Today's Historical Events
Historic Event
1776 George Washington's retreating army crosses Delaware River from NJ
Historic Event
1777 Captain James Cook leaves Society Islands
Music Premiere
1813 Ludwig van Beethoven's 7th Symphony in A, premieres in Vienna with Beethoven conducting
Music Premiere
1849 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Luisa Miller" premieres in Naples
Music Concert
1857 1st production of Dion Boucicault's play "Poor of New York"
- 1863 2,500 reported killed as result of fire at Jesuit Church of La Compana, Santiago, Chile
Historic Event
1863 Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South
Historic Publication
1864 James Clerk Maxwell's paper "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" is 1st read by the Royal Society in London (published by the Royal Society 1865)
- 1864 Pope Pius IX publishes encyclical Quanta cura ("Syllabus errorum")
Historic Event
1864 The Clifton Suspension Bridge, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is finally opened in Bristol, England, 5 years after his death
- 1869 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican I, opens in Rome
- 1869 Timothy Eaton founds T. Eaton Co. Limited in Toronto, Canada.
Historic Event
1874 Jesse James gang takes train at Muncie Kansas
Election of Interest
1886 American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions Samuel Gompers elected AFL president
Battle of Interest
1895 Battle at Amba Alagi: Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II drives Italian General Baratieri out
Historic Event
1902 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr became Associate Justice on US Supreme Court
Historic Event
1912 Wilhelm II of Germany calls 'War Council'
Music Premiere
1914 Irving Berlin's musical "Watch your Step" premieres in NYC
Music Premiere
1915 Jean Sibelius' 5th Symphony in E premieres
Historic Event
1915 John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" appears anonymously in "Punch" magazine
Anglo-Irish Treaty
1921 Eamon de Valera publicly repudiates Anglo-Irish Treaty
Music Premiere
1930 Cole Porter's musical "The New Yorkers" opens at B. S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, NYC; runs for 169 performances
- 1931 Coaxial cable patented
- 1933 French nun Bernadette Soubirous, who saw the vision of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, is canonized by the Catholic Church
- 1934 Friedrich Wolf's "Professor Mamlock" premieres in Zurich
- 1935 The Japanese military police launches a violent suppression of the religious sect Oomoto, beginning with a crackdown on the sect's operational bases of Ayabe and Kameoka in Kyoto Prefecture and the arrest of its leader Onisaburo Deguchi.
- 1936 Anastasio Somoza García elected President of Nicaragua
- 1936 NAACP files suit to equalize salaries of black & white teachers
- 1938 Highest temperature for December in US recorded in La Mesa Calif
- 1940 National Football League Championship, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C.: Chicago Bears beat Washington Redskins, 73-0; most one-sided victory in NFL history; first NFL title game broadcast on national radio
- 1941 Chełmno extermination camp opens, 50 kilometres from Łódź, Poland
- 1941 London: Dutch government-in-exile declares war on Japan
- 1941 Russian 16th army recaptures Krijukovo
- 1941 San Francisco 1st blackout, at 6:15 PM
- 1941 US and Britain declare war on Japan, US enters World War II
'Infamy' as Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
1941 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers "Day of Infamy" speech to US Congress a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor
- 1942 8th Heisman Trophy Award: Frank Sinkwich, Georgia (HB)
Historic Event
1943 John Van Druten's "Voice of the Turtle" premieres in NYC
- 1946 US Army rocket plane XS-1 makes 1st powered flight
- 1947 "Caribbean Carnival" opens at International Theater NYC for 11 performances
- 1948 "Marinka" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 168 performances
- 1948 14th Heisman Trophy Award: Doak Walker, SMU (HB)
- 1948 Jordan annexs Arabic Palestine
Film Premiere
1949 "On the Town", the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen, premieres
- 1949 Chinese Nationalist government moves from Chinese mainland to Formosa
- 1949 Jule Styne's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 740 performances
- 1951 "Tree Grows in Brooklyn" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 267 performances
- 1951 AL alters its restrictions on night games, adopting NL's suspended game rule & lifting its ban on lights for Sunday games
- 1952 1st TV acknowledgement of pregnancy (I Love Lucy)
- 1952 French troops shoot on demonstrators at Casablanca, 50 die
- 1952 Isaak Ben-Zwi elected president of Israel
- 1953 19th Heisman Trophy Award: Johnny Lattner, Notre Dame (HB)
United Nations Speech
1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "Atoms for Peace" speech at the United Nations in New York
Historic Event
1954 Maxwell Anderson's "Bad Seed" premieres in NYC
- 1954 WPTZ TV channel 5 in Plattsburgh, NY (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1955 21st Heisman Trophy Award: Howard Cassady, Ohio State (HB)
