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December
in History
December 1, 1919
- Lady Nancy Astor became the first woman in the British House of Commons.
December 1, 1941
- The American Civil Air Patrol, a U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, was founded
as Director of Civilian Defense, former New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia,
signed the formal order. Today the CAP provides aerospace education, a CAP
cadet program, and emergency services such as locating missing aircraft.
*
December 1, 1955
- The birth of the modern American civil rights movement occurred as Rosa
Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her
seat to a white man and move to the back section of a municipal bus. Her
arrest resulted in a year-long boycott of the city bus system by African
Americans and led to legal actions ending racial segregation on municipal
buses throughout the South when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
integrated the public transportation system.
.
December 1, 1988
- Benazir Bhutto was nominated to become prime minister of Pakistan, the
first woman to govern a Muslim nation.
*
December 1, 1989
- Mikhail Gorbachev became the first Soviet leader to visit the Vatican
and meet the Pope, thus ending 72 years of Soviet atheist policy.
December 1, 1990
- Britain was joined to mainland Europe for the first time since the Ice
Age as engineers digging a railway tunnel under the English Channel broke
through the last dividing rock.
December 2, 1805
- Napoleon (crowned emperor exactly one year earlier) defeated the
Austrians and Russians at the Battle of Austerlitz.
December 2, 1823
- President James Monroe introduced his "Monroe Doctrine" during his
annual message to the Congress, prohibiting any further colonization of
the American continents by European powers, stating, "... we should
consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion
of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety..."
December 2, 1859
- Abolitionist leader John Brown was executed for treason at Charles Town,
West Virginia, following his raid on the U.S. Arsenal at Harper's Ferry.
December 2, 1867
- On his second visit to America, Charles Dickens gave popular readings of
some of his works. A Christmas Carol, received its American premiere
reading in Boston at the Tremont temple. When Dickens' barnstorming tour
reached NYC on December 2, people waited in mile-long lines to hear him.
December 2, 1942
- Physicists led by Enrico Fermi carried out the world's first successful
nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago.
December 2, 1954
- The U.S. Senate condemned Senator Joseph McCarthy for misconduct
following his ruthless investigations of thousands of suspected
Communists.
December 2, 1971
- The United Arab Emirates was formed, consisting of seven Arab kingdoms
on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula including the former Trucial
states Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al Qaiwain and Fujairah. Ras
al-Khaimah became a member in 1972. The area has some of the world's
largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas.
December 2, 1979
- Electors in Iran voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new constitution
granting absolute power to Ayatollah Khomeini.
December 2, 1982
- The first permanent artificial heart was implanted in 61-year-old Barney
C. Clark by Dr. William De Vries at the University of Utah Medical Center
in Salt Lake City. Clark, who was near death at the time of the operation,
survived 112 days after the implantation.
December 3, 1762
- France ceded Upper Louisiana to Spain (all lands west of the
Mississippi).
December 3, 1962
- Edith Sampson was sworn in as the first African American female judge,
after she was elected associate judge of the Municipal Court in Chicago.
December 3, 1967
- The first successful heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan
Barnard at Cape Town, South African, on Louis Washkansky, who lived for 18
days.
December 3, 1984
- A
deadly gas leak (of methyl isocyanate) at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal,
India, killed at least 3,000 persons and injured more than 200,000.
December 3, 1993
- Britain's Princess Diana announced she was stepping out of the public
spotlight, desiring more privacy amid unyielding attention from the
tabloid press and 'paparazzi.'
December 4, 1783
- General George Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces
Tavern in New York City.
December 4, 1791
- The Observer, now the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, was
first published in England.
December 4, 1808
- Napoleon abolished the Inquisition in Spain.
December 4, 1829
- The British abolished the practice of "suttee" in India in which females
traditionally burned themselves to death on their husband's funeral pyre.
December 4, 1943
- During World War II, the second Cairo Conference took place, attended by
Prime Minister Churchill, President Roosevelt and President Inonu of
Turkey.
