Tidbits of History, December 1

December 1 is:

Eat a Red Apple Day The phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” was coined by J. T. Sinson at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis to promote apples as a healthy snack.

National Fried Pie Day
Per Foodimentary.com:
Fried apple pies were first introduced in McDonald’s in 1968, originally fried in lard.
New Hampshire fried pies were the favorite dessert of U.S. president Franklin Pierce.

National French Fried Clam Day

National Handwashing Awareness week

World Aids Awareness Day

If the arm of King Henry I (born c 1068; died December 1, 1135) of England had been forty-two inches long, the unit of measure of a “foot” today would be fourteen inches. But his arm happened to be thirty-six inches long and he decreed that the standard “foot” should be one-third that length – twelve inches.

From Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts. New York, Bell Publishing Company, 1981

Birthday of Marie Tussaud (December 1, 1761), French-born artist who became known for her wax sculptures and the wax museum that she founded in London.

Publication of Federalist Paper #15: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union written by Alexander Hamilton in 1787. In Paper #15 Hamilton opens the subject of the insuffiencies of the Articles of Confederation. This subject is discussed in this and following Papers. Under the Articles, the federal government could pass laws requisitioning men and money but had no authority over the individual citizens of the States to raise either. The national government could not enforce its laws because the states cannot be thrown in jail. He says “we must extend the authority of the union to the persons of the citizens, the only proper objects of government”.

United States presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In February, 1825, John Quincy Adams was declared to be president-elect.

1885 – First serving of the soft drink Dr Pepper at a drug store in Waco, Texas. It was introduced nationally in the United States at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition as a new kind of soda pop, made with 23 flavors. Its introduction in 1885 preceded the introduction of Coca-Cola by one year. Like many early sodas, the drink was marketed as a brain tonic and energizing pick-me-up, so one theory holds that it was named for the pep it supposedly gave to users.

Birthday of Rex Stout (December 1, 1886), American author best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective, Nero Wolfe. The Nero Wolfe stories are narrated by Wolfe’s assistant, Archie Goodwin, who is presented as having recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 (Fer-de-Lance) to 1975 (A Family Affair).

1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man and was arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.