http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Dec 18, 1620: Mayflower docks at Plymouth Harbor
On December 18, 1620, the British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.
The famous Mayflower story began in 1606, when a group of reform-minded Puritans in Nottinghamshire, England, founded their own church, separate from the state-sanctioned Church of England. Accused of treason, they were forced to leave the country and settle in the more tolerant Netherlands. After 12 years of struggling to adapt and make a decent living, the group sought financial backing from some London merchants to set up a colony in America. On September 6, 1620, 102 passengers–dubbed Pilgrims by William Bradford, a passenger who would become the first governor of Plymouth Colony–crowded on the Mayflower to begin the long, hard journey to a new life in the New World.
On November 11, 1620, the Mayflower anchored at what is now Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod. Before going ashore, 41 male passengers–heads of families, single men and three male servants–signed the famous Mayflower Compact, agreeing to submit to a government chosen by common consent and to obey all laws made for the good of the colony. Over the next month, several small scouting groups were sent ashore to collect firewood and scout out a good place to build a settlement. Around December 10, one of these groups found a harbor they liked on the western side of Cape Cod Bay. They returned to the Mayflower to tell the other passengers, but bad weather prevented them from docking until December 18. After exploring the region, the settlers chose a cleared area previously occupied by members of a local Native American tribe, the Wampanoag. The tribe had abandoned the village several years earlier, after an outbreak of European disease. That winter of 1620-1621 was brutal, as the Pilgrims struggled to build their settlement, find food and ward off sickness. By spring, 50 of the original 102 Mayflower passengers were dead. The remaining settlers made contact with returning members of the Wampanoag tribe and in March they signed a peace treaty with a tribal chief, Massasoit. Aided by the Wampanoag, especially the English-speaking Squanto, the Pilgrims were able to plant crops–especially corn and beans–that were vital to their survival. The Mayflower and its crew left Plymouth to return to England on April 5, 1621.
Over the next several decades, more and more settlers made the trek across the Atlantic to Plymouth, which gradually grew into a prosperous shipbuilding and fishing center. In 1691, Plymouth was incorporated into the new Massachusetts Bay Association, ending its history as an independent colony.
Dec 18, 1941: Japan invades Hong Kong
On this day, Japanese troops land in Hong Kong and a slaughter ensues.
A week of air raids over Hong Kong, a British crown colony, was followed up on December 17 with a visit paid by Japanese envoys to Sir Mark Young, the British governor of Hong Kong. The envoys' message was simple: The British garrison there should simply surrender to the Japanese—resistance was futile. The envoys were sent home with the following retort: "The governor and commander in chief of Hong Kong declines absolutely to enter into negotiations for the surrender of Hong Kong..."
The first wave of Japanese troops landed in Hong Kong with artillery fire for cover and the following order from their commander: "Take no prisoners." Upon overrunning a volunteer antiaircraft battery, the Japanese invaders roped together the captured soldiers and proceeded to bayonet them to death. Even those who offered no resistance, such as the Royal Medical Corps, were led up a hill and killed.
The Japanese quickly took control of key reservoirs, threatening the British and Chinese inhabitants with a slow death by thirst. The Brits finally surrendered control of Hong Kong on Christmas Day.
The War Powers Act was passed by Congress on the same day, authorizing the president to initiate and terminate defense contracts, reconfigure government agencies for wartime priorities, and regulate the freezing of foreign assets. It also permitted him to censor all communications coming in and leaving the country.
FDR appointed the executive news director of the Associated Press, Byron Price, as director of censorship. Although invested with the awesome power to restrict and withhold news, Price took no extreme measures, allowing news outlets and radio stations to self-censor, which they did. Most top secret information, including the construction of the atom bomb, remained just that.
The most extreme use of the censorship law seems to have been the restriction of the free flow of "girlie" magazines to servicemen—including Esquire, which the Post Office considered obscene for its occasional saucy cartoons and pinups. Esquire took the Post Office to court, and after three years the Supreme Court ultimately sided with the magazine.
Today
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's
Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.
1118 - Alfonso van Aragon occupies Saragossa on Almoraviden
1271 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元
yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China.
1352 - Etienne Aubert elected as Pope Innocentius VI
1406 - Anton van Bourgondies becomes duke of Brabant
1603 - Admiral Steven van der Haghens fleet departs to
East-Indies
1621 - English parliament accept unanimously, Protestation
1719 - Thomas Fleet publishes "Mother Goose's Melodies
For Children"
1774 - Empress Maria Theresa expels Jews from Prague,
Bohemia & Moravia
1777 - 1st national Thanksgiving Day, commemorating
Burgoyne's surrender
1783 - English king George III fires government of Portland
1787 - New Jersey becomes 3rd state to ratify constitution
1793 - Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French
royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure
wreck.
