http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Dec 9, 1990: Walesa elected president of Poland
In Poland, Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity trade union, wins a landslide election victory, becoming the first directly elected Polish leader.
Walesa, born in 1943, was an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk when he was fired for union agitation in 1976. When protests broke out in the Gdansk shipyard over an increase in food prices in August 1980, Walesa climbed the shipyard fence and joined the thousands of workers inside. He was elected leader of the strike committee, and three days later the strikers' demands were met. Walesa then helped coordinate other strikes in Gdansk and demanded that the Polish government allow the free formation of trade unions and the right to strike. On August 30, the government conceded to the strikers' demands, legalizing trade unionism and granting greater freedom of religious and political expression.
Millions of Polish workers and farmers came together to form unions, and Solidarity was formed as a national federation of unions, with Walesa as its chairman. Under Walesa's charismatic leadership, the organization grew in size and political influence, soon becoming a major threat to the authority of the Polish government. On December 13, 1981, martial law was declared in Poland, Solidarity was outlawed, and Walesa and other labor leaders were arrested.
In November 1982, overwhelming public outcry forced Walesa's release, but Solidarity remained illegal. In 1983, Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Fearing involuntary exile, he declined to travel to Norway to accept the award. Walesa continued as leader of the now-underground Solidarity movement, and he was subjected to continual monitoring and harassment by the Communist authorities.
In 1988, deteriorating economic conditions led to a new wave of labor strikes across Poland, and the government was forced to negotiate with Walesa. In April 1989, Solidarity was again legalized, and its members were allowed to enter a limited number of candidates in upcoming elections. By September, a Solidarity-led government coalition was in place, with Walesa's colleague Tadeusz Mazowiecki as premier. In 1990, Poland's first direct presidential election was held, and Walesa won by a landslide.
President Walesa successfully implemented free-market reforms, but unfortunately he was a far more effective labor leader than president. In 1995, he was narrowly defeated in his reelection by former communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, head of the Democratic Left Alliance.
Dec 9, 1917: Jerusalem surrenders to British troops
On the morning of this day in 1917, after Turkish troops move out of the region after only a single day s fighting, officials of the Holy City of Jerusalem offer the keys to the city to encroaching British troops.
The British, led by General Edmund Allenby, who had arrived from the Western Front the previous June to take over the command in Egypt, entered the Holy City two days later under strict instructions from London on how not to appear disrespectful to the city, its people, or its traditions. Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot—in deliberate contrast to Kaiser Wilhelm s more flamboyant entrance on horseback in 1898—and no Allied flags were flown over the city, while Muslim troops from India were dispatched to guard the religious landmark the Dome of the Rock.
In a proclamation declaring martial law that was read aloud to the city s people in English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and Greek, Allenby assured them that the occupying power would not inflict further harm on Jerusalem, its inhabitants, or its holy places. "Since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people, I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayerwill be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred."
Church bells in Rome and London rang to celebrate the peaceful British arrival in Jerusalem. Allenby s success, after so much discouragement on the Western Front, elated and inspired Allied supporters everywhere.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the
Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to
its empire.
656 - Battle of Kameel: Kalief Al ibn Abu Talib beats
rebellion
1212 - Frederik II crowns himself Roman Catholic king
1315 - Swiss Woudsteden renews Eternal Covenant (Oath
Society)
1425 - Pope Martinus V forms University of Leuven
1570 - Geuzen under Herman de Ruyter occupies Loevestein
1625 - Netherlands & England sign military treaty
1640 - Settler Hugh Bewitt banished from Mass colony when he
declares himself to be free of original sin
1658 - Dutch troops occupy harbor city Quilon (Coilan) India
1688 - King James II's wife & son flee England for
France
1724 - Colley Cibber's "Caesar in Aegypt"
premieres in London
1738 - Jews are expelled from Breslau Silesia
1747 - England & Netherlands sign military treaty
1762 - British parliament accept Treaty of Paris
1783 - 1st execution at English Newgate Jail
1793 - Noah Webster establishes NY's 1st daily newspaper,
American Minerva
1805 - Comet 3D/1805 V1 (Biela) approaches within 0.0366 AUs
of Earth
1824 - Battle of Ayacucho (Candorcangui), Peru defeats Spain
1842 - St M Glinka's opera "Russlan Ludmilla"
premieres in Petersburg
Lexicographer Noah WebsterLexicographer Noah Webster 1851 -
1st Young Men's Christian Association in North America (Montreal)
1854 - Alfred Tennyson's poem, "Charge of the Light
Brigade," published
1856 - The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying
British forces.