December 4, 1991
- The last American hostage held in Lebanon was released. Journalist Terry
Anderson of the Associated Press had been kidnapped on March 16, 1985 and
held for 2,454 days by Islamic Jihad (Holy War) captors. He was one of 15
Americans held hostage for periods ranging from two months to over six
years. Three of the hostages; William Buckley, Peter Kilburn and
Lieutenant Colonel William Higgins, were killed during their captivity.
The others were released one or two at a time.
December 5, 1492
- Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus.
December 5, 1776
- The first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was
organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg VA. The
original Phi Beta Kappa Society had an active life of only four years,
ending when the approach of the British army under Cornwallis forced the
college to close its doors.
December 5, 1791
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died a pauper at age 35 in Vienna, Austria. He
had become seriously ill in the fall and rapidly declined, leading to
speculation that he had been poisoned, although this was later proven
false. During his brief life, he created over 600 musical compositions and
is widely considered one of the finest composers who ever lived.
December 5, 1876
- President Ulysses S. Grant delivered a speech of apology to Congress
claiming mistakes he made as president were "errors of judgment, not
intent."
*
December 5, 1933
- The 18th Amendment (the Prohibition Amendment) to the U.S. Constitution
was repealed. For nearly 14 years, it had outlawed the manufacture,
transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the U.S.
After the repeal, President Franklin D Roosevelt was heard to remark, "
I think now would be a good time for a beer."
December 5, 1955
- The AFL-CIO was founded after two separate labor organizations, the
American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
joined together following 20 years of rivalry, thus becoming the leading
advocate for trade unions in the U.S.
December 6, 1492
- The island of Hispaniola was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Today
the island is divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
December 6, 1865
- The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, abolishing
slavery in the U.S.
*
December 6, 1877
- At his laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, Thomas Edison spoke the
children's verse "Mary had a Little Lamb..." while demonstrating his newly
invented phonograph which utilized a revolving cylinder wrapped in tinfoil
to record sounds.
December 6, 1917
- Two ships collided at Halifax, Nova Scotia, resulting in an explosion
that killed more than 1,500 persons and injured 8,000. The Norwegian ship
Imo collided with the French munitions ship Mont Blanc which
was loaded with supplies for the war in Europe, including 5,000 tons of
TNT. A tidal wave caused by the explosion destroyed much of the city.
December 6, 1921
- Irish Free State and Northern Ireland were formed.
December 6, 1971
- The
Democratic Republic of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, was recognized
by India. Pakistan then broke off diplomatic relations with India.
December 6, 1973
- Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president under Richard Nixon following
the resignation of Spiro Agnew who pleaded no contest to charges of income
tax evasion.
December 7, 1787
- Delaware became the first state to adopt the new constitution of the
United States of America.
December 7, 1808
- James Madison was elected president in succession to Thomas Jefferson.
*
December 7, 1941
- The U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by nearly 200
Japanese aircraft in a raid that lasted just over one hour and left nearly
3,000 dead.
“A day that will live in infamy.”
December 8, 1940
- During the Blitz, the House of Commons and Tower of London were
seriously damaged during an overnight air-raid by German bombers on
London.
December 8, 1941
- A day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States and
Britain declared war on Japan.
*
December 8, 1980
- Former Beatle musician John Lennon was assassinated in New York City. He
was 40.
*
December 8, 1987
- In Washington, President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Mikhail
Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty eliminating all intermediate-range and
shorter-range nuclear missiles.
December 8, 1991
- The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) ceased to exist, as the
leaders of Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine signed an agreement
creating the Commonwealth of Independent States. The remaining republics,
with the exception of Georgia, joined the new Commonwealth.
December 8, 1776
- George Washington's retreating army crossed the Delaware River from New
Jersey to Pennsylvania.
December
9, 1775 - Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, burned Norfolk
(then called Great Bridge) to the ground after he lost it to an American
detachment. It was a poor decision since his tactics swayed many
conservative colonists to begin supporting the Revolution.
December 9, 1854
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson's famous poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade,"
was published in England. It details the heroic, but mistaken charge of
600 valiant cavalrymen into the Russian artillery, in the Crimean War.
December 9, 1917 - British forces captured Jerusalem
December 9, 1941
- During World War II, China issued a formal declaration of war against
Japan, Germany and Italy.
