TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 11
1620 102 Mayflower Pilgrims and about 30 crew land 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
1816 Indiana is admitted to the Union as the 19th state.
1844 Nitrous oxide was used for the first time in dentistry.
1861 A raging fire sweeps the business district of Charleston, South Carolina, adding to an already depressed economic state.
1901 Marconi sends 1st transatlantic radio signal, Cornwall to Newfoundland
1927 Nearly 400 world leaders sign a letter to President Calvin Coolidge asking the United States to join the World Court.
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)
1941 The United States declares war on Italy and Germany.
1946 UNICEF established The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, a U.N. affiliate organization that works for the welfare of children around the world, was founded on this day.
1955 Israel raids Syrian positions on the Sea of Galilee.
1964 Frank Sinatra, Jr., is returned home to his parents after being kidnapped for the ransom amount of $240,000.
1967 The Concorde, a joint British-French venture and the world’s first supersonic airliner, is unveiled in Toulouse, France.
1972 Challenger, the lunar lander for Apollo 17, touches down on the moon’s surface, the last time that men visit the moon.
1978 Massive demonstrations take place in Tehran against the shah.
1981 Military forces in El Salvador kill over 800 civilians in what is known as the El Mozote massacre during the Salvadoran Civil War.
1985 The Unabomber kills his first victim, Hugh Scrutton who is killed in his computer store in Sacramento, California, by a mail package that explodes in his hands. The Unabomber had detonated his first bomb in May 1978 on the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois
1990 Ivana Trump a former Olympic athlete and fashion model filed for divorce from real estate mogul Donald Trump after he had an affair with a former beauty queen from Georgia, Marla Maples.
1994 Russian troups invaded Chechnya in an unsuccessful attempt to restore Moscow’s power in the region.
1997 Housing secretary Henry Cisneros was indicted for conspiracy, obstructing justice, and false statements to the FBI.
2001 People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
2006 President of Mexico Felipe Calderon launches a military-led offensive against drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacan.
2008 Bernard “Bernie” Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in what was called a $50-billion Ponzi scheme.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
