On this day in History - Dec. 21

• 0069 - Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors.
• 0235 - Papa Antero, 19th pope is elected.
• 1117 - Thomas Becket (d. 1170), archbishop of Canterbury, was born. He became a close friend to Henry II of England, who later ordered his martyrdom.
• 1295 - Marguerite Berenger of Provence dies. Queen of Louis IX of France
• 1308 - Henry I of Hesse dies (b. 1244)
• 1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio dies at his home in Certaldo (b. 1313). Italian poet (Vita di Dante)
• 1401 - Tommaso Masaccio was born. Florentine painter.
• 1504 - Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild was born (d. 1442). German archbishop and elector.
• 1549 - Marguerite of Navarre dies (b. 1492). Queen of Henry II of Navarre
• 1579 - Vicente Masip dies. Spanish painter
• 1596 - Peter Mogila was born (d. 1646). Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia.
• 1597 - Petrus Canisius was born (d. 1521). Dutch Jesuit.
• 1603 - Roger Williams was born (d. 1684). English theologian and colonist.
• 1620 - 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock Mass. after a 63 day voyage.
• 1714 - John Bradstreet was born (d. 1774). Canadian-born soldier.
• 1804 - Benjamin Disraeli was born (d.1881). Prime Minister of Great Britain (1868, 1874-80). He instituted reforms in housing, public health and factory regulations.
• 1805 - Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage dies in Lisbon (b. in Setúbal 1765). Portuguese poet.
• 1805 - Thomas Graham was born (d. 1869). Scottish chemist.
• 1807 - John Newton was born (d. 1725). English cleric and hymnist.
• 1811 - Archibald Campbell Tait was born (d. 1882). Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1815 - Thomas Couture was born (d. 1879).French painter and teacher.
• 1824 - James Parkinson was born (b. 1755). English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist.
• 1843 - Thomas Bracken was born (d. 1898). New Zealand writer.
• 1846 - A primeira cirurgia com o uso de anestesia é realizada na Grã-Bretanha no University College por Robert Liston.
• 1850 - Zdeněk Fibich was born (d. 1900). Czech composer.
• 1859 - Gustave Kahn was born (d. 1936). French poet.
• 1861 - The Medal of Honor first authorized (United States)
• 1866 - Indians led by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse killed Captain William J. Fetterman and 79 other men - Fetterman Massacre or Battle of a Hundred Slain.
• 1872 - Don Lorenzo Perosi was born (d. 1956). Italian composer.
• 1872 - Albert Payson Terhune was born (d. 1942). American author.
• 1873 - Francis Garnier dies (b. 1839). French explorer.
• 1876 - Jack Lang was born (d. 1975). Australian politician.
• 1878 - Jan Łukasiewicz was born (d. 1956). Polish philosopher and mathematician
• 1879 - Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, aka Joseph Stalin, was born (d. 1956). Joseph Stalin, Communist leader of the Soviet Union .
• 1880 - Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote.
• 1889 - Com o objetivo de eliminar resíduos do regime monárquico, a família imperial é banida de todo território brasileiro.
• 1889 - Sewall Wright was born (d. 1988). American biologist.
• 1890 - Hermann Joseph Muller was born (d. 1967). American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1891 - The first basketball game, invented at Springfield College in Massachusetts by James E. Naismith, was played.
• 1896 - Leroy Robertson was born (d. 1971). American composer.
• 1898 - Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium.
• 1898 - In Germany Emil and Joseph Berliner founded Deutsche Grammophon, dedicated to manufacturing the gramophone record and player invented by Emil.
• 1901 - Mulheres votam pela primeira vez numa eleição na Noruega.
• 1910 - 2.5 million plague victims were reported in the An-Hul province of China.
• 1910 - Explosion in coal mine in Hulton, England killed 344 mine workers.
• 1913 - The first crossword puzzle was printed in the New York World.
• 1914 - Ivan Generalić was born (d. 1992). Croatian painter.
• 1917 - Heinrich Böll was born (d. 1985). German writer, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1917 - Andre Eglevsky was born in Moscow (d. 1977). Ballet dancer and choreographer (Limelight).
• 1918 - Donald Regan was born. White House staffer and US Secretary of Treasury (1981-85).
