On this day...

1763 Touro shul of Newport RI dedicated (oldest existing US synagogue)
1804 Napoleon becomes first French emperor, placing crown on his own head
1805 Napoleon defeats Russians & Austrians at Austerlitz
1816 First savings bank in US opens (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society)
1822 In San Salvador, a congress proposes incorporation into US
1823 President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine"
1848 Franz Josef I becomes emperor of Austria and King of Hungary
1852 2nd French empire established; Louis Napoleon becomes emperor
1891 52nd Congress (1891-93) convenes
1895 54th Congress (1895-97) convenes
1899 US & Germany agree to divide Samoa between them
1901 Gillette patents first disposable razor
1907 Tommy Burns KO's Gunner Moir to retain the heavyweight boxing title
1913 Archdiocese of Managua created
1927 First Model A Ford sold for $385
1939 British Imerial Airways & British Airways merge to form BOAC
1942 First controlled nuclear chain reaction (University of Chicago)
1944 Leslie Hovrath, Ohio State quarterback wins the Heisman Trophy
1947 Johnny Lujack, Notre Dame quarterback wins the Heisman Trophy
1950 Vic Toweel knocks down Danny O'Sullivan 14 times in a title fight
1951 Philadelphia sets NFL record of 25 first-downs rushing
1952 First human birth televised to public (Denver)
1954 Frank Selvy of Milwaukee sets then NBA record of 24 of 26 free throws
1954 US Senate censures Joe McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute"
1957 First full-scale atomic electric power plant-power generated, Pennsylvania
1958 Benelux treaty signed by Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg
1958 Pete Dawkins, Army back wins the Heisman Trophy
1959 Malpasset dam collapses destroying French Riviera town of Frejus
1961 Fidel Castro declares he's a Marxist and will lead Cuba to Communism
1970 Environmental Protection Agency begins (Dir: William Ruckelshaus)
1971 Soviet Mars 3 is first to soft land on Mars
1972 "December Giant" largest sinkhole in US collapses (Alabama)
1978 Chanting "Allah is great," anti-Shah protesters pour through Tehran
1978 Streisand & Diamond's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," goes #1
1980 4 American Maryknoll nuns killed by death squads in El Salvador
1982 First permanent artificial heart successfully implanted (U of Utah) in retired dentist Barney Clark; lived 112 days with the Jarvic-7 heart
1990 First parliamentary election in newly reunified Germany
1991 Bobby Bonilla signs record $29 million 5-year pact with the NY Mets
1991 Muslim Shiites release US hostage Joseph Cicippio

Birthdays which occurred on December 2nd:

1859 Georges Seurat, France, painter/pointillist (Grande Jatte)
1885 George Minot, US, physician, worked on anemia (Nobel 1934)
1893 William Gaxton, San Francisco, actor (Destry, Convoy)
1897 Rewi Alley, NZ, writer (Americans in China)
1904 Donald Woods, Brandon Manitoba, actor (Tammy)
1906 John Bentley, England, actor (Hammer the Tuff)
1906 Peter Carl Goldmark, developed color TV & LP records
1910 Robert Paige, Indianapolis, actor (Colgate Comedy Hour)
1914 Eddie Sauter, Brooklyn, musician (Sauter-Finegan Band, Sat Night Revue)
1914 Ray Walston, actor (South Pacific, My Favorite Martian, Damn Yankees)
1915 Adolph Green, songwriter (married to Phyllis Newman)
1915 Randolph Hearst, newspaper publisher
1917 Ezra Stone, US, actor/producer (Henry Aldrich)
1918 Milton Delugg, Los Angeles, orchestra leader (Tonight Show)
1922 Leo V Gordon, New York, actor (Circus Boy, Enos, Winds of War)
1923 Maria Callas, New York, soprano (Mademoiselle Award, 1953)
1924 Alexander Haig, Jr. (R) US Sec of State (1981-82)
1925 Julie Harris, Michigan, actress (Bell Jar, East of Eden)
1929 Harvey Phillips, Aurora Missouri, tubist (NYC Ballet Orchestra)
1929 Lowell North, Springfield Mass, yachtsman (Olympic Gold-1968)
1931 Edwin Meese, US attorney general (1985-88)
1937 Brian Lumley, England, author (Beneath the Moors)
1940 Willie Brown, NFL defensive back (Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders)
1941 Paul C W Chu, China, physicists, superconductivity researcher
1944 Cathy Lee Crosby, Los Angeles, actress (Coach, That's Incredible)
1950 Merrill Ashley, St Paul Minn, ballerina (NYC Ballet)
1953 Myung-Whan Chung, Seoul Korea, pianist (Chung Sisters)
1956 Steven Bauer, Havana Cuba, actor (Scarface, Thief of Hearts)
1958 Vladimir Parfenovich, USSR, 500m kayak (Olympic gold-1980)
1962 Tracy Austin, tennis pro (US Open 1979, 81)
1973 Monica Seles, tennis star

Deaths which occurred on December 2nd:

1859 John Brown, abolitionist hanged at Charles Town, (West) Virginia
1888 Kemal Bey, Turkish poet dies at 47
1935 Albert Kessel, first to die in California gas chamber
1967 Cardinal Francis Spellman, dies in NY at 78
1976 William Tannen, actor (Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp), dies at 65
1982 Marty Feldman, comedic actor dies at 49 of a heart attack
1983 Fifi D'Orsay, "French Bombshell" dies of cancer at 79
1985 Alex Courtney, actor (Sword of Justice)
1986 Desi Arnaz, actor (Ricky Ricardo-I Love Lucy), dies at 69
1990 Aaron Copeland, composer (Fanfare for the Common Man), dies at 90
1990 Robert Cummings, actor (Love that Bob), dies at 88