This Day in History

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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