December 9, 1948
- The United Nations General Assembly unanimously approved the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It took effect
on January 12, 1951, following ratification by 20 member nations.
December 9, 1958
- The John Birch Society was founded in the U.S. by Robert H.W. Welch as
an anti-Communist political organization, named for Capt. John Birch, a
U.S. Army officer killed in 1945 by Chinese Communists.
December 9, 1990
- Lech Walesa won a landslide victory in the Polish presidential election.
December 9, 1992
- Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Prince Charles and
Princess of Wales, Dianna.
*
December 9, 1993
- A five-day repair job in space on the $3 billion Hubble Space Telescope
was finished by U.S. astronauts.
December 10, 1896
- Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel died at San Remo, Italy. His will
stipulated that income from his $9 million estate be used for awards
recognizing persons who have made valuable contributions to humanity.
Nobel recipients are chosen by a committee of the Norwegian parliament.
Prizes for Peace, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economics
are presented annually in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on the
anniversary of his death. Each prize is valued at about $1 million.
December 10, 1898
- The Treaty of Paris was signed between American and Spanish
representatives following Spain's defeat in the Spanish-American War.
Under the treaty, the U.S. gained the Philippine Islands, the islands of
Guam and Puerto Rico, and an agreement by Spain to withdraw from Cuba. The
treaty passed by a single vote in the U.S. Senate on February 6, 1899, and
was signed by President William McKinley four days later.
December 10, 1941
- The British Battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales were
sunk by Japanese warplanes in the South China Sea, killing nearly 800
crewmen.
December 10, 1948 -
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
December 10, 1950
- Dr. Ralph Bunche became the first African American man awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize, for his efforts in mediation between Israel and nearby Arab
states the previous year.
December 10, 1989
- The first non-Communist government since 1948 assumed power in
Czechoslovakia.
December 11, 1769
- Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds.
December 11, 1844
- Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, was first used for a tooth extraction.
December 11, 1882
- Boston's Bijou theater became the first American playhouse to be lit by
incandescent lamps. Thrilled audience saw a production of Gilbert and
Sullivan's Iolanthe.
December 11, 1901
- The first transatlantic radio signal was transmitted by Guglielmo
Marconi from Cornwall, England, to St. Johns, Newfoundland.
December 11, 1936
- King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England to marry "the woman I
love," a twice-divorced American named Wallis Warfield Simpson. They were
married in France on June 3, 1937 and then lived in Paris.
December 11, 1941
- A major turning point in World War II occurred as Japan's Axis partners,
Italy and Germany, both declared war on the United States. The U.S.
Congress immediately declared war on them. President Roosevelt then made
the defeat of Hitler the top priority, devoting nearly 90 percent of U.S.
military resources to the war in Europe.
December 11, 1994
- Russia sent tanks and troops into Chechnya to end the rebel territory's
three-year drive for independence.
December 11, 1998
- The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment,
charging President Bill Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice.
December 12, 1753
- George Washington, the adjutant of Virginia, delivered an ultimatum to
the French forces at Fort Le Boeuf, south of Lake Erie, reiterating the
British claim to the entire Ohio River valley.
December 12, 1870
- Joseph Hayne Rainey of Georgetown, South Carolina, became the first
African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. He filled
a seat which had been declared vacant by the House and served until 1879.
December 12, 1901
- Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic
radio transmission, from Cornwall in England to St. John's Newfoundland.
December 12, 1998
- The House Judiciary Committee approved a fourth and final article of
impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with making false
statements in his answers to written questions from Congress.
December
13, 1474 - Isabella and her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, were
proclaimed as Queen and King of Castile, thus uniting the Spanish throne.
Their daughter, Catherine of Aragon, was later to marry England's Prince
of Wales, and then his brother, King Henry VIII. The daughter of Catherine
and Henry became Queen Mary of England ("Bloody Mary").
December 13, 1769
- Dartmouth College NH received its charter.
December 13, 1577
- Francis Drake departed Plymouth, England, in the Golden Hind and
four other ships in a three-year journey that was to take him around the
world.
