1863 – Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South
1941 – US and Britain declare war on Japan, US enters World War II
1941 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers “Day of Infamy” speech to US Congress a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor
1963 – Frank Sinatra Jr is kidnapped
1965 – Pope Paul VI signs 2nd Vatican council
1966 – US and USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
1982 – Colombian writer Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez receives the Nobel Prize for Literature
2004 – Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the Union of South American Nations
2009 – Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 and injure 448.
2012 – UN climate conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol to 2020
2018 – US President Donald Trump announces John Kelly will be stepping down as White House Chief of Staff at the end of the year
2019 – Fire in an illegal bag factory in Delhi, India, kills 43
2019 – Polar explorers Mike Horn and Børge Ousland complete an 1,800 km (1,118 miles) journey on drifting ice in darkness in the Arctic
2019 – South African Zozibini Tunzi crowned Miss Universe in Atlanta
2019 – Sanna Marin becomes Finland’s youngest-ever Prime Minister at the age of 34
Film & TV:
1978 – “The Deer Hunter”, directed by Michael Cimino and starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep, premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Best Picture 1979)
1982 – “Sophie’s Choice”, directed by Alan J. Pakula and based on William Styton’s 1979 novel of the same name, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, is released (Academy Awards Best Actress 1983)
Music:
1813 – Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in A, premieres in Vienna with Beethoven conducting
Sport:
1978 – Commencement of the 1st day/night World Series Cricket supertest at VFL Park, Melbourne
Via Britannica / On This Day