Today is Friday, Dec. 5, the 339th day of 2025. There are 26 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 5, 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.
Also on this date:
In 1848, in an address to Congress, President James K. Polk confirmed that gold had been discovered in California, helping spark the Gold Rush of ’49.
In 1933, Prohibition ended when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, repealing the 18th Amendment.
In 1952, the Great Smog of London descended on the British capital; the unusually thick, pollution-laden fog lasted five days and was blamed for thousands of deaths.
In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.
In 2008, O.J. Simpson was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison after being convicted on 12 charges related to a 2007 confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel. (Simpson was released on parole after serving nine years; he died in 2024.)
In 2009, a jury in Perugia, Italy, convicted American student Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of murdering Knox’s British roommate, Meredith Kercher, and sentenced them to long prison terms. (After a series of reversals, Knox and Sollecito were definitively acquitted in 2015 by Italy’s highest court.)
In 2013, Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa’s first Black president, died at 95.
In 2017, Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan resigned after a nearly 53-year career, becoming the first Capitol Hill politician forced out amid the wave of workplace sexual misconduct allegations; Conyers denied wrongdoing.
In 2023, Peru’s constitutional court ordered a humanitarian release for imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence in connection with death squad killings of 25 Peruvians in the 1990s. (Fujimori died in September 2024 at age 86.)
Today’s birthdays: Author Calvin Trillin is 90. Opera singer José Carreras is 79. Musician Jim Messina is 78. Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins is 76. Football Hall of Famer Art Monk is 68. Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik (The Goo Goo Dolls) is 60. Country singer Gary Allan is 58. Comedian-actor Margaret Cho is 57. Actor Paula Patton is 50. Singer-songwriter Keri Hilson is 43. Actor and stock car driver Frankie Muniz is 40. Singer-songwriter Conan Gray is 27.