December 13, 1862
- During the U.S. Civil War, the Battle of Fredericksburg occurred in
Virginia as the Union Army of the Potomac under Gen. Burnside suffered a
costly defeat, with a loss of 12,653 men after 14 frontal assaults on well
entrenched Rebels on Marye's Heights. "We might as well have tried to take
hell," a Union soldier remarked. Confederate losses were 5,309. "It is
well that war is so terrible - we should grow too fond of it," stated
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee during the fighting.
December 13, 1937
- The beginning of one of the worst atrocities of World War II as the
Chinese city of Nanking (Nanjing) was captured by the Japanese. Over the
next six weeks, the Rape of Nanking occurred in which Japanese
soldiers randomly attacked, raped and indiscriminately killed an estimated
200,000 Chinese persons.
December 13, 1981
- In its struggle to maintain Communism, the Polish government imposed
martial law and took steps to stifle the growing power of the
pro-democratic trade union Solidarity.
December 13, 1991
- North and South Korea signed a treaty of reconciliation and
nonaggression which also formally ended the Korean War, although actual
fighting had ceased in 1953.
December 14, 1782
- The British evacuated Charleston SC.
December 14, 1799
- George Washington died at Mount Vernon estate.
December 14, 1861
- In England, Prince Albert died of typhoid at Windsor Castle. He was the
consort and husband of Queen Victoria of England. Following his death, the
queen went into an extended period of mourning.
December 14, 1911
- Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the
South Pole.
December 14, 1918
- British women voted for the first time in a general election and were
allowed to run for office.
December 14, 1927
- Britain recognized independent Iraq and supported Iraqi admission to the
League of Nations.
December 14, 1939
- The League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union for its aggression
against Finland.
December 14, 1962
- The Mariner II space probe sent back information from the planet Venus,
the first information ever received from another planet.
December 14, 1995
- A Bosnian peace treaty was signed in Paris by leaders from the former
Yugoslavia. The treaty ended Europe's worst conflict since World War II.
December
15, 1654 - A meteorological office established in Tuscany began
recording daily temperature readings.
December 15, 1791
- The Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution) became
effective following ratification by Virginia.
December 15, 1840
- Napoleon was buried in Les Invalides in Paris. He had died in exile on
the island of Saint Helena after his fall from power.
December 15, 1890
- Sioux leader Sitting Bull (native name Tatanka-yatanka) was killed in a
skirmish with U.S. soldiers along the Grand River in South Dakota as his
warriors tried to prevent his arrest.
*
December 15, 1939
- Gone with the Wind had its world premiere in Atlanta, introduced
by producer David O. Selznick and featuring appearances by Vivien Leigh
and Clark Gable.
December 15, 1943
- The Battle of San Pietro took place during World War II as a German
panzer battalion devastated American forces trying to take the
700-year-old Italian village. Hollywood director John Huston, serving as
an army lieutenant, filmed the battle and left behind a graphic account.
December 15, 1961
- Nazi SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death in Jerusalem for
his role in the Holocaust. Eichmann had organized the deportation of Jews
from all over occupied Europe to Nazi death camps.
December 15, 1989
- The dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet ended in Chile. Pinochet
had come to power in 1973 after a military overthrow of the democratically
elected government.
December 15, 1993
- The GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) Treaty was approved by
delegations from 117 countries. The treaty was designed to reduce
international tariffs, eliminate trade quotas, and protect intellectual
property.
*
December 15, 1995
- European Union leaders announced their new currency would be known as
the Euro.
December 16, 1773
- The Boston Tea Party occurred as colonial activists disguised as Mohawk
Indians boarded English ships anchored in the harbor and dumped 342
containers of tea into the water.
December 16, 1835
- A massive fire erupted in New York City, destroying more than 600
buildings, causing an estimated $20 million in damages.
December 16, 1944
- American big-band leader Glenn Miller disappeared in a small plane over
the English Channel and was presumably killed. Best remembered for
Moonlight Serenade and In the Mood.
December 16, 1944
- During World War II, the Battle of the Bulge began as the Germans
launched a big counter-offensive in the Ardennes Forest along a 75-mile
front, taking American troops by surprise. Aided by foggy, snowy weather,
the Germans penetrated 65 miles into Allied lines by the end of December.