1796 - 1st US newspaper to appear on Sunday (Baltimore
Monitor)
1799 - George Washington's body interred at Mount Vernon
1813 - British take Ft Niagara in War of 1812
1832 - Charles Darwins visits Vurland
1839 - 1st celestial photograph (of Moon) made in US, John
Draper, NYC
1849 - William Bond obtains 1st photograph of Moon through a
telescope
Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1858 -
Passy, at Paris: 1st "Samedi soir" i/d villa of lovers Rossini
1859 - South Carolina declared an "independent
commonwealth"
1862 - Battle at Lexington, Tennessee (Forrest's Second
Raid)
1865 - 1st US cattle importation law passed
1869 - Canada's Hamilton Foot Ball Club plays its 1st game
1878 - French SS Byzantin sinks after collision in
Dardanellen, 210 killed
1878 - John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is
executed in Pennsylvania.
1888 - Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the
ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.
1890 - Lugards expedition to Mengo/Kampala, Uganda
1892 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "Nutcracker
Suite" premieres
1892 - Anton Bruckner's 8th Symphony premieres
1894 - Cricket day 4 1T Aus v Eng England following on
4-268, 7 in front
1898 - Automobile speed record set-63 kph (39 mph)
1899 - Fieldmarshal Lord Roberts appointed Brit supreme
commander in South Africa
1900 - The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2
ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria,
Australia is opened for traffic.
Composer Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyComposer Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky 1905 - H V Hordern takes 8-81 in 2nd innings of F-C debut (NSW v
Qld)
1912 - Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is
supposedly found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson.
1917 - Soviet regiment (Stalin/Lenin) declares Finland
Independent
1920 - 1st US postage stamps printed without the words
United States or US
1923 - International zone of Tangier set up in Morocco
1930 - Bradman scores 258 NSW v South Aust, 289 mins, 37
fours
1932 - Chicago Bears beat Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in 1st NFL
playoff game
1935 - Bradman scores 117 in his 1st Shield cricket match
for South Australia
1935 - Edward Benes becomes president of Czechoslovakia
1935 - The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
1936 - 1st giant panda imported into US
1936 - Queensland cricket all out for 49 v Vic,
Fleetwood-Smith 7-17
1936 - Su-Lin, 1st giant panda to come to US from China,
arrives in SF
1939 - Finnish army recaptures Agläjärvi
1941 - German submarine U-434 sinks
Marxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir
LeninMarxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir Lenin 1941 - Japanse
troops land on Hong Kong
1944 - US Destroyers Hull, Spence & Monaghan sink in
typhoon (Philippines)
1944 - Nazi occupiers of Amsterdam destroy electricity
plants
1945 - Uruguay joins UN
1946 - TV's 1st network dramatic serial "Faraway
Hill" ends 2 month run
1947 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Optissima Pax
1948 - Indonesia begins its 2nd political election
1948 - WDSU TV channel 6 in New Orleans, LA (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1949 - Philadelphia Eagles beat LA Rams 14-0 in NFL
championship game
1952 - Ellis W Ryan resigns as Cleve Indians president
1953 - KATV TV channel 7 in Little Rock, AR (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1953 - KMID TV channel 2 in Midland & Odessa, TX (ABC)
begins broadcasting
1956 - "To Tell the Truth" debuts on CBS-TV
1956 - Israeli flag hoisted on Mount Sinai
1956 - Japan admitted to UN
1956 - Phil Rizzuto signs as NY Yankee radio-TV announcer
1957 - Shippingport Atomic Power Stn, 1st nuke plant to
generate electricity
1958 - 1st test project of Signal Communications by Orbiting
Relay Equip
1958 - 1st voice from space: recorded Christmas message by
Eisenhower
1958 - Niger gains autonomy within French Community
(National Day)
1959 - Sammy Baugh named 1st coach of NY Titans (AFL)
1960 - General Meeting of UN condemns apartheid
1961 - Britain's EMI Records originally rejects the Beatles
1961 - For 2nd cons year, AP names Wilma Rudolph female
athlete of year
1961 - India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa, Damao &
Diu
1961 - KAIL TV channel 53 in Fresno, CA (IND) begins
broadcasting
1961 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Phila Warriors scores 78
points vs LA
1962 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 13th Symphony, premieres in Moscow
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - WAIQ TV channel 26 in Montgomery, AL (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1963 - Clarke runs world record 10k (28:15.6)
1963 - Muskegon, Michigan gets 3' of snow
1964 - "I Had a BaIl" opens at Martin Beck Theater
NYC for 199 performances
1964 - "The Pink Panther" cartoon series premieres
(Pink Phink)
1964 - During services held for Sam Cooke fans caused damage
to Funeral Home
1964 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1965 - "La Grusse Valise" closes at 54th St
Theater NYC after 7 performances
1965 - Borman & Lovell Splash down in Atlantic ends 2
week Gemini VII mission
1965 - Kenneth LeBel jumps 17 barrels on ice skates
Children's Author Dr. SeussChildren's Author Dr. Seuss 1966
- Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" airs for 1st time on
CBS
1966 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1966 - Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L.