1861 - Battle of Bird Creek, Indian Terr (High Shoal,
Chusto-Talasah)
1861 - American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the
Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.
1868 - 1st British government of Gladstone forms
1869 - Noble Order of Knights of Labor founded, Philadelphia
1875 - Massachusetts Rifle Association "America's
Oldest Active Gun Club" is founded.
1878 - Joseph Pulitzer buys St Louis Dispatch for $2,500
1883 - New Brunswick adopts Eastern Standard Time (until
1902)
1884 - Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate
1889 - President Harrison visits opening of Chicago
Auditorium
1894 - Roman Catholics win Parliamentary election in Belgium
1897 - Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily
newspaper, La Fronde in Paris.
1900 - Dutch Pres Paul Kruger & Queen Wilhelmina have a
triumphant procession
Poet Alfred TennysonPoet Alfred Tennyson 1902 - AL announces
purchase of grounds for a stadium in NY
1903 - Norwegian parliament vote unanimiously for female
suffrage
1905 - French Assembly National votes for separation of
church & state
1905 - Richard Strauss' opera "Salome" premiers in
Dresden
1905 - In France, the law separating church and state is
passed.
1906 - NY American reports Belgian King Leopold II bribed US
Senate commission on the Congo
1907 - 1st Christmas Seals sold (Wilmington Del post office)
1907 - Gustav Mahler departs Vienna
1909 - 1st US monoplane flown (Henry W Walden, Long Island,
NY)
1910 - French troops occupy Morrocan harbor city Agadir
1913 - Heavyweight Jack Johnson-Jim Johnson fight to no
decision in Paris
1913 - John K Tener becomes president of baseball's National
League
1917 - British forces under General Allenby capture
Jerusalem
1918 - French troops occupies Mainz
1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz elected Polish president
1924 - Dutch & Hungary trade treaty signed
1924 - Michael Hainisch re-elected Austrian president
1925 - AL extends Ban Johnson's contract to 1935 & raise
to $40,000
1925 - Pro football a hit in NYC; Grange & Bears beat
Giants before 73,000
1926 - USGA leagalizes steel shaft golf clubs
1931 - Benn W Levy's "Springtime for Henry"
premieres in NYC
1931 - Japanese army attacks Chinese province of Jehol
1931 - Spain becomes a republic
1931 - Baseball cuts squad from 25 to 23 players & NL
continues to prohibit uniform numbers
1933 - 21st CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Sarnia
Imperials, 4-3
1933 - Romania disallows fascist Iron Guard
1934 - NY Giants defeat Chicago Bears 30-13 for NFL
championship
1935 - Walter Liggett American newspaper editor and
muckraker killed in gangland murder.
1936 - AL OKs night baseball for St Louis
1936 - Australia all out 58 v England, Bradman out for a
duck
1939 - 27th Grey Cup: Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeats Ottawa
Rough Riders, 8-7
1939 - Russian air raid on Helsinki
1940 - British assault on Banghazi Libya
1940 - British troops 1st major offensive in No Africa
(Libya) during WW II
1940 - Illeagal Jewish immigrants to Haifa are deported to
Mauritius
1940 - South Australia all out for 47 v NSW, O'Reilly 5-11
1941 - 1st US WW II bombing mission in Far East, Luzon,
Philippines
1941 - 300 Montgomery, SF opens as new Bank of America HQ
1941 - 7th Heisman Trophy Award: Bruce Smith, Minnesota (HB)
1941 - China declares war on Japan, Germany & Italy
1941 - Citizen Register reports "Hostile planes
reported nearing Westchester"
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1941 - Hitler orders US ships torpedoed
1948 - UN General Assembly unanimously approves Convention
on Genocide
1949 - Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts Indonesian sovereignty
1949 - NFL merges Cleveland Browns, SF '49ers & Balt
Colts from AAFC
1951 - Voters approve merger of 3 states to form
Baden-Wurttemberg, W Germany
1953 - General Electric announces all Communist employees
will be fired
1953 - Mont Canadiens (106) & Toronto Maple Leafs (98)
get 204 penalty mins
1954 - Dmitri Sjostakovitsj appointed honored guest of Swed
Royal Music Acad
1957 - 1st Japanese ambassador to Israel
1958 - Robert H W Welch Jr & 11 other men meet in
Indianapolis to form anti-Communist John Birch Society
1960 - 1st broadcast of "Coronation Street" on
British ITV
1961 - "From the Second City" closes at Royale
Theater NYC after 87 perfs
1961 - "Let It Ride" closes at Eugene O'Neill
Theater NYC after 68 perfs
1961 - SS Col Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in
Israel
1961 - Tanganyika gains independence from Britain takes name
Tanzania
1961 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Phila Warriors scores 67
points vs NY
1962 - "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" closes on
Broadway
1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic within British
Commonwealth
1963 - Frank Sinatra Jr is kidnapped
1963 - Zanzibar gains independence from Britain
1965 - "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premieres
1965 - Frank Robinson is traded from Cincinnati to the
Orioles
1965 - Nikolai Podgorny replaces Anastas Mikoyan as
president of Presidium
1967 - Jim Morrison, arrested on stage for disturbing the
peace
1967 - Nicolea Ceausescu becomes president (dictator) of
Romania
1968 - KRNE TV channel 12 in Merriman, NB (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1968 - NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer
mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San
Francisco.
