TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 19
1154 Henry II is crowned king of England.
1562 The French Wars of Religion between the Huguenots and the Catholics begins with the Battle of Dreux.
1732 Benjamin Franklin began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac.
1776 Thomas Paine publishes his 1st “American Crisis” essay beginning”These are the times that try men’s souls” (date disputed)
1777 General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, PA, to camp for the winter.
1842 Hawaii’s independence was recognized by the U.S.
1843 Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol.”
1900 The French Parliament votes amnesty for everyone involved in the Dreyfus Affair.
1905 In Shanghai riots, looting, and a partly burned police station were the result of Chinese hatred of Americans and other foreigners. The atmosphere was similar to that which preceded the Boxer rebellion in 1900.
1909 American socialist women denounce suffrage as a movement of the middle class.
1921 Thirty thousand protesters crowded together to denounce the Fordney tax. The demonstrators warned against “ruinous tariffs” on sugar and tobacco and that the United States would destroy all its work in Cuba.
1932 British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas
1941 Adolf Hitler assumes the position of commander in chief of the German army.
1945 Congress confirms Eleanor Roosevelt as U.S. delegate to the United Nations.
1950 The North Atlantic Council names General Dwight D. Eisenhower as supreme commander of Western European defense forces.
1958 1st radio broadcast from space, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower Christmas message “to all mankind, America’s wish for peace on Earth and goodwill to men everywhere”
1973 Johnny Carson started a fake toilet-paper scare on the “Tonight Show.”
1974 Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as vice president of the United states after a House of Representatives vote.
1979 Chrysler receives a $1.5 billion government loan to help put the company back on its feet.
1982 Four bombs explode at South Africa’s only nuclear power station in Johannesburg.
1984 Hong Kong is to be returned to Communist China in 1997 after an historic agreement was signed in Peking between the British and Chinese Governments. The British colony of Hong Kong has been under British Rule for 155 years.
1989 U.S. troops invaded Panama to overthrow the regime of General Noriega
1998 President Bill Clinton is impeached. The House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against President Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton was the second president in American history to be impeached.
2000 The U.N. Security Council voted to impose broad sanctions on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers unless they closed terrorist training camps and surrendered U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.
2001 Rioting begins in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the country’s economic crisis.
2003 Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction.
2008 An emergency bailout of General Motors and Chrysler has been announced by President Bush which gives the companies a few months to get their businesses in order. Barack Obama will be handed the political task of ruling on their future. The bailout will be putting $13.4 billion into the companies by mid-January from the fund that Congress has authorized to rescue the financial industry. The two companies have until March 31st to produce a plan for long-term profitability, including concessions from unions, creditors, suppliers and dealers.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
