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Dec 20, 1963: Berlin Wall opened for first time
More than two years after the Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany to prevent its citizens from fleeing its communist regime, nearly 4,000 West Berliners are allowed to cross into East Berlin to visit relatives. Under an agreement reached between East and West Berlin, over 170,000 passes were eventually issued to West Berlin citizens, each pass allowing a one-day visit to communist East Berlin.
The day was marked by moments of poignancy and propaganda. The construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 separated families and friends. Tears, laughter, and other outpourings of emotions characterized the reunions that took place as mothers and fathers, sons and daughters met again, if only for a short time. Cold War tensions were never far removed from the scene, however. Loudspeakers in East Berlin greeted visitors with the news that they were now in "the capital of the German Democratic Republic," a political division that most West Germans refused to accept. Each visitor was also given a brochure that explained that the wall was built to "protect our borders against the hostile attacks of the imperialists." Decadent western culture, including "Western movies" and "gangster stories," were flooding into East Germany before the wall sealed off such dangerous trends. On the West Berlin side, many newspapers berated the visitors, charging that they were pawns of East German propaganda. Editorials argued that the communists would use this shameless ploy to gain West German acceptance of a permanent division of Germany.
The visits, and the high-powered rhetoric that surrounded them, were stark reminders that the Cold War involved very human, often quite heated, emotions.
Dec 20, 1941: Hitler to Halder: No retreat!
On this day, in one of his first acts as the new commander in chief of the German army, Adolf Hitler informs General Franz Halder that there will be no retreating from the Russian front near Moscow. "The will to hold out must be brought home to every unit!"
Halder was also informed that he could stay on as chief of the general army staff if he so chose, but only with the understanding that Hitler alone was in charge of the army's movements and strategies.
Halder accepted the terms, but it was another blow to their already tense relationship. Halder had been at odds with the Fuhrer from the earliest days of the Nazi regime, when he spoke disparagingly of Hitler's leadership ability and feared that "this madman" would plunge Germany into war. Promoted to chief of staff in September 1938, Halder began concocting an assassination scheme shortly thereafter along with other military officers who feared another European war over the Sudetenland crisis, when Hitler demanded the German-speaking population of Czechoslovakia-and the territory in which they resided-be made part of a greater Germany. Only a "peaceful" resolution to the crisis—the forced diplomatic capitulation of Czechoslovakia—killed the conspiracy. With Hitler's popularity among the German people growing, and the timidity of the then-commander in chief of the army, General Walter von Brauchitsch, Halder learned to live with the "madman" in power.
But Halder would continue to butt heads with Hitler, urging that military strategy be left to the general staff when Hitler wanted to impose his imperious will on the army. But as the offensive against Moscow collapsed, an offensive which Halder had supported, and for which he began to agonize over, given the number of German dead, Halder could only concede to Hitler's seizing of power, if just to retain his position on the general staff. By staying on, Halder hoped to be able to protect the remaining German troops on the Eastern front from the consequences of Hitler's obsession over defeating the Soviets. Unfortunately, Hitler dismissed Halder during another disastrous Russian offensive, this one against Stalingrad in 1942.
Dec 20, 1989: The U.S. invades Panama
The United States invades Panama in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracy in Panama and endangering U.S. nationals. Noriega's Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) were promptly crushed, forcing the dictator to seek asylum with the Vatican anuncio in Panama City, where he surrendered on January 3, 1990.
In 1970, Noriega, a rising figure in the Panamanian military, was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to assist in the U.S. struggle against the spread of communism in Central America. Noriega became involved in drug trafficking and in 1977 was removed from the CIA payroll. After the Marxist Sandinista government came to power in 1979, Noriega was brought back into the CIA fold. In 1983, he become military dictator of Panama.
Noriega supported U.S. initiatives in Central America and in turn was praised by the White House, even though a Senate committee concluded in 1983 that Panama was a major center for drug trafficking. In 1984, Noriega committed fraud in Panama's presidential election in favor of Nicolás Ardito Barletta, who became a puppet president. Still, Noriega enjoyed the continued support of the Reagan administration, which valued his aid in its efforts to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government.