The German advance was eventually halted by Montgomery on the Meuse and
Patton at Bastogne. As the weather cleared, Allied aircraft attacked
German ground forces and supply lines and the counteroffensive failed.
There were an estimated 77,000 Allied and 130,000 German casualties.
December 16, 1969
- The British House of Commons voted 343-185 to abolish the death penalty
in England.
December 16, 1991
- The United Nations voted to revoke Resolution 3379, originally approved
on November 10, 1975, which had equated Zionism (a movement supporting the
Jewish national state of Israel) with racism.
December 17, 1538
- Pope Paul III excommunicated King Henry VIII after he had declared
himself supreme head of the English church.
December 17, 1777
- At Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, the Continental Army led by General
George Washington settled in for the winter.
*
December 17, 1903
- After three years of experimentation, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved
the first powered, controlled airplane flights. They made four flights
near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the longest lasting about a minute.
December 18, 1865
- The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified
abolishing slavery.
December 18, 1940
- Adolf Hitler ordered the German General Staff to begin planning
Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
December 18, 1956
- Japan was admitted to the United Nations.
December 19, 1732
- Benjamin Franklin first published Poor Richard's Almanac
containing weather predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, eventually
selling nearly 10,000 copies per year.
December 19, 1777
- General George Washington led his army of about eleven-thousand men to
Valley Forge PA, to camp for the winter.
December 19, 1842
- Hawaii's independence was recognized by the USA.
December 19, 1946
- War broke out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacked the French seeking to
oust them from Vietnam. This was the beginning of a thirty year conflict
which eventually led to heavy U.S. involvement and ended in 1975 with U.S.
withdrawal from South Vietnam.
December 19, 1998
- The House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton, approving
two articles of impeachment charging Clinton with lying under oath to a
federal grand jury and obstructing justice.
December 20, 1606
- The Virginia Company expedition to America began as three small ships,
the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, departed
London under the command of Capt. Christopher Newport. In May of 1607, the
royally chartered company established the first permanent English
settlement in America at Jamestown (Virginia).
December 20, 1790
- The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at
Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
December 20, 1802
- The United States purchased the Louisiana territory from France.
December 20, 1860
- South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union in a
prelude to the U.S. Civil War. Within two months Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas seceded. In April of 1861, Virginia
seceded, followed within five weeks by Arkansas, Tennessee, and North
Carolina, thus forming an eleven state Confederacy with a population of 9
million, including nearly 4 million slaves. The Union had 21 states and a
population of over 20 million.
December 20, 1924
- Adolf Hitler was released from prison after serving less than one year
of a five-year sentence for treason.
December 20, 1933
- The German government announced that 400,000 citizens were to be
sterilized because of hereditary defects.
December 20, 1956
- The Montgomery bus boycott ended after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling
integrating the Montgomery bus system was implemented. The boycott by
African Americans had begun on December 5, 1955, after Rosa Parks was
arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white
man.
December 20, 1989
- The U.S. invaded Panama attempting to capture Manuel Noriega on charges
of narcotics trafficking. Operation Just Cause occurred seven
months after Noriega had declared unfavorable election results in his
country to be null and void. The invasion toppled the Noriega government
and resulted in the installation of Guillermo Endara as president. Noriega
temporarily eluded capture, but surrendered a few weeks later to U.S.
troops. He was then tried, convicted, and imprisoned in the U.S.
December
21, 1620 - The Pilgrim Fathers, aboard the Mayflower, landed at
Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.
December 21
- Winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere
today is the beginning of Summer.
December 21, 1846
- Anesthesia was used for the first time in Britain during an operation at
University College Hospital in London performed by Robert Liston who
amputated the leg of a servant.
December 21, 1945
- Gen. George Patton died in Germany following a car accident
December 21, 1972
- East and West Germany established diplomatic ties, ending nearly two
decades of Cold War hostility and paving the way for international
recognition of East Germany.
December 21, 1988
- Pan American Flight 103 exploded in midair as the result of a terrorist
bomb and crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 passengers and crew
members along with 11 persons on the ground were killed.
