EVENTS
- 1783 – Following a triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis, Maryland, George Washington, victorious Commander-in-Chief of the American Revolutionary Army, appeared before Congress and voluntarily resigned his commission.
- 1864 – Savannah, Georgia falls to General Sherman completing his March to the Sea.
- 1882 – First Christmas tree to be illuminated by electric lights displayed. Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison and the Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, became the first person to decorate a Christmas tree with electric lights at his home in New York City.
- 1885 – Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.
- 1891 – First asteroid discovered through astrophotography. 323 Brucia was discovered by Max Wolf and was named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patron of astronomy.
- 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.
- 1962 – The 1,000,000th NBA point is scored
- 1989 Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu overthrown. The Communist President was ousted after widespread demonstrations in the country. Ceaușescu and his wife Elena tried to flee the country, but were captured, tried and executed by a firing squad. The Romanian Revolution was the only violent overthrow of a communist government in the 1980s.
- 1990 – Lech Walesa is sworn in as Poland’s 1st popularly elected president
- 2010 – ‘Don’t ask don’t tell’ was repealed. President Obama signed the repeal of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy that governed the recruitment and service of LGBTQ members in the United States military. The policy was put in place by the Clinton Administration in 1994.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1666 – Guru Gobind Singh (Indian guru)
- 1696 – James Ogelthorpe (Statesman)
- 1858 – Giacomo Puccini (Opera composer)
- 1887 – Srinivasa Ramanujan (Indian mathematician)
- 1912 – Lady Bird Johnson (Former First Lady of the United States)
- 1917 – Gene Rayburn (Game Show Host)
- 1943 – Paul Wolfowitz (American politician, 25th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense)
- 1945 – Diane Sawyer (News anchor)
- 1948 – Steve Garvey (Baseball player)
- 1949 – Maurice and Robin Gibb (2/3rds of the Bee Gee’s)
- 1962 – Ralph Fiennes (Actor)
- 1989 – Jordin Sparks (Singer)