Today in History, 12/1

1761: Marie Tussaud, French creator of wax sculptures, is born.1824: Since no presidential candidate receives a majority of electoral college votes in the election, the House of Representatives is given the task to decide the winner (as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution). Eventually, John Quincy Adams is chosen over Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay.
1864: In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
1913: The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
1913: Mary Martin is born. She played Peter Pan on Broadway.1918: Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.
1933: Lou Rawls is born.

1934: In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergei Kirov is shot dead at the Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad by Leonid Nikolayev. This was all the excuse Stalin needed to start a massive purge that would cost tens of millions of lives.1935: Woody Allen is born.

1937: Chuck Lowe is born. He is most famous for playing Morrie in Goodfellas.

1940: Richard Pryor is born.

1945: Bette Midler is born.

1946: Gilbert O'Sullivan is born. He is responsible for one of the worst songs ever written.

1949: Pablo Escobar, drug lord, is born.1951: Treat Williams is born.1955: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1956: Julee Cruise is born. Her haunting voice has been a favorite of David Lynch for soundtracks for years.

1959: The Antarctic Treaty is signed , which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent.
1960: Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested and then deported from Hamburg, Germany for accusation of attempted arson.
1960: Carol Alt, supermodel, is born. This is her iconic 80's poster: 1963: The Beatles' first single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," is released in the United States.
1970: Sarah Silverman is born. Here she is doing standup in 1992.

1981: The AIDS virus is officially recognized.
1988: Benazir Bhutto is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan.1990: Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 meters beneath the seabed.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.