• 1918 - Kurt Waldheim was born. 4th Secretary General of the United Nations.
• 1921 - Vampira was born. Finnish actress.
• 1921 - Alicia Alonso was born. Cuban ballerina
• 1922 - Paul Winchell was born (d. 2005). American ventriloquist.
• 1923 - Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state.
• 1926 - Joe Paterno was born. American football coach
• 1926 - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made their 1st movie together, “Flying Down to Rio.”
• 1933 - Dried human blood serum was 1st prepared at the Univ. of Pennsylvania.
• 1935 - Yusuf Bey was born. Black Muslim leader.
• 1935 - Phil Donahue was born. American talk show host .
• 1935 - Kurt Tucholsky dies (b. 1890). German journalist and satirist.
• 1937 - Frank B. Kellogg dies (b. 1856). United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1929
• 1937 - Jane Fonda was born in NYC. American actress (Barbarella, Klute), physical fitness fanatic and activist (Vietnam Protestor).
• 1937 - “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” ( Walt Disney) premiered as the 1st feature-length color & sound cartoon.
• 1937 - Elomar Figueira was born. Brazilian musician.
• 1939 - Carlos do Carmo was born. Portuguese singer (fado).
• 1940 - Frank Zappa, was born in Baltimore (d. 1993) ; musician, rocker (Mothers of Invention, Catholic Girls).
• 1940 - F. Scott Fitzgerald dies of a heart attack. Author (Zelda, The Great Gatsby).
• 1942 - Hu Jintao was born. President of the People's Republic of China
• 1942 - Reinhard Mey was born. German singer.
• 1942 - Carla Thomas was born. American singer.
• 1944 - Michael Tilson Thomas was born. American conductor.
• 1945 - Gen. George S. Patton dies at the age of 60 in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident (b. 1885).
• 1946 - Frank Capra's : "It's a Wonderful Life," premiered.
• 1946 - An earthquake and tidal wave killed 1,086 in Japan.
• 1946 - Carl Wilson was born (d. 1998). American musician (The Beach Boys)
• 1947 - Paco de Lucia was born. Spanish guitarist.
• 1948 - The state of Eire (formerly the Irish Free State) declared its independence.
• 1948 - Seishiro Itagaki dies hanged. Japanese General and minister of War.
• 1948 - Samuel L. Jackson was born. American actor.
• 1948 - Willi Resetarits was born. Austrian musician and cabaret artist
• 1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg was born. American producer
• 1951 - Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement, baseball player [Hall of fame 1955]
• 1951 - Inauguração da Ponte Marechal Carmona, sobre o Tejo, em Vila Franca de Xira (Portugal).
• 1954 - Dr. Sam Sheppard's wife, Marilyn, was murdered. Sheppard was accused of the crime.
• 1954 - Chris Evert was born. Tennis player.
• 1955 - Jane Kaczmarek was born. American actress.
• 1956 - Don Lorenzo Perosi dies (b. 1872). Italian composer.
• 1957 - Tom Henke was born. Baseball player.
• 1957 - Ray Romano was born. American comedian and actor.
• 1957 - Eric Coates dies (b. 1886). English composer.
• 1958 - Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President of the Fifth Republic .
• 1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger dies (b. 1884). German writer.
• 1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner was born in Los Angeles. American track and field runner (Olympic-3 gold-1988).
• 1960 - Rei Saud assume o governo da Arábia Saudita após a renúncia do primeiro-ministro, o Príncipe Faisal.
• 1961 - Francis Ng was born. Hong Kong actor.
• 1962 - Argentina: creación de la AAcademia Porteña del Lunfardo.
• 1962 - A US and Cuba accord released Bay of Pigs captives.
• 1962 - Rondane National Park, the first national park in Norway, was established.
• 1964 - Britain’s House of Commons voted to ban the death penalty. Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty. The vote was in part due to the country’s unease over the 1953 Bentley hanging
• 1965 - Four pacifists were indicted in New York for burning draft cards.
• 1965 - Andy Dick was born. American actor and comedian
• 1965 - Anke Engelke was born. German comedienne
• 1966 - Kiefer Sutherland was born. Canadian actor
• 1966 - USSR launched Luna 13. It soft-landed on the Moon’s Oceanus Procellarum.