In 1986, just months before the outbreak of the Iran-Contra affair, allegations arose concerning Noriega's history as a drug trafficker, money launderer, and CIA employee. Most shocking, however, were reports that Noriega had acted as a double agent for Cuba's intelligence agency and the Sandinistas. The U.S. government disowned Noriega, and in 1988 he was indicted by federal grand juries in Tampa and Miami on drug-smuggling and money-laundering charges.
Tensions between Americans in the Panama Canal Zone and Noriega's Panamanian Defense Forces grew, and in 1989 the dictator annulled a presidential election that would have made Guillermo Endara president. President George H. Bush ordered additional U.S. troops to the Panama Canal Zone, and on December 16 an off-duty U.S. Marine was shot to death at a PDF roadblock. The next day, President Bush authorized "Operation Just Cause"--the U.S. invasion of Panama to overthrow Noriega.
On December 20, 9,000 U.S. troops joined the 12,000 U.S. military personnel already in Panama and were met with scattered resistance from the PDF. By December 24, the PDF was crushed, and the United States held most of the country. Endara was made president by U.S. forces, and he ordered the PDF dissolved. On January 3, Noriega was arrested by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agents.
The U.S. invasion of Panama cost the lives of only 23 U.S. soldiers and three U.S. civilians. Some 150 PDF soldiers were killed along with an estimated 500 Panamanian civilians. The Organization of American States and the European Parliament both formally protested the invasion, which they condemned as a flagrant violation of international law.
In 1992, Noriega was found guilty on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, marking the first time in history that a U.S. jury convicted a foreign leader of criminal charges. He was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.
Dec 20, 1946: French crack down on Vietnamese rebels
The morning after Viet Minh forces under Ho Chi Minh launched a night revolt in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, French colonial troops crack down on the communist rebels. Ho and his soldiers immediately fled the city to regroup in the countryside. That evening, the communist leader issued a proclamation that read: "All the Vietnamese must stand up to fight the French colonials to save the fatherland. Those who have rifles will use their rifles; those who have swords will use their swords; those who have no swords will use spades, hoes, or sticks. Everyone must endeavor to oppose the colonialists and save his country. Even if we have to endure hardship in the resistance war, with the determination to make sacrifices, victory will surely be ours." The First Indochina War had begun.
Born in Hoang Tru, Vietnam, in 1890, Ho Chi Minh left his homeland in 1911 as a cook on a French steamer. After several years as a seaman, he lived in London and then moved to France, where he became a founding member of the French Communist Party in 1920. He later traveled to the Soviet Union, where he studied revolutionary tactics and took an active role in the Communist International. In 1924, he went to China, where he set about organizing exiled Vietnamese communists. Expelled by China in 1927, he traveled extensively before returning to Vietnam in 1941.
There, he organized a Vietnamese guerrilla organization--the Viet Minh--to fight for Vietnamese independence. Japan occupied French Indochina in 1940 and collaborated with French officials loyal to France's Vichy regime. Ho, meanwhile, made contact with the Allies and aided operations against the Japanese in South China. In early 1945, Japan ousted the French administration in Vietnam and executed numerous French officials.
When Japan surrendered to the Allies on September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh felt emboldened enough to declare the independence of Vietnam from France. French forces seized southern Vietnam and opened talks with the Vietnamese communists in the north. Negotiations collapsed in November 1946, and French warships bombarded the northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong, killing thousands. In response, the Viet Minh launched an attack against the French in Hanoi in December 1946. The French quickly struck back, and Ho and his followers found refuge in a remote area of northern Vietnam. The Viet Minh, undefeated and widely supported by the Vietnamese people, waged an increasingly effective guerrilla war against the French.
The conflict stretched on for eight years, with Mao Zedong's Chinese communists supporting the Viet Minh, and the United States aiding the French and anti-communist Vietnamese forces. In 1954, the French suffered a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu, in northwest Vietnam, prompting peace negotiations and the division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel at a conference in Geneva. Vietnam was divided into northern and southern regions, with Ho in command of North Vietnam and Emperor Bao Dai in control of South Vietnam.
