December 2, 1963: The Beatles appeared on one of the more popular TV shows in the UK, Morecambe and Wise. From the Beatles Bible site: In the morning they rehearsed their act prior to filming in the afternoon. The Beatles performed three songs to a small studio audience: This Boy, All My Loving and I Want To Hold Your Hand.
They were then joined by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise for some banter and a light-hearted version of golden oldie Moonlight Bay.
The episode of The Morecambe And Wise Show was shown on the ITV network on Saturday 18 April 1964 at 8.25 pm. It was repeated on 24 July the following year on The Best Of Morecambe And Wise.
The audio recording of Moonlight Bay was released on Anthology 1 in 1995. (see Dec 4)
December 2 Music et al
Monkees
Daydream Believer
December 2 – December 29, 1967 – “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd
December 2, 1967 – January 5, 1968 – The Monkees Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd. the Billboard #1 album.
December 2, 1968: George Harrison’s Wonderwall Music album released. (see Dec 20)
December 2 Music et al
George Harrison/Delaney & Bonnie
December 2, 1969: on December 1, George Harrison had watched husband and wife act Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett perform at the Albert Hall in London. On December 2 he joined them on stage in Bristol, for his first stage appearance since The Beatles’ final concert on 29 August 1966. Freed from the attentions of Beatlemania, he was able to be a largely anonymous band member, although he did sing songs including Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby on at least one occasion. Harrison stayed on the tour for six dates until it ended. They played two shows each night, in Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool and Croydon. (see Dec 15)
December 2 Music et al
“Thriller”
December 2, 1983: MTV broadcasts Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video with a running time of 13 minutes and 42 seconds! (JIC, see September 22, 1992; Korematsu, see January 30, 2011)
December 1, 1918: an Act of Union was signed by Denmark, allowing Iceland to become a sovereign state, however still under the Danish monarchy. (see January 22, 1919)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Emma Goldman
December 1, 1919: the Department of Labor ordered Goldman and Alexander Berkman to appear at Ellis Island for deportation to Russia. (NYT article)(see EG for expanded chronology)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
BLACK HISTORY
Feminism & Montgomery Bus Boycott
December 1, 1955 [Thursday]: Police arrested Rosa Parks after she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a crowded Montgomery city bus. In response to Parks’ arrest, Montgomery’s black community organized a boycott of city buses until seating policies are successfully changed. The night of Parks’ arrest, Jo Ann Robinson called the other Women’s Political Council leaders and they agreed that this was the right time for a bus boycott. Robinson stayed up all night copying 35,000 handbills by a mimeograph machine at Alabama State College to distribute the next day. She called students and arranged to meet them at elementary and high schools in the morning. The boycott will last 381-days.
In April 1956, Rosa Parks related the following description of her action that day.
ROSA PARKS: I left work on my way home, December 1st, 1955, about 6:00 in the afternoon. I boarded the bus downtown Montgomery on Court Square. As the bus proceeded out of town on the third stop, the white passengers had filled the front of the bus. When I got on the bus, the rear was filled with colored passengers, and they were beginning to stand. The seat I occupied was the first of the seats where the Negro passengers take as they—on this route. The driver noted that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers, and there would be two or three men standing. He looked back and asked that the seat where I had taken, along with three other persons: one in a seat with me and two across the aisle were seated. He demanded the seats that we were occupying. The other passengers there reluctantly gave up their seats. But I refused to do so.
I want to make very certain that it is understood that I had not taken a seat in the white section, as has been reported in many cases. An article came out in the newspaper on Friday morning about the Negro woman overlooked segregation. She was seated in the front seat, the white section of the bus and refused to take a seat in the rear of the bus. That was the first newspaper account. The seat where I occupied, we were in the custom of taking this seat on the way home, even though at times on this same bus route, we occupied the same seat with whites standing, if their space had been taken up, the seats had been taken up. I was very much surprised that the driver at this point demanded that I remove myself from the seat.
The driver said that if I refused to leave the seat, he would have to call the police. And I told him, “Just call the police.” He then called the officers of the law. They came and placed me under arrest, violation of the segregation law of the city and state of Alabama in transportation. I didn’t think I was violating any. I felt that I was not being treated right, and that I had a right to retain the seat that I had taken as a passenger on the bus. The time had just come when I had been pushed as far as I could stand to be pushed, I suppose. They placed me under arrest. (Black History, see Dec 3; Bussing, seeFebruary 1, 1956; Feminism, see March 9, 1959)
MARTIN LUTHER KING
December 1, 1964: Martin Luther King and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a tense meeting in Hoover’s office. A public conflict between the two had erupted when King criticized the FBI for failing to enforce civil rights and Hoover replied by calling King the “most notorious liar” in the country.