Walker.
1968 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1969 - "Coco" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC
for 333 performances
1969 - Britain abolishes death penalty
1969 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1970 - "Me Nobody Knows" opens at Helen Hayes
Theater NYC for 587 perfs
1970 - Polish uprising fails
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 - 1st Candlelight Processional
1971 - CBS radio cancels Saturday morning band concerts
1971 - People United To Save Humanity (PUSH) forms by Jesse
Jackson in Chic
1971 - US dollar devalued 7.9% in Holland ($1=Ÿ3,245)
1972 - US begins its heaviest bombing of North Vietnam
1973 - Soyuz 13 launched into Earth orbit for 8 days
1973 - Yanks sign Dick Williams as manager, overturned later
by AL Pres
1974 - SF Visitors Center at City Hall opens
1976 - "A Star is Born", with Barbra Striesand,
premieres
1976 - "Wonder Woman" debuts on ABC
1976 - Soviet dissident Viktor Bukovskiexchanged for Chile
CP-leader Corvalan
1977 - Cleveland Cavaliers retire jersey # 42, Nate Thumond
1977 - Dutch Antilles: premier Boy Rozendal points
independence off
1978 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1978 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1979 - Stanley Barrett 1st to exceed land sonic speed
(739.666 MPH)
1980 - Bruce Sprinsteen's concert at Madison Sq Garden
1980 - Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts minister Van Agts abortion
laws
1980 - IRA's Sean McKenna becomes critically ill, ends
hunger strike
1980 - Vietnam adopts constitution
1982 - Flight readiness firing of Challenger's main engines;
20 seconds
1983 - NBA San Diego Clippers ends 29 game road losing
streak
1984 - 73rd Davis Cup: Sweden beats USA in Gothenburg (4-1)
1985 - "Jerry's Girls" opens at St James Theater
NYC for 139 performances
1985 - UN Security Council unanimously condemns "acts
of hostage-taking"
1986 - Mr Gates serves as acting director of CIA
1987 - Ivan F Boesky sentenced to 3 years for insider
trading
1988 - 5th meeting of Giants-Jets, Jets win & eliminate
Giants from playoffs
1988 - Seattle Seahawks win their 1st ever division title
with 9-7 record
1989 - "I Love Lucy" Christmas episode, shown for
1st time in over 30 years
1989 - Athol Fugard's "My Children, My Africa"
premieres in NYC
1990 - NL releases short list of teams for 1993 NL expansion
1990 - NL announces Buffalo, Denver, Miami, Orlando,
Tampa-St Petersburg, & Wash DC as 6 finalist for 1993 expansion (Miami
& Denver win)
1991 - DeForest Kelly (Dr McCoy on Star Trek) gets a star in
Hollywood
1991 - General Motors announces closing of 21 plants
1992 - FCC vote 4-1 to allow Infinity to purchase Cook Inlet
stations
1993 - Kevin Scott skates world record 1K (1:12.54)
1994 - "Comedy Tonight" opens at Lunt-Fontanne
Theater NYC for 8 performances
1994 - "What's Wrong With this Pic?" closes at
Circle in Sq NYC after 12 perf
Baseball Player Darryl StrawberryBaseball Player Darryl
Strawberry 1994 - Darryl Strawberry pleads not guilty on tax evasion charges
1994 - General Hospital stars Kristina Malandro & Jack
Wagner wed
1994 - Norman, Couples & Azinger wins LPGA Wendy's
3-Tour Golf Challenge
1994 - Socialist Party (ex-communist) wins Bulgaria
parliamentary election
1996 - Start of 1st Test Cricket match between Zimbabwe
& England
1996 - US TV industry execs agree to adopt a ratings system
1996 - The Oakland, California school board passes a
resolution officially declaring "Ebonics" a language or dialect.
1997 - HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web
Consortium.