In the late 1950s, Ho Chi Minh organized a communist guerrilla movement in the South, called the Viet Cong. North Vietnam and the Viet Cong successfully opposed a series of ineffectual U.S.-backed South Vietnam regimes and beginning in 1964 withstood a decade-long military intervention by the United States, known as the Vietnam War in America but also called the Second Indochina War.
Ho Chi Minh died on September 2, 1969, 25 years after declaring Vietnam's independence from France and nearly six years before his forces succeeded in reuniting North and South Vietnam under communist rule. Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after it came under the control of the communists in 1975.
Dec 20, 1836: Jackson submits Indian treaty to Congress
On this day in 1836, President Andrew Jackson presents Congress with a treaty he negotiated with the Ioway, Sacs, Sioux, Fox, Otoe and Omaha tribes of the Missouri territory. The treaty, which removed those tribes from their ancestral homelands to make way for white settlement, epitomized racist 19th century presidential policies toward Native Americans. The agreement was just one of nearly 400 treaties--nearly always unequal--that were concluded between various tribes and the U.S. government between 1788 and 1883.
American population growth and exploration of the west in the early to mid-1800s amplified conflicts over territory inhabited by Native American tribes who held different views of land and property ownership than white settlers. During this time, Andrew Jackson played a major part in shaping U.S. policy toward Native Americans. A hero of the War of 1812, he earned equal recognition as an Indian fighter and treaty negotiator. In fact, he brokered nine treaties before becoming president in 1829. In 1830, as part of his zealous quest to acquire new territory for the nation, President Jackson pushed for the passing of the Indian Removal Act. It was this act that allowed for the 1838 forced removal by the U.S. military of Cherokee from their Georgia homeland to barren land in the Oklahoma territory. The march at gunpoint--during which 4,000 Cherokee died from starvation, disease and the cold--became known as the Trail of Tears. Jackson's policies toward Indians reflected the general view among whites of the time that Indians were an inferior race who stood in the way of American economic progress.
A few presidents have made small attempts to bridge the gap of mistrust and maltreatment between the U.S. government and Native Americans. In 1886, Grover Cleveland protected Indian land rights when a railroad company petitioned the government to run tracks through a reservation. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge passed the Indian Citizen Act of 1924, which granted automatic U.S. citizenship to all American tribes, along with all the rights pertaining to citizenship. On personal moral grounds, Coolidge sincerely regretted the state of poverty to which many Indian tribes had sunk after decades of legal persecution and forced assimilation. Throughout his two terms in office, Coolidge presented at least a public image as a strong proponent of tribal rights. In recognition of his advocacy for Native Americans, a North Dakota tribe of Sioux "adopted" Coolidge as an honorary tribal member in 1927. However, U.S. government policies of forced assimilation, which worked to separate families and tribes and destroy native cultures, remained in full swing during his administration.
Largely relegated to reservations by the late 1800s, Native American tribes across the country were obliterated by disease and plunged into poverty, a state many remain in today.
Dec 20, 1803: The French surrender Orleans to the U.S.
Without a shot fired, the French hand over New Orleans and Lower Louisiana to the United States.
In April 1803, the United States purchased from France the 828,000 square miles that had formerly been French Louisiana. The area was divided into two territories: the northern half was Louisiana Territory, the largely unsettled (though home to many Indians) frontier section that was later explored by Lewis and Clark; and the southern Orleans Territory, which was populated by Europeans.
Unlike the sprawling and largely unexplored northern territory (which eventually encompassed a dozen large states), Orleans Territory was a small, densely populated region that was like a little slice of France in the New World. With borders that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Louisiana, Orleans Territory was home to about 50,000 people, a primarily French population that had been living under the direction of a Spanish administration.