The meeting was allegedly designed to heal the rift. At the meeting, however, Hoover told King a number of things about his activity that King realized could only have come from intensive surveillance, including wiretapping. King left the meeting deeply shaken about the extent of FBI spying on his activities. (BH, see Dec 4; MLK, see Dec 10)
George Whitmore, Jr
December 1, 1965: the jury found Richard Robles guilty. (next BH, see Dec 3; see Whitmore for expanded chronology)
BLACK & SHOT
December 1, 2015: responding to an uproar over a white officer shooting Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, 16 times and anger at the Police Department for resisting, for more than a year to release of the video of the fatal shooting , Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired Chicago’s police superintendent. (B & S, and McDonald, see Dec 6)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
The Cold War
Nuclear/Chemical News
December 1, 1959: signing of the Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), to regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and having 53 parties as of 2016, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004. (NYT article)(next CW, see May 1, 1960; next N/C N, see February 13, 1960)
Cultural Milestone
December 1, 1961: a press release by the Department of Defense stated: The National Fallout Shelter Sign will be a familiar sight in communities all over the United States next year. It will mark buildings and other facilities as areas where 50 or more persons can be sheltered from radioactive fallout resulting from a nuclear attack. The sign will be used only to mark Federally-approved buildings surveyed by architect-engineer firms under conract to the Department of Defense. The color combination, yellow and black, is considered as the most easily identified attention getter by psychologists in the graphic arts industry. The sign can be seen and recognized at distances up to 200 feet. The shelter symbol on the sign is a black circle set against a yellow rectangular background. Inside the circle, three yellow triangles are arranged in geometric pattern with the apex of the triangles pointing down. Below the fallout symbol, lettered in yellow against black, are the words FALLOUT SHELTER in plain block letters. Yellow directional arrows are located directly underneath the lettering which will indicate the location of the shelter. [2017 NYT article] (Cold War, see Dec 2; Cultural Milestone, see May 19, 1962)
Bonnie Dobson
In 1962 Bonnie Dobson released the post apocalyptic song, “Morning Dew” It was later covered most famously by the Grateful Dead.
Also in 1962 Malvina Reynolds released “What Have They Done to the Rain.” It points out danger of nuclear war. (Cold War, see Jan 2; Nuclear News, see Feb 16; News Music, see October 8, 1963)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
December 1 Music et al
McCartney & Best leave Germany
December 1, 1960: McCartney and Best arrived at London Airport. They spent their remaining money on a bus to Euston Station and a train ticket to Liverpool. John Lennon stayed behind in Hamburg for a while. (see Beatles Deported for expanded chronology)
Now and Then
December 1, 2023: after less than one day of availability, The Beatles’ “Now and Then” was at No. 1 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart.
“Now and Then” was billed as the final Beatles song. It was first recorded as a demo in 1977 by John Lennon and initially meant for the band’s The Beatles’ three-edition Anthology series in the mid-‘90s before being shelved by the surviving members of the band. It was completed and released after new technology helped extract Lennon’s vocals from the original demo while also using guitar recordings from George Harrison from the initial attempt to finish the song. [Billboard article] (next Beatles, see )
My Son, the Folk Singer
December 1 – 14, 1962: Allen Sherman’s My Son, the Folk Singer Billboard #1 album.
December 1, 1963: The New York Times Sunday Magazine, ran a story on “Beatlemania” in the U.K. (NYT article) (see Dec 2)
Kool Aid UK Military
December 1, 1964: British soldiers were given LSD as part of research into how the drug might affect their capabilities as well as military operations. From the Imperial War Museum’s description of the filmed summary: Introductory title places trial in context of recent research to discover chemical agents able to incapacitate enemy forces but with negligible risk of fatal casualties. … One Marine in state of distress is comforted by nurse, while others smile and laugh hysterically, one attempting to cut down a tree with his spade, and another climbing the tree. … After exercise Marines rest in bed in Porton ward … One very distressed Marine is held by duffel coated doctor and scientist, muttering “I am not going to die.” Cut back to end of the exercise, with Marines departing by truck, before concluding title states that despite promising results of experiment, further research is needed into methods of disseminating drug, the effects of larger doses and establishing economical production techniques. “Despite these and other problems, LSD is regarded in the light of present knowledge as one of the drugs which merits more detailed examination and testing.”
