TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 19
1562 The French Wars of Religion between the Huguenots and the Catholics begins with the Battle of Dreux.
1686 Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe)
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 Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge PA for the winter
1783 William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24
1828 South Carolina declares the right of states to nullify federal laws
1862 Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest begins tearing up the railroads in Union generals Grant and Rosecrans rear, causing considerable delays in the movement of Union supplies.
1900 The French Parliament votes amnesty for everyone involved in the Dreyfus Affair.
1909 American socialist women denounce suffrage as a movement of the middle class.
1941 US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WWII
1942 World War veteran and daredevil, Eddie Rickenbacker, was pulled out the Pacific Ocean after being lost at sea for 22 days.
1945 Congress confirms Eleanor Roosevelt as U.S. delegate to the United Nations.
1946 War broke out in Indochina when Ho Chi Minh attacked the French.
1950 Tibet’s Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion
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”
1959 Reputed to be the last civil war veteran, Walter Williams, dies at 117 in Houston.
1971 A Clockwork Orange released
1972 General Idi Amin gives British workers an ultimatum to accept reduced pay or be expelled from Uganda in 12 days. This follows his taking control of British firms and interests in the country.
1974 Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as vice president of the United states after a House of Representatives vote.
1976 Piper Cherokee crashes into Baltimore Memorial Stadium upper stands, 10 minutes after Colts lose 40-14 to Steelers; No one seriously hurt
1979 Chrysler receives a $1.5 billion government loan to help put the company back on its feet.
1980 Iran requests $24 billion in US guarantees to free hostages
1982 Four bombs explode at South Africa’s only nuclear power station in Johannesburg.
1984 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang sign an agreement that committed Britain to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 in return for terms guaranteeing a 50-year extension of its capitalist system. Hong Kong was leased by China to Great Britain in 1898 for 99 years.
1986 USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile
1988 NASA unveils plans for lunar colony & manned missions to Mars
1995 Queen Elizabeth askes Prince Charles & Diana to divorce
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.
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 U.S. President George W. Bush signed a $17.4 billion rescue package of loans for ailing auto makers General Motors and Chrysler.
2012 Park Geun-hye elected President of South Korea, the nation’s first female chief executive.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
