835 Phillips Brooks, Episcopal prelate and author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," is born in Boston. Birthdays December 14 Birthdays December 15 1900 Count Leo Tolstoy writes to the tsar asking him to end religious persecution in Russia. Birthdays December 16 George Whitefield, revivalist and evangelist, the best-known figure of the American Great Awakening, is born in Gloucester, England in 1714. Birthdays December 17 Birthdays December 18 1865 Slavery is abolished in the United States as the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. Birthdays Charles Wesley, who founded Methodism with his brother John, is born in England in 1707. A celebrated and prolific hymnwriter, his "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Lo, He Comes" are widely sung this time of year. December 19 Birthdays December 20 Birthdays December 21 1620 English separatists known as the Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. Birthdays Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who clashed with England's King Henry II, is born in London in 1118. December 22 Birthdays December 23 Birthdays December 24 1223 Francis of Assisi stages history's first living nativity scene, complete with live animals, in a cave near Greccio, Italy. 1818 Franz Gruber composes "Silent Night" in the St. Nicholas Church of Oberndorf, Austria. Birthdays December 25 800 A.D. Pope Leo III is crowns Charlemagne, the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Birthdays Home | Contact teachingmom 3.0    ©2003-2007 teachingmom.com All rights reserved. *Copies for personal home use permitted, however no part of the TeachingMOM Advent Calendar may be reproduced on the web or sold in any format. Permissions were personally granted, as necessary, for the use of images, articles, and book excerpts found within this portion of our website. Thank you.