• 1967 - Louis Washkansky, the world's first heart transplant patient dies. The heart was obtained from a 24-year-old motor-accident victim, Denise Darvall, and was transplanted by Dr Christiaan Barnard only 18 days 1968 -David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash premiered together in California
• 1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili was born. President of Georgia
• 1968 - Apollo 8 with astronauts Borman, Lovell & Anders was launched on the 1st mission to orbit the moon.
• 1969 - Diana Ross made her final TV appearance as a Supreme on the Ed Sullivan Show.
• 1969 - Julie Delpy was born. French actress
• 1970 - Elvis Presley met with president Richard Nixon in the White House.
• 1971 - UN Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim as 4th secretary general (on his 53rd birthday)
• 1973 - Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US and USSR leaders met in Geneva.
• 1973 - Karmen Stavec was born. Slovenian singer
• 1974 - Karrie Webb was born. Australian golfer
• 1975 - In Austria there was a terrorist kidnapping of Saudi oil minister Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani and other ministers at the OPEC gathering in Vienna, Austria. Three people were killed and 11 taken hostage. The oil ministers were taken to North Africa in a hijacked plane in a $1 billion ransom drama. Carlos the Jackal, aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, later admitted to planning the attack. In 2001 Germany sentenced Hans-Joachim Klein to 9 years for his role in the attack.
• 1976 - The Liberian-registered tanker Argo Merchant ran aground near Nantucket Island, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the North Atlantic.
• 1978 - Mike Vitar was born. American actor.
• 1980 - Nelson Rodrigues dies (b. 1912). Brazilian dramatist and writer (“Vestido de noiva”, "Dorotéia" e "O Casamento").
• 1983 - Paul de Man dies (b. 1919). Belgian-born literary critic.
• 1984 - Darren Potter was born. Irish footballer
• 1986 - Presidente José Sarney anuncia o Plano Cruzado II.
• 1986 - Over 50,000 students demonstrate in Shanghai's Peoples Square, for democracy and freedom in China .
• 1988 - A terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 (Flight 103) over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Libya was accused of responsibility for the bombing,
• 1988 - Drexel pleaded guilty to security felonies and paid a $650 million fine.
• 1988 - Bob Steele [Robert Bradbury] dies at 60 after short illness. Radio broadcaster
• 1988 - After a record 365 days in space, two Russian and one French cosmonaut return to Earth
• 1988 - Nikolaas Tinbergen dies (b. 1907). Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1989 - Kentuckian Larry Mahoney was convicted on 27 counts of manslaughter for a 1988 collision with a church bus. It was the nation's most deadly drunken-driving accident.
• 1989 - Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu delivered what turned out to be his final public speech. The hard-line Communist ruler was visibly stunned as his listeners began booing. Ceausescu fled from power and was executed four days later.
• 1990 - In Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis participated in an evacuation drill to test war readiness.
• 1990 - Mark Simpson was born. British Rockstar
• 1991 - Cable TV and sports magnate Ted Turner married actress Jane Fonda near Capps, Fla. They divorced in May 2001.
• 1991 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina a Serb minority held an unofficial referendum opposing separation from Yugoslavia. Local Serb leaders proclaimed a new republic separate from Bosnia.
• 1991 - Eleven of the former Soviet republics form the Commonwealth of Independent States.
• 1991 - Primeras elecciones legislativas en Taiwán en 40 años, con amplia victoria del gubernamental Kuomitang (Partido Nacionalista), que reformará la Constitución.
• 1992 - A Dutch DC-10 burst into fire at landing on Faro Portugal and 56 died.
• 1992 - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic won re-election. He defeated the American entrepreneur Milan Panic in elections that were “decidedly unfair.”
• 1992 - Albert King was born (d. 1924). American musician.
• 1992 - Nathan Milstein was born (d. 1903). Ukrainian violinist.
• 1993 - Boris Nikolaievich Yeltsin, político e ingeniero ruso, firma un decreto por el que desaparece el legendario servicio del KGB [Komisariat Gosudarstvennoye Bezopasnosti] crea en su lugar el Servicio Federal de Contraespionaje de Rusia (SFCR )
• 1994 - Firma de un histórico acuerdo de paz en Liberia, que incluye un alto el fuego, creación de instituciones de transición y celebración de elecciones libres.
