1630 – Charles II of England (d. 1685) was born.
1660 – English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1677 – Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives.
1733 – The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained.
1790 – Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States’ colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.
1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are massacred by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.
1848 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state
1903 – Bob Hope, English-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2003) was born.
1914 – The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with the loss of 1,024 lives.
1917 – John F. Kennedy, American lieutenant and politician, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963) was born.
1919 – Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.
1932 – World War I Veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
1942 – Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”, the best-selling Christmas single in history.
1948 – Creation of the United Nations peacekeeping force the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.
1954 – First of the annual Bilderberg conferences.
1955 – John Hinckley, Jr., American attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan was born.
1967 – Noel Gallagher, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Oasis and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds) was born.
1988 – The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1990 – The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1998 – Barry Goldwater, American general and politician (b. 1909) died.
2001 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
2010 – Dennis Hopper, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1936) died.
2012 – Doc Watson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923) died.
2004 – The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
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