What Happened on December 5 in History?
On December 5th, notable events include the end of Prohibition in the United States in 1933, the start of the Great Smog of London in 1952, the disappearance of five U.S. Navy bombers in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945, and the death of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in 2013. Other significant happenings include the release of Beverly Hills Cop in 1984 and the first Medal of Honor awarded for action in Vietnam in 1964.
Historical events
1492: Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola.
1766: James Christie first held his eponymous auction.
1776: Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and largest academic honor society in the United States, founded at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
1791: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died, at age 35, in Vienna, Austria.
1848: President James K. Polk announced the discovery of gold in California to Congress, which officially confirmed the news and triggered the California Gold Rush.
1901: Walter Elias Disney was born. A 20th century entertainment icon, Walt Disney was a pioneer in animation and theme park design. He created iconic characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and founded the Disney Company, which has become a global entertainment conglomerate.
1933: Prohibition in the U.S. ends as Utah ratifies the 21st Amendment.
1945: Five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers (Flight 19) disappears in the Bermuda Triangle, followed by a search plane that also went missing.
1952: The Great Smog of London begins, a period of heavy pollution that lasted for five days and caused thousands of deaths.
1955: The Montgomery bus boycott begins, following the arrest of Rosa Parks four days earlier for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. The boycott was a response to the segregated public transportation system and was led by civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr. The protest was organized by the Women's Political Council (WPC) and the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), which was headed by King.
1964: Army Captain Roger Donlon receives the first Medal of Honor awarded for action in the Vietnam War.
1973: NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft performs the first flyby of Jupiter.
1984: The film Beverly Hills Cop premieres in U.S. theaters.
2005: An earthquake strikes the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing six people.
2013: Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid revolutionary and former President of South Africa, dies at age 95.
Other events
The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to form the AFL-CIO in 1955.
In 2017, a wildfire in Southern California forces thousands to evacuate their homes.
In 2018, U.S. stocks fall due to renewed trade-war fears, and Americans pay respects to former President George H.W. Bush.