• 1994 - A firebomb on the #4 train at Fulton St. New York City subway injured 48 people; unemployed computer programmer Edward Leary was later convicted of attempted murder.
• 1995 - A train collision outside Cairo, Egypt, claimed 75 lives.
• 1995 - The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.
• 1996 - Dr. David Ho, AIDS researcher, was named ‘Man of the Year” by Time Magazine.
• 1996 - China’s rulers named 60 pro-Beijing stalwarts to a new interim legislature of Hong Kong to replace the panel elected in 1995.
• 1997 - It was reported that Andrew S. Grove, chairman and CEO of Intel Corp., was named time magazine’s “Man of the Year.”
• 1997 - Johnny Coles (71), jazz trumpeter, died in Philadelphia. His records included “The Warm Sound of Johnny Coles” and “Little Johnny C.”
• 1997 - In Serbia Milan Milutinovic of the ruling Socialists claimed victory in the runoff election against Vojislav Seselj, but it wasn’t clear if the turnout exceeded 50%.
• 1998 - In China 3 dissidents were sentenced to prison terms of 11-13 years. Xu Wenli received 13 years, Wang Youcai 11 years and Qin Yongmin 12 years for subversion, i.e. trying to organize an opposition party.
• 1998 - Israel's parliament voted 81-30 for early elections, signaling the demise of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ailing hard-line government. Peace policies were rejected 56-48.
• 1998 - In Turkey Prime Minister-designate Bulent Ecevit abandoned efforts to form a new government.
• 1999 - In Guatemala City a Cubana de Aviacion DC-10 skidded and crashed on landing. At least 26 people were killed.
• 1999 - In Sri Lanka presidential elections were held. At least 7 people were killed in poll violence. Pres. Chandrika Kumaratunga won 51% of the vote. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the nearest rival, won 43%.
• 1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts near Calatayud (Zaragoza) a Madrid-bound van driven by ETA and loaded with 950 kg of explosives. The next day, another van loaded with 750 kg is found not far from there. The incident is known as "la caravana de la muerte" (the caravan of death).
• 2000 - El que fuera miembro de la directiva de ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) en los años ochenta, Santiago Arrózpide Sarasola, "Santi Potros", es entregado por las autoridades francesas a la justicia española.
• 2000 - President-elect Bush resigned as governor of Texas; Lt. Gov. Rick Perry was sworn in to replace him.
• 2000 - Final US election results showed Al Gore with 50,996,116 votes vs. Gov. Bush with 50,456,169. Gore led by over 500,000 votes but lost to bush by one electoral college vote.
  2000 - Christine Todd Whitman, governor of New Jersey, agreed to serve as director of the EPA for Pres.-elect Bush.
• 2000 - A UN report accused Jonas Savimbi and UNITA rebels in Angola of trading diamonds for arms.
• 2000 - In Israel the legislature blocked an attempt by Shimon Peres to run for prime minister. The Feb 6 election pits Ariel Sharon against Ehud Barak.
• 2000 - In Sri Lanka Tamil rebels announced a unilateral month-long cease-fire with hopes of resuming peace talks. Sri Lanka launched a new offensive just hours following the rebel cease-fire.
• 2001 - US warplanes attacked a convoy of trucks heading for the Pakistan border and 65 people were reported killed. 12 were killed in the convoy and 15 in nearby villages. The convoy was said to be heading for Kabul.
• 2001 - In Kabul, Afghanistan, power was officially transferred from Pres. Rabbani to Hamid Karzai.
• 2001 - In Argentina Ramon Puerta head of the Senate, became president following an extraordinary session of both houses.
• 2001 - In Bulgaria at least 7 young people were killed when they rushed the entrance of a Sofia downtown disco.
• 2001 - Dick Schaap dies (b. 1931). American sports journalist.
• 2004 - Autar Singh Paintal dies (d. 1925). Indian medical scientist.
• Roman festivals - Divalia in hounour of Angerona
• R.C. Saints - Saint Petrus Canisius ; formerly feast day of Thomas the apostle
• USA - Forefathers' Day: commemoration of the landing of the Mayflower in 1620 on this date in the Gregorian calendar (11 December Old Style)
• The summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere) or winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere), sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. It is an important festival in the Chinese calendar.