1970 - Dutch Antilles: government of Petronia falls
1971 - Lewis F Powell Jr appointed to Supreme Court
1973 - "Pajama Game" opens at Lunt Fontanne
Theater NYC for 65 performances
1973 - Bruno Sammartino beats Stan Stasiak in NY, to become
WWF champ
1973 - St Louis Cardinal Jim Bakken kicks 6 field goals vs
Atlanta Falcons
1973 - Sunningdale Agreement in Northern Ireland
1974 - Dow Jones index hits 570.01
1974 - Jack Brisco beats Giant Baba in Tokyo, to become NWA
wrestling champ
1974 - Johnson Grigsby freed after 66 years in jail in
Indiana
1975 - Jelena Bonner receives Andrei Sacharov's Nobel Prize
38th US President Gerald Ford38th US President Gerald Ford
1975 - Pres Gerald Ford signs $2.3 Bn loan-authorization for NYC
1978 - Pioneer Venus 2 drops 5 probes into atmosphere of
Venus
1978 - 1st game of Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL),
Chicago Hustle vs Milwaukee Does
1979 - Murle Breer/Dave Eichelberger wins LPGA J C Penney
Golf Classic
1980 - 61°F in Boston at 1 AM
1981 - Porn star John Holmes charged with Laurel Canyon
murders
1982 - Mary-Beth & William Hurt divorce
1983 - Att Gen Edwin Meese says people go to soup kitchens
"...because food is free & that's easier than paying for it"
1983 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1984 - 59th Australian Womens Tennis: Chris Evert beats H
Sukova (67 61 63)
1984 - 6 day hijack of Kuwaiti jet ends
1984 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test
Site
1984 - Iranian commandos end capture of Kuwaiti plane
1984 - LA Ram Eric Dickerson rushes 215 yards for season
record 2,003 yards
1984 - Vicki Alvarez/Mike McDonald wins LPGA J C Penney Golf
Classic
1985 - 74th Australian Mens Tennis: S Edberg beats Mats
Wilander (64 63 63)
1985 - Jerry Rice begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game
receptions
1985 - Phoenix Arizona, gets 3" of snow
NBA Legend Larry BirdNBA Legend Larry Bird 1987 - Larry
Bird, ends streak of 59 consecutive free throws
1987 - Palestine uprising begin in Israeli-occupied West
Bank
1988 - NY Yankees sign 12-year television contract with MSG
for $500M
1988 - The Michael Hughes Bridge in Sligo, Ireland is
officially opened.
1989 - "Les Miserables" opens at Princess Theatre,
Melbourne
1990 - Betsy King wins Itoman LPGA World Match Play Golf
Championship
1990 - Gunda Niemann skates ladies world record 3k ladies
(4:10.80)
1990 - Houston scores most points against Cleveland, Oilers
58, Browns 14
1990 - Lech Walesa wins presidental election in Poland
1990 - NFL NY Giant Otis Anderson becomes 8th to rush for
10,000th yard
1991 - 2nd Billboard Music Awards
1992 - 3rd Billboard Music Awards
1992 - Cin Red owner Marge Schott apologizes for racist
remarks
1992 - Operation Restore Hope - US Marines land in Somalia
1992 - Sri Lanka's third-ever Test Cricket victory (v NZ by
9 wkts)
1992 - NJ Devils organization announces that it will change
its colors to black, red, & white for the 1992-93 season
1993 - "My Fair Lady" opens at Virginia Theater
NYC for 165 performances
1993 - Ivory Coast Premier Ouattara resigns
1994 - 5m meteor 1994 XM1 passes within 100,000 km of Earth
1994 - US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders resigns after
comments about masturbation
1995 - 61st Heisman Trophy Award: Eddie George, Ohio State
(RB)
2003 - A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and
wounds several more.