December 21, 1993
- The KGB (secret Soviet police) was abolished by Russian President Boris
Yeltsin.
December 22, 1783
- Following a triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis, George
Washington, victorious commander in chief of the American Revolutionary
Army, appeared before Congress and voluntarily resigned his commission.
December 22, 1829
- The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened the first passenger railway line in
America.
*
December 23, 1834
- English architect Joseph Hansom patented his 'safety cab', better known
as the Hansom cab. This distinctive two-wheeled carriage had
forward-facing doors for the passenger, and the cabbie rode on a seat
behind this, largely counterbalancing the weight of the passenger. As any
Sherlock Holmes buff knows, the Hansom lasted in popularity in London
until the coming of the 'horseless carriage'.
December 23, 1888
- Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear during a fit of
depression.
December 23, 1913
- Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act establishing the Federal Reserve
System to serve as the nation's central bank, chiefly responsible for
execution of monetary policy, influencing the lending and investing
activities of commercial banks and the cost and availability of money and
credit.
December 23, 1947
- The transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories by John Bardeen, Walter
Brattain and William Shockley, who shared the Nobel Prize for their
invention which sparked a worldwide revolution in electronics.
*
December 23, 1987
- Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager set a new world record of 216 hours of
continuous flight around the world without refueling. Their aircraft
Voyager traveled 24,986 miles at a speed of about 115 miles per hour.
December 24, 1814
- The Treaty of Ghent between America and Britain was signed, officially
ending the War of 1812.
December 24, 1914
- The first-ever German air raid against Britain took place when a German
monoplane dropped a single bomb on Dover during World War I.
December 24, 1942
- The first surface-to-surface guided missile, later known as the V-1
Flying Bomb, was launched by German rocket engineer Wernher von Braun.
Known as Buzz Bombs, they were used by Nazi Germany against England
beginning in September 1944.
December 24, 1943
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander of the
Allied Expeditionary Force preparing for D-Day.
December 24, 1992
- Caspar Weinberger and five other Reagan aides involved in the
Iran-Contra scandal were pardoned by President George Bush.
December 25, 1066
- William the Conqueror was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey
after he had invaded England from France, defeated and killed King Harold
at the Battle of Hastings, then marched on London.
December 25, 1776
- During the American Revolution, George Washington took 2,400 of his men
across the Delaware River. Washington then conducted a surprise raid on
1,500 British-Hessians (German mercenaries) at Trenton, New Jersey. The
Hessians surrendered after an hour with nearly 1,000 taken prisoner by
Washington who suffered only six wounded (including future president Lt.
James Monroe). The victory provided a much needed boost to American
morale.
December 25, 1868
- President Andrew Johnson granted general amnesty to all those involved
in the Civil War.
December 25, 1914
- During World War I, British and German troops observed an unofficial
truce, even playing soccer together on the Western Front's 'no man's
land'.
December 25, 1926
- Hirohito became Emperor of Japan.
December 25, 1989
- In Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife had been executed following a
popular uprising. A pro-democracy coalition then took control. Ceausescu,
a hard-line Communist, had been ousted from power after ordering his
black-shirted state police to suppress a disturbance in the town of
Timisorara, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 4,500 persons.
December
26, 1776 - With his army dwindling and patriot morale at an
all-time low, Washington risked everything by attacking the Hessian camp
at Trenton. His victory shocked the British and helped grow support for
the patriot cause.
December 27, 1832
- Charles Darwin set out from Plymouth, England, aboard the ship HMS
Beagle on his five-year global scientific expedition. Darwin collected
fossils and studied plants and animals, gradually beginning to doubt that
many diverse species of living things had sprung into existence at one
moment (creationism). They eventually visited the Galapagos Islands where
Darwin formed his theories on evolution.In
1859, he published On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection.
December 27, 1913
- Charles Moyer, president of the Miners Union, was shot in the back and
dragged through the streets of Chicago.
December 27, 1927
- Joseph Stalin consolidated power in the USSR by expelling rival Leon
Trotsky from the Soviet Communist Party.
