Today in History: December 5, Great Smog of London descends

This day is Friday Dec the th day of There are days left in the year In the present day in history On Dec the Great Smog of London descended on the British capital the unusually thick fog which contained toxic pollutants lasted five days and was blamed for causing thousands of deaths Also on this date In in an address to Congress President James K Polk sparked the Gold Rush of by confirming that gold had been discovered in California Related Articles Howie Carr Political office sure beats working right Ayanna US military conducts strike on another suspected drug boat as probe into the first strike begins Grand jury rejects new mortgage fraud indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James Stress of Houthi combat was a key factor in series of costly Navy mishaps investigations show -day school weeks are growing in popularity despite a lack of material on the effects In Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the th state to ratify the st Amendment to the Constitution repealing the th Amendment In the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president George Meany In Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades In O J Simpson was sentenced to up to years in prison after being convicted of criminal charges in connection with a confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel Simpson was circulated on parole after serving nine years he died in In a jury in Perugia Italy convicted American pupil 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 back-and-forth rulings Knox and Sollecito were definitively acquitted in by Italy s highest court In Nelson Mandela the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa s first Black president died at age In Democratic Congressman John Conyers of Michigan resigned from Congress after a nearly -year career becoming the first Capitol Hill politician to lose his job amid sexual misconduct assertions sweeping the nation s workplaces Conyers denied wrongdoing In Peru s constitutional court ordered a humanitarian release for imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori who was serving a -year sentence in connection with the death squad slayings of Peruvians in the s Fujimori died in September at age At present s Birthdays Author Calvin Trillin is Opera singer Jose Carreras is Musician Jim Messina is Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins is Football Hall of Famer Art Monk is Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik REZ -nihk The Goo Goo Dolls is Country singer Gary Allan is Comedian-actor Margaret Cho is Actor Paula Patton is Singer-songwriter Keri Hilson is Actor and stock car driver Frankie Muniz is Singer-songwriter Conan Gray is