1999 - NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying
five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and
MOPITT.
2002 - 2003 California recall: Then Governor of California
Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35
billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one
month earlier.
2012 - 4 people are killed and 11 are injured after an
apartment block collapses in Palermo, Italy
2012 - 6 health workers dispensing polio vaccinations are
gunned down in Pakistan
2012 - The Seleka rebel coalition kills 15 people during its
capture of Bria, the Central African Republic
1787 - New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1796 - The "Monitor," of Baltimore, MD, was published as the first Sunday newspaper. 1862 - The first orthopedic hospital was organized in New York City. It was called the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled. 1865 - Slavery was abolished in the United States with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution being ratified. 1898 - A new automobile speed record was set at 39 mph (63 kph). 1903 - The Panama Canal Zone was acquired 'in perpetuity' by the U.S. for an annual rent. 1912 - The discovery of the Piltdown Man in East Sussex was announced. It was proved to be a hoax in 1953. 1915 - U.S. President Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt at her Washington home. 1916 - During World War I, after 10 months of fighting the French defeated the Germans in the Battle of Verdun. 1917 - The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. 1935 - A $1 silver certificate was issued for the first time in the U.S. 1936 - Su-Lin, the first giant panda to come to the U.S. from China, arrived in San Francisco, CA. The bear was sold to the Brookfield Zoo for $8,750. 1940 - Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation "Barbarossa" was launched in June 1941. 1944 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the wartime relocation of Japanese-Americans, but also stated that undeniably loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry could not be detained. 1950 - NATO foreign ministers approved plans to defend Western Europe, including the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary. 1953 - WPTZ, in Philadelphia, PA, presented a Felso commercial, it was the first color telecast seen on a local station. 1956 - "To Tell the Truth" debuted on CBS-TV. 1956 - Japan was admitted to the United Nations. 1957 - The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania went online. It was the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States. It was taken out of service in 1982. 1963 - Ron Clarke set a world record when he ran six miles in 28 minutes and 15.6 seconds. 1965 - Kenneth LeBel jumped 17 barrels on ice skates. 1969 - Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder. 1970 - Divorce became legal in Italy. 1972 - The United States began the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The attack ended 12 days later. 1973 - The IRA launched its Christmas bombing campaign in London. 1979 - The sound barrier was broken on land for the first time by Stanley Barrett when he drove at 739.6 mph. 1983 - Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) scored his 100th point in the 34th game of the season. 1984 - Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis were married. 1987 - Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street's biggest insider-trading scandal. He only served about two years of the sentence. 1996 - Despite a U.N. truce, factional fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, broke out in which at least 300 fighters and civilians were killed. 1998 - The U.S. House of Representatives began the debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning U.S. President Bill Clinton. It was only the second time in U.S. history that process had begun. 1998 - Russia recalled its U.S. ambassador in protest of the U.S. attacks on Iraq. 1998 - South Carolina proceeded with the U.S.' 500th execution since capital punishment was restored. 1999 - After living atop an ancient redwood in Humboldt County, CA, for two years, environmental activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill came down, ending her anti-logging protest. 2001 - Mark Oliver Gebel, a Ringling Bros. Circus star, went on trial for animal abuse. The charges stemmed from an incident with an elephant that was marching too slowly into a circus performance on August 25, 2001. He was acquitted on December 21, 2001. 2001 - A fire damaged New York City's St. John Cathedral. The cathedral is the largest in the United States. 2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway pled innocent to the charge of murder for four of the Green River serial killings. He had been arrested on November 30, 2001. 2002 - Nine competing designs for the World Trade Center site were unveiled. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. expected to choose a design by January 31, 2003. 2003 - Adam Rich was arrested for driving onto a closed section of Interstate 10 and nearly struck a California Highway Patrol car. 2009 - General Motors announced that it would shut down its Saab brand. 2009 - A Paris court ruled that Google was breaking French law with its policy of digitizing books and fined the company a $14,300-a-day fine until it rids its search engine of the literary extracts. 2009 - James Cameron's movie "Avatar" was released in the United States. On January 26, the movie became the highest-grossing film worldwide.
1737 Violin maker Antonio Stradivari died in Cremona, Italy. 1787 New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1865 Slavery was abolished with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. 1892 Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" premiered at St. Petersburg's Maryinksy Theatre. 1944 The Supreme Court upheld the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans. 1956 Japan was admitted to the United Nations. 1957 The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania became the first civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States. 1969 The British Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder. 2000 George W. Bush received 271 votes in the delayed Electoral College balloting.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/dec18.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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