These former citizens of France knew almost nothing about American laws and institutions, and the challenging task of bringing them into the American fold fell to the newly appointed governor of the region, twenty-eight-year-old William Claiborne. Historians have found no real evidence that the French of Orleans Territory resented their transfer to American control, though one witness claimed that when the French tri-color was replaced by the Stars and Stripes in New Orleans, the citizens wept. The French did resent that their new governor was appointed rather than elected, and they bridled when the American government tried to make English the official language and discouraged the use of French.
It didn't help matters that young Claiborne knew neither French nor Spanish. Claiborne soon found himself immersed in a complex sea of ethnic tensions and political unrest that he little understood, and in January he wrote to Thomas Jefferson that the population was "uninformed, indolent, luxurious-in a word, ill-fitted to be useful citizens for a Republic." To his dismay, Claiborne found that most of his time was spent not governing, but dealing with an unrelenting procession of crises like riots, robberies, and runaway slaves.
Despite his concerns, Claiborne knew that somehow these people had to be made into American citizens, and over time he gradually made progress in bringing the citizenry into the Union. In December 1804 he was happy to report to Jefferson that "they begin to view their connexion with the United States as permanent and to experience the benefits thereof." Proof of this came eight years later, when the people of Orleans Territory drafted a constitution and successfully petitioned to become the eighteenth state in the Union. Despite Claiborne's doubts about whether the French would ever truly fit into their new nation, the approval of that petition meant that the people of Louisiana were officially Americans.
Dec 20, 1989: Michael Moore's Roger & Me opens
On this day in 1989, Roger & Me, a documentary by Michael Moore about his quest to interview Roger Smith, who was then chairman and chief executive officer of General Motors, opens in theaters. The film examines the devastating impact on the people of Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan, following the closing of several General Motors auto plants in the area. Roger & Me launched Moore's filmmaking career and became the top-grossing documentary in history, a record that would eventually be shattered by Moore's later movies, Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11.
Moore was born on April 23, 1954, and raised in Flint, where his father was an auto worker. After a stint at the University of Michigan at Flint, Moore founded the alternative magazine The Michigan Voice and later served briefly as the editor of the liberal publication Mother Jones. Following the success of Roger & Me, Moore wrote, directed and hosted an investigative newsmagazine show called TV Nation, which aired from 1994 to 1995. He also penned and directed a big-screen comedy, Canadian Bacon (1995) about an American president who attempts to start a war with Canada to boost his approval ratings. The film, which starred John Candy and Alan Alda, was a box-office disappointment. From 1999 to 2000, Moore starred in another muckraking TV show, The Awful Truth, which focused on politicians and big corporations, among others.
In 2002, Moore's documentary Bowling for Columbine, about guns and violence in America, was released in theaters. The film examines the 1999 massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, in which two students went on a shooting rampage that left 13 people dead and more than 20 others wounded before the pair turned their guns on themselves and committed suicide. Bowling for Columbine, which contains Moore's trademark dark humor, includes an interview with the then-president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Hollywood giant Charlton Heston, as well as one scene in which Moore gets a free hunting rifle for opening a bank account and another in which he goes to K-Mart headquarters with two Columbine survivors in an attempt to get a refund for the bullets lodged in their bodies. Bowling for Columbine won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Moore's next documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, a critical look at the George W. Bush administration's war on terrorism and its coverage by the media, opened in theaters in 2004. The film earned the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and grossed more than $100 million, the first documentary ever to do so. Moore followed up on Fahrenheit 9/11 with Sicko, a documentary about the American health-care industry that premiered in 2007. Sicko also received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.
In addition to his film and TV work, Moore is an outspoken political and social activist as well as the best-selling author of the books Downsize This! (1996), Stupid White Men (2002) and Dude, Where's My Country? (2003).
Dec 20, 1983: Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt get landmark goals in same game
On December 20, 1983, ice hockey stars Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt of the Montreal Canadiens score their 500th and 400th career goal, respectively, in a 6-0 rout of the New Jersey Devils at Byrne Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey.