December 27, 1945
- The International Monetary Fund was established in Washington,
D.C.
December 27, 1996
- A genocide trial began concerning the killing of an estimated 800,000
Tutsis in Rwanda. In 1994, a bloody civil war had broken out between the
two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. After the Hutu army seized
power it had waged a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against the Tutsi
population.
December 28, 1778
- Crown Forces took Savannah, GA.
December 28, 1832
- John C. Calhoun became the first American ever to resign the office of
vice president. He served under Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew
Jackson and resigned after a series of political disagreements with
President Jackson. He went on to become a U.S. Senator from South
Carolina.
December 28, 1836
- Spain recognized Mexico's
independence.
December 29, 1813
- War of 1812: Crown Forces burned Buffalo, NY.
December 29, 1851
- The first American Young Men's Christian Association was organized, in
Boston.
December 29, 1890
- Members of the U.S. 7th Cavalry massacred more than 200 Native American
(Sioux) men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota.
December 29-30, 1916
- In the waning days of the Romanov dynasty, Russian 'monk' Rasputin (Grigory
Yefimovich Novykh) was assassinated. A group of conspirators had lured him
to a private home then poisoned and shot him, although he did not die.
They then tied him up and threw him into the Neva River, in which he
drowned. Rasputin had gained enormous influence with Russian Emperor
Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra, claiming divine inspiration and the
ability to perform miracles, especially in helping young Czar Nicky, a
hemophiliac. He also urged severe measures in dealing with the peasant
masses and for a time had virtually dictated government policy.
December 29, 1940
- During the Blitz, German aircraft dropped thousands of incendiary bombs
on the center of London, causing the worst fire damage since the great
fire of 1666. St. Paul's Cathedral survived but eight other Wren churches
along with the Guildhall and Old Bailey were badly damaged.
December 29, 1965
- During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh rejected
unconditional peace talks offered by the U.S.
December 29, 1989
- Playwright and human rights activist Vaclav Havel was sworn in as
president of Czechoslovakia. He had formerly been denounced by Czech
Communists as an enemy of the state and had spent five years in jail for
his beliefs.
December 30, 1803
- The Stars and Stripes was raised over New Orleans as the United
States took formal possession of the territory of Louisiana, an area of
885,000 square miles, nearly doubling the size of the country. The
territory had been purchased from France for approximately $15 million.
*
December 30, 1862
- During the U.S. Civil War, the Union ironclad ship USS Monitor
sank off Cape Hatteras during a storm, resulting in the loss of sixteen
crewmen.
December 30, 1903
- In Chicago, a fire inside the Iroquois Theater killed 588 persons,
eventually resulting in new fire safety codes for theaters.
December 30, 1922
- The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was established through
the confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine and the Transcaucasian
Federation.
December 30, 1988
- President Ronald Reagan and President-elect George Bush were subpoenaed
to testify in the trial of Oliver North, a former White House aide
implicated in the Iran-Contra affair in which arms were secretly sold to
Iran while profits from the sale were diverted to guerrillas trying to
topple the Nicaraguan government in South America.
December 30, 1993
- Israel and the Vatican signed an agreement on mutual recognition,
seeking to end 2,000 years of unfriendly Christian-Jewish relations.
December 31, 1775
- General Richard Montgomery led American troops in the capture of
Montreal on November 13, 1775. This American presence in Canada proved
short-lived. Along with the attack on Montréal, Washington decided to send
Generals Benedict Arnold and Montgomery to conquer Quebec in the hopes
that a two-pronged attack would win all of Canada. After joining Arnold,
who had led American troops through the Maine wilderness to Canada,
Montgomery attacked the city of Quebec on December 31. The city proved too
strong, and the British victory at Quebec removed all hopes of a Canadian
conquest. American troops were forced to make a hasty retreat to New York,
with Arnold retreating to the safety of Fort Ticonderoga.
December 31, 1781
- The first bank in the U.S., the Bank of North America, received its
charter from the Confederation Congress. It opened on January 7, 1782, in
Philadelphia.
*
December 31, 1879
- Thomas Edison provided the first public demonstration of his electric
incandescent lamp at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
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