1933 – Prohibition Ends | Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the era of national prohibition of alcohol in America
0633 – Visigothic King Sisenand convenes Fourth Council of Toledo at the church of Saint Leocadia in Toledo; all bishops of Hispania agree to establish seminaries in cathedral cities and implement educational standards
0771 – Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman.
1349 – Jews are massacred at Nuremberg in Black death riots
1408 – Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reaches Moscow.
1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the severest witchhunts in European history
1496 – King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree of expulsion of Jews as “heretics”” from the country.
1560 – Charles IX succeeded as King of France on the death of Francis II.
1715 – Alexander Dalzeel, a Scottish privateer in French service, is executed in London, England.
1717 – English pirate Blackbeard ransacks the merchant sloop “Margaret” and keeps her captain, Henry Bostock prisoner for 8 hours before releasing him. Bostock later provides the first record of Blackbeard’s appearance, and the source for his name.
1746 – Revolt in Genoa against the Spanish rule.
1766 – James Christie, founder of the famous auctioneers, held his first sale in London.
1776 – In Williamsburg, VA, at the College of William and Mary the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized.
1782 – The first native U.S. president, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook, NY.
1797 – Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Paris to command forces for the invasion of England.
1812 – Napoleon Bonaparte left his army as they were retreating from Russia.
1831 – Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
1848 – U.S. President Polk triggered the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming the fact that gold had been discovered in California.
1893 – Electric car built at the Dixon Carriage works in Toronto, could go 15 miles between charges
1904 – The Russian fleet was destroyed by the Japanese at Port Arthur, during the Russo-Japanese War.
1908 – At the University of Pittsburgh, numerals were first used on football uniforms worn by college football players.
1912 – The Triple Alliance among Italy, Austria, and Germany (originally signed in 1882) is renewed for six years, beginning in 1914, a move inspired by instability in the Balkans
1913 – Britain outlawed the sending of arms to Ireland.
1932 – German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa making it possible for him to travel to the U.S.
1933 – Prohibition ends in the US when 21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment repealed (5:32 PM EST) https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/prohibition-ends
1934 – The Soviet Union executed 66 people charged with plotting against Joseph Stalin’s government.
1935 – In Montebello, CA, the first commercial hydroponics operation was established.
1936 – Establishment of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic
1941 – US aircraft carrier Lexington and 5 heavy cruisers leave Pearl Harbor
1943 – World War II: U.S. Air force begins Operation Crossbow attacking Germany’s secret weapons bases.
1944 – During World War II, Allied troops took Ravenna, Italy.
1945 – The so-called “Lost Squadron” disappeared. The five U.S. Navy Avenger bombers carrying 14 Navy flyers began a training mission at the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station. They were never heard from again.
1946 – US President Harry Truman creates Committee on Civil Rights by Exec Order #9808
1955 – E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1956 – British and French forces began a withdrawal from Egypt during the Suez War.
1957 – NYC becomes first city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market (Fair Housing Practices Law)
1961 – United Nations forces launched an attack in Katanga, the Congo, near Elizabethville.
1962 – The U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to cooperate in the peaceful uses of outer space.
1964 – Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.
1969 – Life Magazine reports the My Lai Massacre .
1971 – The Soviet Union, at United Nations Security Council, vetoed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in hostilities between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.
1977 – The Plymouth Horizon was introduced on this day. It was the first American-made small car with front-wheel drive. Technical advances in drive technology had reduced the size and cost of front-wheel drive systems.
1978 – The American space probe Pioneer Venus I, orbiting Venus, began beaming back its first information and picture of the planet.
1979 – Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church due to her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.
1983 – In west Beirut, Lebanon, more than a dozen people were killed when a car bomb shattered a nine-story apartment building.
1984 – Iran’s official news agency quoted the hijackers of a Kuwaiti jetliner parked at Tehran airport as saying they would blow up the plane unless Kuwait released 14 imprisoned extremists.
1986 – The Soviet Union said it would continue to abide by the SALT II treaty limits on nuclear weapons. This was despite the decision by the U.S. to exceed them.
1988 – Jim Bakker and former aide Richard Dortch were indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina on fraud and conspiracy charges.
1989 – Israeli soldiers killed five heavily armed Arab guerrillas who crossed the border from Egypt. The guerrillas were allegedly going to launch a terrorist attack commemorating the anniversary of the Palestinian uprising.
1990 – The Canadian Broadcast Corp. cuts its spending by $108 million, slashes 1100 jobs and closes or reduces regional news bureaus to 11 stations
1992 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin kept the power to appoint Cabinet ministers, defeating a constitutional amendment that would have put his team of reformers under the control of Russia’s Congress.
1998 – James P. Hoffa became the head of the Teamsters union, 23 years after his father was the head. His father disappeared and was presumed dead.
2001 – In Germany, Afghan leaders signed a pact to create a temporary administration for post-Taliban Afghanistan. Two women were included in the cabinet structure. Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet were planned to take over power in Afghanistan on December 22.
2005 – UK’s Civil Partnership Act of 2004 comes into force
2006 – Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji
2007 – Westroads Mall massacre: A gunman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle at an Omaha, Nebraska mall, killing eight people before taking his own life.
2008 – Human remains previously found in 1991 are finally identified by Russian and American scientists as those of Tsar Nicholas II
2010 – NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft became the longest-operating spacecraft ever sent to Mars. The Odyssey entered orbit around Mars on October 23, 2001.
2013 – 52 people are killed and 167 are injured in a militant attack on a defense ministry compound in Sana’a, Yemen
2017 – Democratic representative John Conyers resigns from US Congress after allegations of sexual harassment
2018 – US state funeral for former president George H. W. Bush, eulogy by George W. Bush, attended by President Donald Trump predecessors Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter
2019 – Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, announces articles of impeachment against US President Donald Trump will be drawn up for abuse of power
2022 – Iranian senior official confirms the country’s Morality Police has been shut down in a concession to three months of nationwide protests, though may take on a different form
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
