November 29, 1947: Palestine is partitioned into Jewish and Arab land by the U.N. General Assembly, resulting in the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel the following year, on May 14, 1948.
November 29, 1989: 41 years of Communist rule comes to an end in Czechoslovakia following a 12-day revolution sparked by the beating of protesters. The Czech parliament votes unanimously to repeal constitutional clauses granting the Communist Party sole power. This brings a wave of reform, headed by playwright Vaclav Havel, who later becomes president in the first free elections since World War II.
December 1, 1955:The modern American civil rights movement is born as Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back section of a municipal bus. Her arrest results in a year-long boycott of the city bus system by African Americans, and leads to legal action ending racial segregation on municipal buses throughout the South.
December 1, 1990: England is connected to mainland Europe for the first time since the Ice Age as engineers digging a railway tunnel under the English Channel break through the last rock layer. This will become The Chunnel, linking England and France.
December 2, 1942:Physicists led by Enrico Fermi carry out the world’s first successful nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago.
December 2, 1954: The U.S. Senate condemns Senator Joseph McCarthy for misconduct following his ruthless investigations of thousands of alleged Communists.
December 2, 1982: The first permanent artificial heart is implanted in 61-year-old Barney Clark by Dr. William De Vries at the University of Utah Medical Center. Clark, who was near death at the time of the operation, survived 112 days after the implantation.
Join the discussion!