324 – Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.
1036 – Su Tung-p’o, China, poet/essayist/painter/calligrapher – Born
1606 – The Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery depart England carrying settlers who found, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
1686 – Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Daniel Defoe)
1732 – Benjamin Franklin under the name “Richard Saunders” begins publication of “Poor Richard’s Almanack”
1776 – Thomas Paine published his 1st “American Crisis” essay, in which he wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls”
1777 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington’s Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
1795 – 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky
1823 – Georgia passes 1st US state birth registration law in US
1828 – Nullification Crisis: (South Carolina declares right of states to nullify federal laws) Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun pens the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828
1843 – “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens is published, 6,000 copies sold
1848 – Emily Jane Bronte, English novelist, dies at 30
1875 – Carter G. Woodson, American historian and author, founded Black History Month (d. 1950) was born.
1891 – 1st Negro Catholic priest ordained in US, Charles Uncles, Baltimore
1899 – Martin Luther King, Sr., American pastor, missionary, and activist (d. 1984) was born.
1900 – Kitchener offers protections to all Boers who will surrender and asks the Dutch community of Pretoria to convey this offer, but leaders in the field refuse to surrender; although organized military operations are largely over, the guerrilla war continues
1904 – Dawson City hockey team begins 9 day walk to get a boat to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa to play in Stanley Cup on Jan 13 1905
1905 – In Shanghai riots, looting, and a partly burned police station were the result of Chinese hatred of Americans and other foreigners. The atmosphere was similar to that which preceded the Boxer rebellion in 1900.
1906 – Leonid Brezhnev, Ukrainian-Russian marshal, engineer, and politician, 4th Head of State of the Soviet Union (d. 1982) was born.
1910 – Jean Genet, Paris France, criminal/novelist/dramatist (The Blacks) Born
1912 – William Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over 1,000 people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after three-and-a-half-years in Sing Sing prison.
1915 – Edith Piaf, [E Giovanna Gassion], Paris, chanteuse (Little Sparrow), (d. 1963) Born
1918 – ‘Professor Longhair’ Henry Roeland Byrd, Bogalusa, Louisiana, New Orleans blues singer and pianist – Born
1918 – Robert Ripley began his “Believe It or Not” column (NY Globe)
1919 – American Meteorological Society founded
1920 – David Susskind, NYC, TV host (Open End, David Susskind Show) Born
1921 – Thirty thousand protesters crowded together to denounce the Fordney tax. The demonstrators warned against “ruinous tariffs” on sugar and tobacco and that the United States would destroy all its work in Cuba.
1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.
1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.
1938 – Approval of France’s stern stand against Italian colonialism was shown by sheiks and Arab chiefs who were protesting in eastern Tunisia. They shouted “Long Live France!” and “Tripoli for us!”
1940 – Phil Ochs, El Paso Tx, anti-war folk singer (Joe Hill, War is Over) Born
1941 – Maurice White, American singer-songwriter and producer (Earth, Wind & Fire) was born.
1941 – World War II: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-chief of the German Army.
1941 - US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WW II
1942 – Cornell Dupree, American guitarist (d. 2011) was born
1943 – Military coup in Bolivia
1943 – James L. Jones, American general and politician, 22nd United States National Security Advisor was born.
1944 – Alvin Lee, Nottingham England, rock vocals/guitarist (10 Years After), (d. 2013) Born
1946 – Marianne Faithfull, Hampstead England, singer (Money, As Tears Go By) Born
1950 – Tibet’s Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion
1955 – Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes”
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.
1957 – A meeting of NATO in France declared “the aim of the Soviet bloc is to weaken and disrupt the Free World.” However, shortly after Moscow radio blared that the West was trying “to mislead the public and camouflage the real nature of the talks.” The Soviet Union blamed the U.S. and the West for sabotaging peace.
1958 – 1st radio broadcast from space (Pres Eisenhower voice “To all mankind, America’s wish for Peace on Earth & Good Will to Men Everywhere”)
1960 – Mike Lookinland, Mt Pleasant Utah, actor (Bobby-Brady Bunch) Born
1961 – Reggie White, Chattanooga Tennessee, NFL defensive end (Green Bay Packers – Super Bowl 31) Born
1963 – Jennifer Beals, Chicago Ill, actress (Flashdance, Bride) Born
1967 – Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.
