#Middlebury
On Dec. 6, 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers place a 9-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of a monument to the city’s namesake and the nation’s first president, George Washington.- On Dec. 4, 1928, “Dapper Dan” Hogan, a St. Paul, Minnesota, saloonkeeper and mob boss, is killed when someone plants a car bomb under the floorboards of his new Paige coupe. The first car bomb was a horse-drawn-wagon bomb that exploded in 1920 outside the J.P. Morgan Company’s offices in New York City.
- On Dec. 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, bringing an end to the prohibition of alcohol. Prohibition did little more than slow the flow of booze, and bootleggers like Al Capone had built criminal empires out of illegal distribution.
- On Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks is jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city’s racial segregation laws. Parks’ refusal was not merely brought on by her tired feet, as is the popular legend. Local civil-rights leaders had been planning a challenge to Montgomery’s racist bus laws for several months.
- On Nov. 30, 1965, lawyer Ralph Nader publishes the muckraking book “Unsafe at Any Speed.” The book became a bestseller and prompted the passage of seat-belt laws in 49 states (all but New Hampshire).
- On Dec. 3, 1979, the last AMC Pacer rolls off the assembly line at the American Motors Corporation factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was hailed as the car of the future when it debuted in 1975.
- On Dec. 2, 1997, “Good Will Hunting,” a movie that will earn childhood friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon a Best Screenplay Oscar and propel them to Hollywood stardom, premieres in Los Angeles.
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