This Day in History

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December 19....

1154 – Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.

1606 – The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.

1776 – Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis".

1777 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1907 – Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

1912 – William Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over one thousand people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.

1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.

1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

1956 – Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients. Eventually he is convicted only of minor charges.

1967 – Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.

1972 – Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.

1981 – Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.

1998 – President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second President of the United States to be impeached.

2001 – A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.

2013 – Spacecraft Gaia is launched by European Space Agency.

2016 – Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The accused assassin, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is shot and killed by Turkish guards. Just hours later, a vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills and injures multiple people.

2016 – More than 270 electors of the Electoral College vote for Donald Trump, confirming his status as President-elect of the United States, marking only the fifth time in US history that the winner of the popular vote did not win the general election.

Births

1899 – Martin Luther King, Sr.; 1906 – Leonid Brezhnev; 1915 – Édith Piaf; 1920 – Little Jimmy Dickens; 1940 – Phil Ochs; 1942 – "Mean Gene" Okerlund; 1944 – Alvin Lee; 1944 – Tim Reid; 1945 – Elaine Joyce; 1945 – John McEuen; 1946 – Robert Urich; 1956 – Phil Harris; 1961 – Reggie White; 1963 – Jennifer Beals; 1967 – Criss Angel; 1970 – Tyson Beckford; 1972 – Alyssa Milano; 1972 – Warren Sapp; 1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal

Deaths

1848 – Emily Brontë; 1915 – Alois Alzheimer; 1986 – V. C. Andrews; 1997 – Jimmy Rogers; 1998 – Mel Fisher; 2003 – Hope Lange; 2005 – Vincent Gigante; 2008 – Dock Ellis

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December 20

There are 11 days remaining in 2016, and this year can not end fast enough.

There are 4 days until Christmas.


Events

69 – Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.

1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.

1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.

1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.

1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.

1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.

1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four 200 watt light bulbs.

1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.

1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.

1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.

1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).

1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.

1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.

2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.

2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

Births

1868 – Harvey Samuel Firestone; 1898 – Irene Dunne; 1901 – Robert J. Van de Graaff; 1908 – Dennis Morgan; 1927 – Charlie Callas; 1945 – Peter Criss; 1946 – Uri Geller; 1946 – Dick Wolf; 1948 – Alan Parsons; 1954 – Michael Badalucco; 1957 – Billy Bragg; 1961 – Freddie Spencer; 1966 – Chris Robinson; 1983 – Jonah Hill

Deaths

1812 – Sacagawea; 1961 – Moss Hart; 1968 – John Steinbeck; 1973 – Bobby Darin; 1976 – Richard J. Daley; 1994 – Dean Rusk; 1995 – Madge Sinclair; 1996 – Carl Sagan; 1999 – Hank Snow; 2009 – Brittany Murphy