December 2

December 2 is the 337th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1823 to 1962 — a span of 139 years. The entry that anchors it: Vietnam War, 1962.

The antebellum decades brought the date closer to the country’s central argument. In 1823, Monroe Doctrine — in a State of the Union message, U.S. President James Monroe proclaims American neutrality in future European conflicts, and warns European powers not to interfere in the Americas. The same year, U.S. president James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, a proclamation of opposition to European colonialism in the New World. Then, in 1845, Manifest Destiny — in a State of the Union message, U.S. President James K. Polk proposes that the United States should aggressively expand into the West. Then, in 1859, Origins of the American Civil War — Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) Six years on, in 1865, Alabama ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed by North Carolina, then Georgia; U.S. slaves were legally free within two weeks.

The early twentieth century brought industry, air travel and war to the date. In 1942, Manhattan Project scientists led by Enrico Fermi initiated the first self-sustaining chain reaction in the experimental nuclear reactor Chicago Pile-1.

After 1945 the date reflects a country operating at global scale. In 1954, the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Taiwan, is signed in Washington, D.C. Eight years on, in 1962, Vietnam War — after a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on December 2: William Shirley (1694), English-American lawyer and politician, Governor of the province of Massachusetts Bay; Richard Montgomery (1738), Irish-American general; William Cooper (1754), American judge and politician, founded Cooperstown, New York; John Breckinridge (1760), American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th United States Attorney General; and Henry Yesler (1810), American businessman and politician, 7th Mayor of Seattle.

December 2 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Samuel Penhallow (1726), English-American historian and author; John Brown (1859), American abolitionist; Jay Gould (1892), American businessman and financier; and John Ringling (1936), American businessman, co-founded Ringling Brothers Circus.

The date carries formal observance as well — International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (United Nations); Lao National Day; and National Day (United Arab Emirates). What holds these 8 entries together is nothing more than the calendar, and nothing less. 139 years separate the earliest from the latest, and each was once simply the present day.