TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 15
533 Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, under King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron
1488 Bartolomeu Dias returns to Portugal after becoming 1st known European to sail round the Cape of Good Hope
1612 German Astronomer Simon Marius is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
1654 A meteorological office established in Tuscany began recording daily temperature readings.
1791 US Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gives its approval, becomes amendments 1-10 of the US constitution
1840 Napoleon Bonaparte receives a French state funeral in Paris 19 years after his death
1877 Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.
1890 As U.S. Army soldiers attempt to arrest Sitting Bull at his cabin in Standing Rock, South Dakota, shooting breaks out and Lt. Bullhead shoots the great Sioux leader.
1903 The British parliament places a 15-year ban on whale hunting in Norway.
1921 In Kansas the Kansas national guard was called out to subdue protesting women who were going from mine to mine attacking non-striking coal miners in the Pittsburgh coal field.
1924 The Soviet Union warns the United States against repeated entry of ships into Soviet territorial waters.
1925 The third Madison Square Gardens opened.
1938 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.
1938 Washington sends its fourth note to Berlin demanding amnesty for Jews.
1939 The movie Gone With the Wind premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
1944 Band leader Glenn Miller disappeared in a plane crash over the English Channel.
1961 Adolf Eichmann, the former German Gestapo official accused of a major role in the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews, is sentenced by a Jerusalem court to be hanged.
1964 Canada adopted its national flag, a red maple leaf on a white background.
1967 The Silver Bridge across the Ohio River collapses during rush hour and a number of cars fall into the icy water killing 46 .
1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the meat bill in the presence of Upton Sinclair, the author of the controversial book The Jungle.
1972 The Commonwealth of Australia orders equal pay for women.
1973 The American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders.
1978 US President Jimmy Carter announces the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and will sever all relations with Taiwan.
1979 In a preliminary ruling, the International Court of Justice ordered Iran to release all hostages that had been taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.
1979 Fuel prices increased as a result of Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries raising the price from $18 to $24 a barrel. OPEC was convening in Venezuela to discuss oil prices.
1979 The former shah of Iran, Muhammad Riza Pahlavi, left the United States for Panama. He had gone to the U.S. for medical treatment on October 22, 1979.
1981 In what is often called the first modern suicide bombing, a suicide car bomb kills 61 people at the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon; Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon is among the casualties.
1983 The last 80 U.S. combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew. It was just over seven weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of the Caribbean island.
1987 Iranian frigates were harassing and attacking ships in the southern Persian Gulf. Two Greek tankers were slightly damaged by them. Iran was patrolling the area trying to prevent any Iraqi (enemy) cargo from getting through.
1999 Syria reopened peace talks with Israel in Washington, DC, with the mediation of U.S. President Clinton.
2000 The Chernobyl atomic power plant in Kiev, Ukraine, was shut down.
2001 The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after an 11-year, $27 million project to fortify it without eliminating its famed lean.
2003 The late Senator Strom Thurmond’s family acknowledged Essie Mae Washington-Williams claim that she was Thurmond’s illegitimate mixed-race daughter by an African American household servant of the Thurmond family named Carrie Butler. Senator Thurmond had met his daughter when she was 16 and helped pay to put her through college.
2005 F-22 Raptor Stealth fighter enters active service with the US Air Force.
2006 Shiite soldiers stormed the Higher Education Ministry and kidnapped 50 officials. By the end of the day 117 persons were killed and doubt was thrown on Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki’s will to control Shiite militias.
2006 Lockheed Martin test flights the next generation of joint Strike Fighter aircraft the F-35 Lightning II.
2011 The formal end of the Iraq war has come after US troops lowered their flag in Baghdad. Around 4,000 US troops still remained in Iraq but left over the next two weeks. The ceremony marked the end of nearly nine years of US military operations in the country.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