LSD/2016
December 1, 2016: The Journal of Psychopharmacology concurrently released studies by researchers at New York University, with 29 patients, and at Johns Hopkins University, with 51 on the possible therapeutic benefit of psilocybin. The studies proceeded after arduous review by regulators and were the largest and most meticulous among a handful of trials. The results were striking. About 80 percent of cancer patients showed clinically significant reductions in both psychological disorders, a response sustained some seven months after the single dose. Side effects were minimal. (see September 4, 2019)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Immigration History
December 1, 1965: the start of a refugee airlift from Cuba. A Pan American World Airways left Miami’s International Airport at 7 a.m., carrying only its crew and two officials of the U.S. Public Health and Immigration departments. It returned three hours and 35 minutes later from Varadero, Cuba, with 90 refugees, the first of up to 100,000 expected in the new wave of immigration. (see April 5, 1973)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
Russell Tribunal
December 1, 1967: having spent a year investigating America’s intervention in Southeast Asia and now on its the last day of the International War Crimes Tribunal’s second session, the panel, also known as the Russell Tribunal after its founder, the philosopher Bertrand Russell, announced its findings. Tribunal members and unanimously found the United States “guilty on all charges, including genocide, the use of forbidden weapons, maltreatment and killing of prisoners, violence and forceful movement of prisoners” in Vietnam and its neighbors Laos and Cambodia.
The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre had presided over the tribunal and helped to recruit 23 other internationally recognized academics, scientists, lawyers, former heads of state and peace activists whose self-professed moral consciousness persuaded them to accept the tribunal’s invitation. Across two separate sessions, between May 2 and May 10, 1967, in Stockholm, and between Nov. 20 and Dec. 1, 1967 in Roskilde, the members weighed the evidence that each had found during several fact-finding trips to Vietnam between the two sessions. (see Dec 5)
First draft lottery
December 1, 1969: the first draft lottery in the United States was held since World War II. [list] (see Dec 5)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism
Women’s Equity Action League
December 1, 1968: The Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) established as an alternative to the National Organization for Women (NOW) for those who support women’s equality in employment and education but do not want to address the issue of abortion. (see January 31, 1969)
Our Bodies Ourselves
December 1, 1970: The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective published Our Bodies Ourselves: A Book By and For Women. The book encouraged women to become educated about their health and provided accurate information about body image, sexuality, and reproduction. (see Dec 17)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
AIDS
December 1, 1988: the World Health Organization organized the first World AIDS Day to raise awareness of the spreading pandemic. (see March 29, 1990)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
December 1, 1998: on a party-line vote, the House Judiciary Committee expanded its impeachment inquiry to include alleged campaign finance abuses, approving subpoenas for Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director Louis Freeh and federal prosecutor Charles LaBella. (seeCI for expanded chronology)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
December 1, 2014: Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy’s Grammar School in Forest City, N.C., ended teacher-led prayer and implemented a new policy on religion after a Nov. 6 complaint by Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott on behalf of a parent. A second-grade teacher had led students in prayer before lunch each day.
The parent was later told the prayers would be replaced with a moment of silence, but the teacher reportedly instead called on a student to lead the prayer. Elliott noted that a moment of silence did not cure the problem because it was clearly intended for prayer.
The principal responded Dec. 1, attaching an extensive new policy the charter school’s governing board had adopted clarifying that while students remain free to pray on their own, “School administrators and teachers may not organize or encourage prayer exercises in classrooms. The right of religious expression in school does not include the right to have a captive audience listen, or to compel other students to participate.” (see January 20, 2015)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Cannabis
December 1, 2019: the state Marijuana Regulatory Agency announced that Michigan adults 21 and older were able to buy marijuana.
Michigan became one of 11 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington) and the District of Columbia which had legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes.
Michigan’s medical marijuana dispensaries would be permitted to sell up to 50 percent of cannabis products on the recreational market if they were at least 30 days old, according to a bulletin from the state regulatory agency. (see Cannabis re more on Cannabis)
December 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Trump Impeachment Inquiry/Public
December 1, 2019: lawyers for President Trump said that they would not participate in the House Judiciary Committee’s first public impeachment hearing on December 3, airing a long list of complaints that they said prevented “any semblance of a fair process.”
