December second

Today's Highlight in History:
On December second, 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harper's Ferry the previous October.

On this date:
In 1804, Napoleon was crowned emperor of France.

In 1816, the first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business.

In 1823, President Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1939, New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago landed at one minute past midnight.

In 1942, a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago.

In 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (Republican, Wisconsin) for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."

In 1961, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist who would lead Cuba to Communism.

In 1969, the Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, flew from Seattle to New York City.

In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency began operating under director William Ruckelshaus.

In 1993, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

Ten years ago: President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev held the first talks of their wind-tossed Malta summit aboard the Soviet cruise ship "Maxim Gorky." V.P. Singh was sworn in as prime minister of India.

Five years ago: The government agreed not to seek a recall of allegedly fire-prone General Motors pickup trucks, striking a deal with GM under which the automaker would spend more than $51 million on safety and research. Reputed "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss was convicted in Los Angeles of three counts of pandering.

One year ago: Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was acquitted of all counts in a corruption case involving sports tickets and travel that he'd accepted from companies that did business with his department.

"Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes."

-- Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist (1882-1967).