Film Release
1955 Black Ealing comedy "The Ladykillers", directed by Alexander Mackendrick and starring Alec Guinness is released in the UK
Sports History
1955 Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella wins his 3rd MVP Award
- 1955 Turkish government of Menderes forms
- 1956 1st test firing of Vanguard satellite program, TV-0
- 1956 Guy Mitchell's "Singing the Blues" single goes #1 for 10 weeks
- 1956 XVI Summer Olympic Games close in Melbourne, Australia; start of an Olympic tradition - amidst international tensions, athletes mingle together, parade into and around MCG arena for final appearance to close the Games
Music History
1957 CBS broadcasts "The Sound of Jazz", live from NYC: an all-star program featuring swing era and contemporary jazz artists, including Count Basie, Red Allen, Ben Webster;, Thelonious Monk, and Gerry Mulligan;, highlight is the last collaboration of Billie Holiday and Lester Young on "Fine and Mellow"
- 1959 Dom Mintoff demands independence for Malta
- 1959 President Eisenhower watches Pakistan v Aust Test Cricket at Karachi
- 1960 MLB expansion team Los Angeles Angels sign a 4 year lease to use Dodger Stadium
Music History
1960 Musical "Peter Pan", starring Mary Martin broadcast, for a 3rd time, on NBC as a special event, videotaped in color for future rebroadcasts
- 1961 Antwerp Belgium diocese forms
- 1961 Larry Costello scores 32 consecutive pts without a miss (NBA rec)
NBA Record
1961 Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain scores 78 points in 151-147 3OT defeat to LA Lakers at Philadelphia Civic Center; 2nd highest game total in the NBA history
- 1961 South Africa v NZ, Durban debuts for Eddie Barlow & Peter Pollock
- 1962 "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" closes at Shubert NYC after 300 performances
- 1962 114-day newspaper strike begins in NYC
- 1962 Attempted coup in British-controlled Brunei
Historic Event
1962 Funeral for Queen Wilhelmina of Holland (New Kerk, Delft)
- 1963 "Girl Who Came to Supper" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 112 performances
- 1963 Frank Sinatra, Jr is kidnapped at Harrah's Lake Tahoe (Nevada)
- 1963 Pan Am Flight 214 crashes outside Elkton, Maryland with 81 killed
- 1965 Abe Burrows' play "Cactus Flower" premieres in NYC
- 1965 Nikolai Podgorny succeeds Mikojan as president of USSR
Sports History
1966 A terrible New York Yankee trade, Roger Maris for St' Louis Card's Charlie Smith
- 1966 US and USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
- 1967 NHL California Seals change name to Oakland Seals
- 1967 The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" EP is released in UK; issued in US as an album, including additional singles from 1967
- 1969 Greek DC-6B crashes in storm at Athens, 93 killed
- 1969 Police surprise attack on Black-Panthers in LA
- 1970 Head of the Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal William Conway publishes a pamphlet on the topic of segregation in education in Northern Ireland
- 1972 United Airlines crashes at Chicago's Midway Airport killing 45
- 1973 "Seesaw" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 296 performances
- 1973 39th Heisman Trophy Award: John Cappelletti, Penn State (RB)
Sports History
1973 Romanian tennis star Ilie Năstase wins his 3rd consecutive season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix title with a 6–3, 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 win over Dutchman Tom Okker in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1974 Greek monarchy rejected by referendum
- 1974 Irish Republican Socialist Party forms
- 1974 Soyuz 16 returns to Earth
- 1975 "Raisin" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 847 performances
- 1975 Radio station 4ZZZ begins transmitting in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia at 105.7 FM; frequency changes to 102.1 FM in 1978
- 1976 Asylum Records releases The Eagles fifth studio album "Hotel California"; it spawns two #1 singles and sells over 30 million copies
Election of Interest
1976 UN General Assembly re-elects Kurt Waldheim Secretary-General
- 1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1977 43rd Heisman Trophy Award: Earl Campbell, Texas (RB)
Film Premiere
1978 "The Deer Hunter", directed by Michael Cimino and starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep, premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Best Picture 1979)
- 1978 Commencement of the 1st day/night World Series Cricket supertest at VFL Park, Melbourne
- 1980 "Bravo" network premieres on cable TV
Famous Photo
1980 Annie Leibovitz has a photo-shoot with John Lennon, the last person to professionally photograph him before he is murdered on the same day
Film Release
1982 "Sophie's Choice", directed by Alan J. Pakula and based on William Styton's 1979 novel of the same name, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, is released (Academy Awards Best Actress 1983)
- 1982 Clark Gilles fails in 7th Islander penalty shot
Nobel Prize
1982 Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez receives the Nobel Prize for Literature
- 1982 Norman Mayer holds Washington Monument hostage, demanding an end to nuclear weapons. Is killed by police after 10 hrs (he had no explosives)