2006 - Moscow suffers its worst fire since 1977, killing 45
women in a drug rehabitational center.
44th US President Barack Obama44th US President Barack Obama
2008 - The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal
officials for a number of alleged crimes including attempting to sell the
United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama's
election to the Presidency..
2012 - 13 people are killed and 10 are injured after a bus
rolls of a cliff and falls 100 meters in Taiwan
2012 - 6 people are killed and 41 are injured after a bus
plunges 30 metres down a gorge in Guatemala
2012 - Incumbent Ghanaian president John Mahama wins the
general election amidst allegations of fraud
2012 - The Social Liberal Union Party and Romanian Prime
Minister Victor Ponta win by a landslide in the parliamentary elections
2012 - Juan Manuel Márquez knocks out Manny Pacquiao in
round six for the WBO light welterweight title
1594 - Gustavus II of Sweden was born. 1608 - English poet John Milton was born in London. 1625 - The Treaty of the Hague was signed by England and the Netherlands. The agreement was to subsidize Christian IV of Denmark in his campaign in Germany. 1783 - The first executions at Newgate Prison took place. 1793 - "The American Minerva" was published for the first time. It was the first daily newspaper in New York City and was founded by Noah Webster. 1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President. 1848 - American author and creator of "Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit," Joel Chandler Harris was born. 1854 - Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England. 1879 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Ore Milling Company. 1884 - Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the ball-bearing roller skate. 1892 - In London, "Widowers' Houses," George Bernard Shaw's first play, opened at the Royalty Theater. 1907 - Christmas Seals went on sale for the first time, in the Wilmington, DE, post office. 1926 - The United States Golf Association legalized the use of steel-shafted golf clubs. 1914 - The Edison Phonograph Works was destroyed by fire. 1917 - Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by Viscount Allenby. 1940 - During World War II, British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa. 1940 - The Longines Watch Company signed for the first FM radio advertising contract with experimental station W2XOR in New York City. 1941 - China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy. 1942 - The Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane" was first performed by the Kirov Ballet. 1955 - Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Carl Olson and regained his world middleweight boxing title. 1958 - In Indianapolis, IN, Robert H.W. Welch Jr. and 11 other men met to form the anti-Communist John Birch Society. 1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer, known as "Univac 1107." 1960 - The first episode of "Coronation Street" was screened on ITV. 1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia," by David Lean had its world premiere in London. 1965 - Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. 1975 - U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default. 1978 - The first game of the Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL) was played between the Chicago Hustle and the Milwaukee Does. 1983 - NATO foreign ministers called on the Soviet Union to join in a "comprehensive political dialogue" to ease tensions in the world. 1984 - Iranian security men seized control of the plane ending a five-day hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner, which was parked at the Tehran airport. 1985 - In Argentina, five former military junta members received sentences in prison for their roles in the "dirty war" in which nearly 9,000 people had "disappeared." 1987 - West Bank Palestinians launched an intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation. 1987 - In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli patrol attacked the Jabliya refugee camp. 1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election in the country's history. 1990 - Slobodan Milosovic was elected president in Serbia's first free elections in 50 years. 1990 - The first American hostages to be released by Iraq began arriving in the U.S. 1991 - European Community leaders agreed to begin using a single currency in 1999. 1992 - Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. 1992 - Clair George, former CIA spy chief, was convicted of lying to the U.S. Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. U.S. President George H.W. Bush later pardoned George. 1992 - U.S. troops arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia, to oversee delivery of international food aid, in operation 'Restore Hope'. 1993 - The U.S. Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos that were marked for elimination under an arms control treaty. 1993 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope. 1993 - At Princeton University in New Jersey, scientists produced a controlled fusion reaction equivalent to 3 million watts. 1994 - Representatives of the Irish Republican Army and the British government opened peace talks in Northern Ireland. 1994 - U.S. President Clinton fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after learning that she had told a conference that masturbation should be discussed in school as a part of human sexuality. 1996 - UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali approved a deal allowing Iraq to resume its exports of oil and easing the UN trade embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990. 1999 - The U.S. announced that it was expelling a Russian diplomat that had been caught gathering information with an eavesdropping device at the U.S. State Department. 2002 - United Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing $4 billion in the previos two years. It was the sixth largest bankruptcy filing. 2003 - In Australia, thieves broke into a home and stole two 300-year-old etchings by Rembrandt. The 4-by-4-inch etchings, a self-portait and a depiction of the artist's mother, were valued around $518,000.
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/dec09.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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