December 1991 in History

Events in History

Dec 1 Colorado party wins Paraguay parliamentary election

Event of Interest

Dec 1 Nursultan Nazarbayev sworn in as president of Kazakhstan

Dec 1 Ukrainian people vote for independence
Dec 1 US 75th manned space mission "STS 44" Atlantis 10 lands
Dec 2 Muslim Shi'ites release American hostage Joseph Cicippio held in Lebanon
Dec 3 Muslim Shi'ites in Beirut, Lebanon release US political hostage Alann Steen [1]
Dec 3 White House Chief of Staff John Sununu resigns
Dec 4 Muslim Shi'ites release last US hostage Terry Anderson (held 6½ years)
Dec 4 Pan American World Airways ceased operations
Dec 4 Patricia Bowman testifies that William Kennedy Smith raped her
Dec 5 Charles Keating Jr (Lincoln Savings & Loan fraud), found guilty
Dec 5 NY Daily News files for protection under chapter 11
Dec 7 A J Kitt, US, wins World Skiing Cup
Dec 8 Russia, Belorussia & Ukraine form Commonwealth of Ind States
Dec 8 The Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
Dec 10 Jackie Martling walks off of Howard Stern show for 1 day
Dec 11 William Kennedy Smith found not guilty of rape
Dec 12 Abuja replaces Lagos as the capital city of Nigeria
Dec 12 Orion Pictures filed Chapter 11 for bankruptcy protection
Dec 13 Both North and South Korea sign an accord calling for reconciliation
Dec 13 NY assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
Dec 14 Ferry boat Salem Express sinks in the Red Sea, 476 killed
Dec 16 Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Dec 16 UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote
Dec 17 Patrick Manning becomes premier of Trinidad & Tobago
Dec 18 General Motors announces closing of 21 plants
Dec 19 6,000th episode of One Life To Live

Event of Interest

Dec 19 Boris Yeltsin takes control of the Kremlin

Dec 20 Missouri court sentences Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the "honor killing" of their teenaged daughter Palestina in St. Louis; he dies of diabetes complications before execution, she dies of natural causes while in prison

Leadership Contest

Dec 20 Paul Keating becomes Prime Minister of Australia after rolling Bob Hawke for leadership of the Labor party

Dec 21 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
Dec 21 El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir Kahane
Dec 21 Soviet Union formally dissolves as 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States
Dec 23 NY Daily News publisher Kevin Maxwell resigns
Dec 25 Last day of a washout Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Gujranwala

Event of Interest

Dec 25 Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigns as President of USSR in a televised speech

Event of Interest

Dec 26 Jack Ruby's gun sells for $220,000 in auction

Dec 26 Militant Sikhs kill 55 & wound 70 in India
Dec 28 Irene the Icon of Greek Orthodox church returns after being stolen

Event of Interest

Dec 28 Ted Turner is named Time Magazine Man of Year

Event of Interest

Dec 29 Boeing 747-200F freight plane of China Airlines crashes into mountain shortly after takeoff from Chiang Kai-shek International Airportat Taipei, Taiwan, killing 5-member crew

Dec 31 CPN, Communist Party of Netherland - last day of existence
Dec 31 Dow Jones closes at record high 3168.83

Birthdays in History

Dec 2 Chloé Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian alpine freestyle skier (World C'ship gold dual moguls 2013), born in Montreal, Quebec

Deaths in History

Dec 1 George Joseph Stigler, US economist (Nobel Prize 1982), dies at 80
Dec 5 Jill Browne, dies at 54
Dec 5 Richard Speck, American mass murderer (raped and killed 8 student nurses in 1966), dies a day before his 50th birthday
Dec 8 Kimberly Bergalis, got AIDS from health care worker, dies at 23
Dec 10 Berenice Abbott, American photographer (The World of Atget), dies at 93
Dec 10 Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
Dec 11 Artur Lundkvist, Swedish writer and professor (Swedish Academy), dies at 85
Dec 13 Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues, French writer (La Marge), dies at 82
Dec 17 Armand Frappier, French Canadian physician and microbiologist, dies at 87
Dec 17 John Blatnik, (Rep-Minnesota, 1947-75), dies at 80
Dec 19 Ernest K Gann, US adventure novelist, dies at 81
Dec 19 Joe Cole, American roadie (Black Flag, Rollins Band), shot and killed at 30
Dec 20 Andries Dirj Copier, Dutch glass designer (the Guild glass), dies at 90
Dec 20 Fop I Brouwer, Dutch biologist, radio presenter, and writer (Everything That Lives and Grows), dies at 79
Dec 20 Simone Beck, French chef, teacher, and cookbook author (with Julia Child - Mastering the Art of French Cooking), dies at 87
Dec 20 Stephen Birnbaum, American tourism writer, dies at 54
Dec 23 Rosa Jackson Lumpkin, among the oldest people in the world, dies at 115
Dec 24 Walter Hudson, 1,025 lb man, dies at 46
Dec 25 Sal Provenza, entertainer, dies of lymphoma at 45
Dec 26 Sam Cresson, dies at 73
Dec 27 W Hudson, US "strongest man to the world" (540 kg), dies
Dec 31 Georges Poulet, French-Belgian critic (Temps Humain), dies at 89