Today in History..... December 5

On this day in …

1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

1831, former President John Quincy Adams took his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives

1848, President Polk triggered the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California

1917, German and Russian delegates sign an armistice at Brest-Litovsk ("Brisk"); peace negotiations begin there on December 21

1932, German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States

1933, the 21st amendment of the U.S. constitution is ratified, ending the "noble experiment" of prohibition
1945, the so-called "Lost Squadron", five U.S. Navy Avenger bombers carrying 14 Navy flyers, take off on a training mission from a Florida air base, and are never seen again. They are popularly believed to have vanished in the "Bermuda Triangle"

1957, the Indonesian government orders the expulsion of all Dutch nationals

1977, Egypt breaks ties with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen after they all opposed its peace moves with Israel

1985, Britain announces it was withdrawing from UNESCO on December 31, claiming the agency had an anti-Western bias and accusing it of financial extravagance

1990, British author Salman Rushdie, who had been in hiding since Iran ordered his death for blasphemy, appears in public for the first time in nearly two years

1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades

2001, Afghan factions sign an accord to set up a post-Taliban government headed by Pashtun chief Hamid Karzai. The deal created a government of 30 members

2003, an explosion rips through a morning commuter train just outside Yessentuki station in Russia's southern fringe. Forty-six people are killed and more than 160 injured by practitioners of that "religion of peace"