Today is Monday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2025. There are 30 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 1, 1991, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly to end Soviet rule and declare independence, marking a decisive step in the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Also on this date:
– 1824: The U.S. presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives after none of the candidates — John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay — secured a majority of electoral votes. Although Andrew Jackson had the most electoral votes, John Quincy Adams was chosen as president.
– 1955: Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus. Her arrest helped spark a yearlong bus boycott and became a catalyst for the U.S. civil rights movement.
– 1965: The first ‘Freedom Flight’ from Cuba arrived in Miami. Over the following eight years, twice-daily flights brought more than 250,000 Cuban refugees to the United States under a U.S.-Cuban agreement.
– 1969: The United States held its first draft lottery for military service since World War II.
– 2009: President Barack Obama announced a deployment of 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan and told West Point cadets he intended to begin withdrawals in 18 months.
– 2017: Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who briefly served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia. (He was later pardoned by Trump.)
– 2020: The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, a key instrument in astronomical research for more than half a century, collapsed.
– 2023: Fighting between Israel and Hamas reignited minutes after a weeklong truce expired, with Israeli airstrikes hitting homes and buildings in the Gaza Strip.
Notable birthdays today: Lee Trevino (World Golf Hall of Famer), 86; John Densmore (The Doors), 81; Bette Midler, 80; Carol Alt, 65; Jeremy Northam, 64; Larry Walker (Baseball Hall of Famer), 59; Néstor Carbonell, 58; Sarah Silverman, 55; Riz Ahmed, 43; Janelle Monáe, 40; Sarah Snook, 38; Zoë Kravitz, 37.
