Today in History


December 10:

1830 Emily Dickinson born Amherst Mass, poet (Collected Poems)

1851 Melvil Dewey born, created Dewey Decimal System for libraries

1869 Women's suffrage (right to vote) granted in Wyoming Territory (US 1st)

1922 Pete Henry makes longest known NFL drop-kicked field goal, 45 yards

1948 UN General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1958 1st domestic (NY-Miami) passenger jet flight: National 707 flew 111


December 11:

1918 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn born, Russia, writer (Cancer Ward, Nobel 1970)

1620 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock (12/21 NS)

1844 1st dental use of nitrous oxide, Hartford, Ct

1941 Germany & Italy declare war on US

1961 Adolf Eichman is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel

1961 JFK provides US military helicopters & crews to South Vietnam


December 12:

1915 Frank Sinatra born, Hoboken, singer/actor (old blue eyes/chairman of board)

1923 Bob Barker born, Darrington Wash, game show host (Price is Right)

1800 Washington DC established as capital of US

1870 Joseph Rainey (SC) became 1st black sworn into House of Reps

1917 Rev Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Neb

1953 Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane

1983 A truck bomb explodes at the US Embassy in Kuwait


December 13:

1774 1st incident of the Revolution-400 attack Fort William & Mary, NH

1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, Va; South beats North

1918 Wilson becomes first to make a foreign visit as president (France)

1944 Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser Nashville, kills 138

1947 Maine Turnpike opens to traffic

1977 Entire U of Evansville basketball team, die in plane crash

1983 9,655 see highest-scoring NBA game: Detroit 186, Denver 184 (3 OT)

1988 3 men end 29-hr all-466-station subway ride in NYC


December 14:

1799 George Washington dies at Mt Vernon Va, at 67

1911 South Pole 1st reached, by Norwegian Roald Amundsen

1949 Bill Buckner born, Calif, 1st baseman, error cost Red Sox 1986 world series

1959 J.B. Jordan in F-104C sets world altitude record, 31,513 m

1986 Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from Edwards AFB, Calif on 1st non-stop, non-refueled flight around world

1990 Right to Die case permits Nancy Cruzan to have her feeding tube removed, she dies 12 days later


December 15:

1791 Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gave its approval

1832 Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel born, built a tower in Paris

1874 1st reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) received by Pres Grant

1890 Chief Sitting Bull of the Sioux killed by US Army

1941 USS Swordfish becomes 1st US sub to sink a Japanese ship

1966 Walt Disney, animator, dies at 65, put in suspended animation

1970 Soviet Venera 7 is 1st spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)


December 16:

1770 Ludwig von Beethoven born, Bonn Germany, composer (Ode to Joy)

1835 Fire consumes over 600 buildings in NYC

1916 Grigori Rasputin a powerful Russian monk is murdered

1960 TWA 266 & United 826 collide over Staten Island, kills 134


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