Today in History – December 21 in History
What happened on this day in history – December 21 in History around the world
68 | Vespian, a gruff-spoken general of humble origins, enters Rome and is named emperor by the Senate. | |
1620 | The Pilgrims land at or near Plymouth Rock. | |
1708 | French forces seize control of the eastern shore of Newfoundland after winning a victory at St. John’s. | |
1790 | Samuel Slater opens the first cotton mill in the United States (in Rhode Island). | |
1862 | The U.S. Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor to be awarded to Navy personnel who have distinguished themselves by their gallantry in action. | |
1866 | Indians, led by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, kill Captain William J. Fetterman and 79 other men who had ventured out from Fort Phil Kearny to cut wood. | |
1910 | Over 2.5 million plague victims are reported in the An-Hul province of China. | |
1928 | President Calvin Coolidge signs the Boulder Dam bill. | |
1944 | German troops surround the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne in Belgium. | |
1945 | General George S. Patton dies at the age of 60 after being injured in a car accident. | |
1946 | An earthquake and tidal wave kill hundreds in Japan. | |
1963 | The Turk minority riots in Cyprus to protest anti-Turkish revisions in the constitution. | |
1964 | Great Britain’s House of Commons votes to ban the death penalty. | |
1965 | Four pacifists are indicted in New York for burning draft cards — Thomas C. Cornell, 31, co-secretary of the Catholic Peace Fellowship; Roy Lisker, 27, a volunteer of the Catholic Worker Movement; James E. Wilson, 21, a volunteer at the Catholic Worker Movement and a member of the Fellowship for Reconciliation; and M P, Edelman, a full-time worker for the War Resisters League. | |
1969 | American draft evaders gather for a holiday dinner in Montreal, Canada. | |
1986 | 500,000 Chinese students gather in Shanghai’s People’s Square calling for democratic reforms, including freedom of the press. | |
1988 | Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, an hour after departure. All 259 passengers were killed in the explosion caused by a bomb– hidden inside an audio cassette player — that detonated inside the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. A shower of airplane parts falling from the sky also killed 11 Lockerbie residents. | |
1994 | Popocatepetl, a volcano in Mexico spews forth gases and ash after nearly a half-century of dormancy. | |
1995 | The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control. | |
2004 | A suicide bomber attacks the forward operating base next to the US military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, killing 22 people; it is the deadliest suicide attack on US soldiers during the Iraq War. | |
Born on December 21 | ||
1804 | Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain. | |
1879 | Joseph Stalin, Communist leader of the Soviet Union. | |
1911 | Josh Gibson, baseball player for the Negro Leagues, Home-Run King. | |
1918 | Kurt Waldheim, controversial fourth Secretary General of the United Nations. | |
1937 | Jane Fonda, actress, political activist, exercise guru; films include Klute and Coming Home. | |
1940 | Frank Zappa, bandleader, composer, guitarist, satirist, filmmaker and advocate of creative freedom. | |
1954 | Chris Evert (Chris Evert-Lloyd), No. 1 women’s pro tennis player in the world for 260 weeks in the 1970s; she reached 34 Grand Slam singles finals, a record unmatched by any other pro, female or male. | |
1959 | Florence Griffith Joyner, track star, Olympic medalist. Died unexpectedly of heart failure at age thirty-eight on September 21, 1998. | |
1966 | Kiefer Sutherland, British-born Canadian actor, producer, director; best known as Jack Bauer on the 24 TV series, a role that garnered him several awards including an Emmy and Golden Globe. |