1967 – Criss Angel [Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos], Hempstead, New York, American magician and illusionist (Criss Angel Mindfreak) Born
1968 – James Freeland AKA JJINK ( Truth Artist, Son of Liberty, Freedom Fighter…) Born
1971 – Amy Locane, Trenton NJ, actress (Andrea-Spencer, Sandy-Melrose Place) Born
1971 – Stanley Kubrick’s X-rated “A Clockwork Orange” premieres
1972 – Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, crewed by Eugene Cernan, Ron Evans and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.
1972 – Alyssa Jane Milano, Brooklyn NY, actress (Samantha-Who’s the Boss) Born
1972 – Warren Sapp, NFL defensive tackle (Tampa Bay Bucs) Born
1974 – Mikko Paananen, Finnish bass player (HIM) was born.
1974 – Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1975 – John Paul Stevens is appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1975 – Casual, [Jon Owens], rapper – Born
1975 – Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones
1976 – Robert Revere (anti propaganda communications expert, Culture Jammer, US Freedom Fighter) Born
1976 – Piper Cherokee crashes into Balt Memorial Stadium upper stands, 10 minutes after Colts lose 40-14 to Steelers. No one seriously hurt
1978 – Indira Gandhi ambushed in India
1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor was born.
1980 – “Raging Bull”, starring Robert De Niro as boxer Jake LaMotta and Cathy Moriarty as his wife, is released
1983 – The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro.
1984 – Wayne Gretzky, 23, is 18th & youngest NHL-er to score 1,000 points
1984 – Hong Kong is to be returned to Communist China in 1997 after an historic agreement was signed in Peking between the British and Chinese Governments. The British colony of Hong Kong has been under British Rule for 155 years.China has agreed to a principle of “one country, two systems” which will allow Hong Kong to have a capitalist economy and enjoy existing rights and freedoms.
1986 – Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Gorky.
1986 – Michael Sergio, who parachuted into Shea Stadium during game 6 of the World Series, sentenced to 100 hrs of community service & fined $500
1986 – OPEC reaches an accord that would cut production by 7 percent for the first six months of 1987 and would raise prices immediately toward a target world oil price of $18 per barrel
1988 – Unexploded WW II bomb found in Frankfurt, Germany-5,000 evacuated
1989 – The Simpsons featuring the Simpson Family including Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie debuts on Fox as a half-hour prime time show. The Simpsons has become the longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American animated program. The program had originally been created as a series of shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show with the first showing on April 19th, 1987.
1991 – Boris Yeltsin takes control of Kremlin
1993 – Michael Clarke, American drummer (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Firefall) (b. 1946) died
1995 – The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indian tribe.
1996 – Marcello Mastroiani, actor (8½, Assassin, Family Diary), dies at 72
1997 – MTV drops video “Smack My Bitch Up” by Prodigy
1997 – Masaru Ibuka, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (b. 1908) died.
1997 – Jimmy Rogers, American blues musician, dies at 73
1998 – Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate.
2000 – Rob Buck, American guitarist (10,000 Maniacs) (b. 1958) Dies
2001 – Argentine economic crisis: December 2001 riots – Riots erupt in Buenos Aires after Domingo Cavallo’s corralito measures restrict the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits.
2003 – Hope Lange, American actress (b. 1933) Dies
2005 – Vincent (The Chin) Gigante, American mafioso (b. 1927) Dies
2007 – The Lakota people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. They then proceed to establish the Republic of Lakota, with an ongoing process of international recognition as a separate country.
2007 – A rare copy of the Magna Carta is sold for $21.3 million in an auction at Sotheby’s in New York. The copy, dating from 1297, is one of the only seventeen that are still in existence, and bought by U.S. businessman David Rubenstein. The auctioned item had been owned by American billionaire Ross Perot’s Perot Foundation since 1984, and was on view at the National Archives in Washington. The original Magna Carta was sealed by King John of England in 1215, and enshrined civil rights in English law.
2008 – James Bevel, 1960s Civil rights movement leader (b. 1936) Dies
2009 – Kim Peek, American prodigious savant and inspiration for the 1988 film Rain Man (b. 1951) Dies
2012 – UBS bank is fined $1.5 billion for its role in manipulating the Libor rate
2012 – Park Geun-hye wins the South Korean presidential election to become the nation’s first female president
2012 – Robert Bork, American legal scholar/jurist, dies from heart disease at 85
2013 – 81 people are injured after part of the ceiling caved in at London’s Apollo Theatre