The refusal to send lawyers continued a pattern of stonewalling by Trump, who had sought to block witnesses and documents, as he and his allies called the proceedings “deranged” and a “witch hunt.” People familiar with the president’s legal strategy had said privately that his lawyers were deeply suspicious of taking part in a process they view as unfair to Trump. [NYT article] (see TII/P for expanded chronology)
In December 1843: the forty-year-old Dr John Emerson died suddenly. His widow, Irene, inherited his estate. For the next three years, the Scotts worked as hired slaves with the rent going to Irene Emerson. (next BH, see January 30, 1844)
In December 1854: Scott appealed to the Supreme Court alleging that Judge Wells had made an error in charging the jury that Scott was not entitled to his freedom. The appeal reached Washington too late for the 1854 term, so the Supreme Court held the case over for the December 1855 term and finally heard arguments in February 1856. (next BH, see May 1, 1855)
In December 1856: the US Supreme Court heard arguments and also asked questions about the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise. It was an election year and perhaps for political reasons, the Court declined to render a decision until the spring of 1857.(see Dred Scott for an expanded chronology)
Intermarriage ban
December 1912: Rep. Seaborn Roddenbery (D-GA) made a second attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution in order to ban interracial marriage in all 50 states. Roddenbery’s proposed amendment read as follows: “That intermarriage between negroes or persons of color and Caucasians or any other character of persons within the United States or any territory under their jurisdiction, is forever prohibited; and the term ‘negro or person of color,’ as here employed, shall be held to mean any and all persons of African descent or having any trace of African or negro blood.” (2004 NYT article) (next BH, see April 13, 1913)
Scottsboro Decembers/Supreme Court
In December 1936: after the Supreme Court again reversed the convictions of the Scottsboro Boys in 1936, Alabama Attorney General Thomas E Knight, Jr met secretly with their lawyer Samuel Leibowitz in New York to discuss a possible compromise. Knight told Leibowitz he was “sick of the cases,” and that they were causing Alabama considerable political and economic harm. According to Leibowitz, Knight by that time had come to believe that Price was lying and no rape had ever occurred. Nonetheless, he thought jail time appropriate because at least some of the Scottsboro Boys were guilty of assault for having thrown the white boys off the train. After several meetings between the two, a compromise was reached that would result in the release of four of the defendants and a reduction of sought charges for the others. (next BH, see May 17, 1937)
Scottsboro Decembers/Barroom fight
In December 1950: Haywood Patterson involved in a Michigan barroom fight resulting in the death of another man. Haywood charged with murder. FBI arrested Haywood Patterson, but Michigan’s governor refused extradition to Alabama.
Black Panthers
In December 1966: sixteen-year-old Bobby Hutton becomes the first male recruit of the Black Panther Party. [NPR story on Hutton] (BH, see Dec 5; BP, see “In January 1967”)
December Peace Love Art Activism
Native Americans
In December 1862: 303 Sioux were convicted of murder and rape (Some trials lasted less than 5 minutes. No one explained the proceedings to the defendants, nor were the Sioux represented by a defense in court) [1862 Sioux war] (see Dec 26)
December Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues
In December 1908: the U.S. National Conservation Commission which prepared the first inventory of the natural resources of the United States. It was divided into four sections, water, forests, lands, and minerals, each section having a chairman, and with Gifford Pinchot as chairman of the executive committee gave its three-volume report at the the Joint Conservation Congress 20 governors, representatives of 22 state conservation commissions, and leaders from various national organizations attended. (see January 19, 1919)
December Peace Love Art Activism
Feminism & Voting Rights
In December 1910: The National League for Opposing Woman Suffrage founded in London 1910 to oppose the extension of the voting franchise to women in the United Kingdom. It was formed as an amalgamation of the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League and the Men’s League for Opposing Woman Suffrage. Its first president was Lord Cromer, and its executive committee consisted of seven men and seven women. (next F, see Early News Music ; VR, see March 3, 1913)
December Peace Love Art Activism
Cultural Milestones
Hugh Hefner
In December 1953: Hugh Hefner published the first issue of Playboy magazine. (see April 6, 1954)
December Peace Love Art Activism
Women’s Health
In December 1960: birth control pill goes on sale. (see February 23, 1961)
December Peace Love Art Activism
LSD
Professor J S Slotkin
In December 1952: Professor J. S. Slotkin published Menomini Peyotism in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.
In it, Slotkin has wrote that “the habitual use of Peyote does not seem to produce any increased tolerance or dependence. I know many people who have been Peyotists for forty to fifty years. The amount of Peyote they use depends upon the solemnity of the occasion; in general they do not take any more Peyote now than they did years ago. Also, there is sometimes an interval of a month or more between rites, and they go without Peyote during this period without feeling any craving for it. Personally, even after a series of rites occurring on four successive weekends. I neither increased the amount of Peyote consumed nor felt any continued need for it.” It is evidently with good reason that “Peyote has never been legally declared a narcotic, or its use prohibited by the federal government.” However, “during the long history of Indian-white contact, white officials have usually tried to suppress the use of Peyote, because it has been conceived to violate their own mores. But these at- tempts have always failed.” In a footnote Dr. Slotkin adds that “it is amazing to hear the fantastic stories about the effects of Peyote and the nature of the ritual, which are told by the white and Catholic Indian officials in the Menomini Reservation. None of them have had the slightest first-hand experience with the plant or with the religion, yet some fancy themselves to be authorities and write official reports on the subject.”
