1620 – Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore at in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [NS, Dec 21]
1792 – France’s King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason and crimes against the state
1913 – “Mona Lisa” recovered 2 years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum
1931 – Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland (Free State), and Newfoundland (not then part of Canada)
1936 – Edward VIII announces in a radio broadcast that he is abdicating the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson
1946 – UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)
1946 – Spain suspended from UN
1961 – JFK provides US military helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
1964 – Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fires a mortar shell at the building during the speech.
1969 – Libya adopts constitution
1971 – The Libertarian Party of the United States is formed
1983 – 1st visit to Lutheran church by a pope (John Paul II in Rome)
1986 – South Africa censors press
1994 – Russian troops invaded Chechnya in an effort to suppress a rebel Chechen government led by Dzhokhar Dudayev.
1997 – Delegates from 150 industrial nations attending a UN climate conference in Kyoto, Japan, reach agreement to control heat-trapping greenhouse gases
1998 – The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives recommended three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, to which would be added a fourth article the following day, for actions taken in connection with his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
2001 – The People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
2007 – Two car bombs go off at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
2008 – American model Bettie Page, whose provocative photographs were credited with helping to usher in the 1960s sexual revolution, died in Los Angeles.
2010 Two explosions occur in a busy shopping district of Stockholm, Sweden, killing one and injuring two others. Officials say the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.
2012 – British physicist, Stephen Hawking, wins the $3 million Fundamental Physics Prize, the most lucrative academic prize in the world
2013 – Pope Francis is named Time magazine’s person of the year
2015 – “Playboy” magazine publishes its last nude issue, features Pamela Anderson on the cover
2016 – Kyrgyzstan votes in a referendum to change the constitution to give the government more power
2017 – Attempted suicide terrorist bomb attack in New York wounds 3, bomb fails to fully detonate
2018 – The Arctic is experiencing “unprecedented warmth” caused by human-caused climate change, according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Report
2019 – Climate activist Greta Thunberg is named Time magazine’s Person of the Year
2019 – Bougainville votes to become independent of Papua New Guinea in a referendum
2020 – European Union leaders agree to cut net carbon emissions by 55% in the next decade
Film & TV:
1967 – “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, premieres in NYC (Hepburn – Academy Award for Best Actress 1968)
1987 – “Wall Street” film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen is released
Music:
1946 – Hank Williams begins to record on Sterling label
Sport:
1951 – Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball
1981 – American boxer Muhammad Ali fought his last professional bout, losing to Trevor Berbick in a decision.
Via Britannica / On This Day
