Today’s highlights

On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus; the incident sparked a yearlong boycott of the buses and helped fuel the U.S. civil rights movement.

On this date

1824: The presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives after none of the candidates (John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay) won more than 50% of the electoral vote. Despite Jackson winning the most electoral votes, Adams would ultimately win the presidency.

1965: The first “Freedom Flight” from Cuba to the United States landed in Miami. Over the ensuing eight years, the twice-daily flights allowed more than 250,000 Cuban refugees to migrate to the United States through a joint U.S.-Cuban agreement.

1969: The U.S. government held its first draft lottery for military service since World War II.

1991: Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

2009: President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops into the war in Afghanistan but promised during a speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to begin withdrawals in 18 months.

Today’s birthdays

World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 85. Rock musician John Densmore is 80. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 79. Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Walker is 58. Actor Néstor Carbonell is 57. Actor-comedian Sarah Silverman is 54.