December 2nd, 2008

Today in History

1962:
Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of US President John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to not make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress.

1942:
Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

1859:
Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.

1804:
At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned as the first Emperor of France in a thousand years.

1755:
The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.