In 1954: The Doors of Perception, a philosophical essay by Aldous Huxley, released as a book. It detailed his experiences when taking mescaline. The book took the form of Huxley’s recollection of a mescaline trip that took place over the course of an afternoon in May 1953. The book took its
title from a phrase in William Blake’s 1793 poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Huxley recalled the insights he experienced, which ranged from the “purely aesthetic” to “sacramental vision”.
Conference
In 1955: First conferences focusing on LSD and mescaline took place in Atlantic City and Princeton, N.J. (see 1955)
Aldous Huxley
In 1955: with Al Hubbard’s assistance, novelist Aldous Huxley first took LSD. (see March 14, 1957)
December Peace Love Art Activism
December Music et al
Bob Dylan
Mid-December 1960: Dylan leaves Minnesota for New York. He will stop at a number of places along the way. (see January 24, 1961)
Thelonius Monk
In December 1961: Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane album released.
Bob Dylan
In mid-December 1961: shortly after recording his first album for Columbia, Dylan moved into his first rented apartment in the middle of West Fourth Street, a tiny, scruffy place above Bruno’s Spaghetti Shop, and persuaded his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, to move in with him. (see January 1962)
Jimi Hendrix
In December 1965: The Leaves released single of “Hey Joe” later covered by Jimi Hendrix. (September 24, 1966)
News Music
In December 1966: Simon and Garfunkel’s Seven O’clock News/Silent Night Beginning softly at first, a newscast reports various discomforting events and gradually overrides Simon and Garfunkel singing of Silent Night.
Rock Venues
In December 1973: New York bar owner Hilly Kristal opened CBGB in December 1973 at 315 Bowery in Manhattan, the site of his former establishment, Hilly’s on the Bowery. Before that, Kristal had put most of his energy into a West Village nightclub. When noise complaints forced him to close, he focused on his property in a less desirable part of town. (see October 11, 2006)
December Peace Love Art Activism
Vietnam
In December, 1967: “Stop the Draft” movement organized by 40 antiwar groups, nationwide protests ensue; 486,000 American troops in Vietnam, of the 15,000 killed to date, 60% died in 1967 (see Dec 5)
Daniel Ellsberg/Pentagon Papers
In December 1968: Ellsberg first met with Henry Kissinger, national security adviser to president-elect Richard Nixon, to advise him on options in the U.S. military. (see Ellsberg for full story)
December Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
Monica Lewinsky moves
In December 1995: Monica Lewinsky moved into a paid position in the Office of Legislative Affairs, handling letters from members of Congress. She frequently ferried mail to the Oval Office.
Monica Lewinsky leaves
In December 1997: Monica Lewinsky left the Pentagon. (see CI for expanded chronology)
In 2005, 399,043 New Yorkers were stopped by the police. [196,977 were black (49 percent); 115, 395 were Latino (29 percent); 40,837 were white (10 percent)]
December 2006 report
In 2006, 508,540 New Yorkers were stopped by the police. [268,610 were black (53 percent); 148,364 were Latino (29 percent); 53,793 were white (11 percent)] (see February 5, 2007)
December 2007 report
In 2007, 468,732 New Yorkers were stopped by the police. [242,373 were black (52 percent); 142,903 were Latino (31 percent); 52,715 were white (11 percent)] (see April 15, 2008)
December 2008 report
In 2008, 531,159 New Yorkers were stopped by the police. [271,602 were black (51 percent); 167,111 were Latino (32 percent); 57,407 were white (11 percent) (see May 1, 2009)
December 2009 report
In 2009, 575,304 New Yorkers were stopped by the police. [308,941 were black (54 percent); 179,576 were Latino (31 percent); 53,466 were white (9 percent)] (see May 13, 2010)
December 2010 report
In 2010, 601,0 55 New Yorkers were stopped by the police. [317,642 were black (53 percent); 190,491 were Latino (32 percent); 55,083 were white (9 percent)] [see ACLU site for reports] (see April 26, 2011)
December Peace Love Art Activism
Nuclear/Chemical News & ICAN
In December 2014: more than 600 International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons [ICAN] campaigners gathered in Vienna on the eve of the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons. ICAN told conference participants “a new legal instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons would constitute a long overdue implementation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.” At the conference conclusion, Austria issued historic Humanitarian Pledge to work with all stakeholders “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.” (Nuclear, see January 25, 2015; ICAN, see August 6 – 7, 2015)
December Peace Love Art Activism
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