- 1982 Suriname army leader Bouterse murders 15 opponents
- 1983 9th NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Columbia 6 lands at Edwards AFB
- 1983 Richard Baker, Zen teacher, steps down from abbotship of San Francisco Zen Center
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1984 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Chris Evert-Lloyd beats Helena Suková 6-7, 6-1, 6-3; continues streak of winning at least 1 major per year since 1973
- 1984 Europe & 64 developing countries sign Lome III treaty
Music History
1984 Ringo Starr hosts "Saturday Night Live"; Herbie Hancock is the musical guest
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1985 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Stefan Edberg wins 1st career Grand Slam singles title; beats defending champion & fellow Swede Mats Wilander 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
- 1985 Ken O'Brien's 96 yard TD pass (NY Jet record) to Wesley Walker
- 1985 NBC premiere of thriller "Final Jeopardy", starring Richard Thomas and Mary Crosby
- 1986 House Dems select majority leader Jim Wright as 48th speaker
- 1986 NBC premiere of miniseries "Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna" (Part 2)
Sports History
1987 Flyers' Ron Hextall becomes 1st goalie to actually score a goal
- 1987 Occupied Palestinians start "intefadeh" (uprising) against Israel
- 1987 Peruvian Navy Fokker F27-400M chartered by Alianza Lima FC crashes into Pacific Ocean 7 miles from Jorge Chávez International Airport near Callao; 43 killed, only pilot survives
Treaty of Interest
1987 US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles
- 1988 Knick's set NBA record of 11 3-pointers & sink Bucks, 113-109
- 1989 Great Britain performs nuclear test
- 1990 Indians agree to a lease new ballpark in Gateway (Jacobs Field)
- 1990 Spacecraft Galileo flies by Earth at an altitude of 597 miles (960 km) to use the planet's gravity to build speed on its way to Jupiter [1]
- 1991 "Homecoming" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 49 performances
- 1991 "Nick & Nora" opens at Marquis Theater NYC for 9 performances
- 1991 Russia, Belorussia & Ukraine form Commonwealth of Ind States
- 1991 The Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
- 1992 NBC announces that "Cheers" will go off the air in May 1993
- 1992 Spacecraft Galileo makes its second and closest flyby of Earth at a minimum distance of 305 km for a gravity assist on its way to Jupiter [1]
- 1993 30 killed at religious rebellion in Algeria
Billboard Music Awards
1993 4th Billboard Music Awards: Whitney Houston, The Bodyguard Soundtrack win
- 1993 Dow-Jones hits record 3734.53
- 1993 Storm hits western Europe, 11 killed in England
- 1994 "What's Wrong With this Picture?" opens at Circle in Sq NYC for 12 per
Sports History
1994 Darryl Strawberry indicted on tax evasion charges
Billboard Music Awards
1997 8th Billboard Music Awards: LeAnn Rimes & Spice Girls win
Music History
1997 Revival of Neil Simon's comedy "The Sunshine Boys", starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randell, opens at Lyceum Theater, NYC; runs for 230 performance
- 1998 Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
- 1999 10th Billboard Music Awards: Brittney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and Creed win
- 2002 The Caribbean Community Heads of Government meet with the Government of Cuba and declare the date to be "CARICOM-Cuba Day" - To celebrate diplomatic ties between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba.
Billboard Music Awards
2004 15th Billboard Music Awards: Usher, Alicia Keys, and Toby Keith win
- 2004 Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the Union of South American Nations
- 2005 Ante Gotovina, Croatian army general accused of war crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife by the Spanish police.
- 2007 73rd Heisman Trophy Award: Tim Tebow, Florida (QB)
- 2008 Kirsty Williams elected as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The first female leader of a political party in Wales.
- 2009 Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 and injure 448.
Historic Event
2018 US President Donald Trump announces John Kelly will be stepping down as White House Chief of Staff at the end of the year
- 2019 Fire in an illegal bag factory in Delhi, India, kills 43
- 2019 Polar explorers Mike Horn and Børge Ousland complete an 1,800 km (1,118 miles) journey on drifting ice in darkness in the Arctic
- 2019 Sanna Marin becomes Finland's youngest-ever Prime Minister at the age of 34
- 2019 South African Zozibini Tunzi crowned Miss Universe in Atlanta
- 2019 Vienna State Opera stages its first show by a female composer in 150 years - Olga Neuwirth’s opera, “Orlando”
- 2020 Former Israeli space security chief Haim Eshed says Aliens and a Galactic Federation exist and Donald Trump knows about it, in article published in the Jerusalem Post
- 2020 The UK begins vaccinating for COVID-19 using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
Historic Event
2021 Olaf Scholz is sworn as the new Chancellor of Germany, replacing Angela Merkel after 16 years