Revered for his offensive game and considered one of the best right wings of all time, Lafleur played a total of 17 years--from 1971 to 1985 with the Canadiens and from 1988 to 1991 with the New York Rangers and the Quebec Nordiques--in the National Hockey League (NHL). With the Canadiens, he became the first player in NHL history to score at least 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons. Also a prolific scorer, Shutt joined the team at left wing in 1972 and contributed to that year’s Stanley Cup win alongside Lafleur and center Pete Mahovlich. Led by Lafleur and Shutt, the Habs enjoyed a four-year Stanley Cup run from 1976 through 1979.
During the game against the Devils on December 20, 1983, Shutt took a pass from Ryan Walter in the second period and faked Devils’ goalkeeper Glenn Resch to the right to score his 400th career goal and put Montreal up 3-0. Lafleur scored his own milestone goal at 8:34 into the third period, taking a rising shot from about 30 feet away to beat Resch. With the shot, Lafleur became only the 10th player in the history of the NHL (founded in 1917) to score 500 goals.
Shutt left Montreal for the Los Angeles Kings early in the 1984-5 season, but retired at the end of that year with a career total of 424 goals. Lafleur also retired that year, in a ceremony held before 18,000 fans at the Montreal Forum. In 1988, he decided to return to the ice, becoming only the second player since Gordie Howe to continue playing after being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He retired for good in 1991 and took a front-office job in the Canadiens organization. Shutt was elected to the Hall himself in 1993, and has worked as a television commentator and an assistant coach for the Canadiens.
Today
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
69 - General Vespasian's troops occupy Rome after defeating the Emperor Vitellius
1046 - Synod of Sutri: German King Henry III removes Popes Gregory VI
1046 - Benedictus IX & Silvester III & names Bishop Siutger, Pope Clemens II at the Council of Sutri
1192 - Richard the Lionhearted captured in Vienna
1448 - Pope Nicholas V appoints Rudolf of Diepholt, Bishop of Utrecht, as cardinal
1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1585 - English fleet & Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, reach Vlissingen
1600 - Ottario Rinuccini/Giulio Caccini's opera "Euridice" published
1606 - Virginia Company settlers leave London to establish Jamestown, Virginia
1626 - Emperor Ferdinand II/Transylvanian monarch Gabor Betlen signs Peace of Pressburg
1661 - Corporation Act enforced in England
1669 - 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection & sentenced to flogging, branding & slavery
1688 - Prince William of Orange's troops arrive in London
1694 - Frederik van Brandenburg flees Schweiben
1699 - Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed-Sept 1 to Jan 1
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army reaches the river Esk
1780 - Britain declares war on Holland
1790 - 1st successful US cotton mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, RI)
1803 - Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to US for $27M
Russian Tsar Peter the GreatRussian Tsar Peter the Great 1820 - Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 & 50
1823 - Franz Schubert's "Ballet-Musik aus Rosamunde," premieres in Vienna
1830 - Great Britain, France, Prussia, Austria and Russia recognize Belgium
1850 - Hawaiian post office established
1860 - SC votes 169-0 for Ordinace of Secession, 1st state to secede
1861 - Battle of Dranesville, VA
1862 - -Dec 20th] Battle of Kelly's Ford, VA
1862 - -Jan 3rd] Vicksburg campaign
1862 - Battle of Holly Spring, MS
1862 - Brig-gen Nathan Bedford Forrest occupies Trenton, Kentucky
1864 - -Dec 27th] Battle of Ft Fisher, NC
1865 - De Clear-Alkmaar railway opens
1879 - Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park
1880 - Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten
1880 - NY's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way"
Confederate General/KKK Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford ForrestConfederate General/KKK Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest 1883 - Intl cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls
1891 - Strongman Louis Cyr withstands pull of 4 horses
1892 - Phileas Fogg completes around world trip, according to Verne
1892 - Pneumatic automobile tire patented, Syracuse, NY
1893 - 1st state anti-lynching statue approved, in Georgia
1894 - England beat Australia by 10 runs in the 1st six-day Test Cricket, Australia needed 177 to win, all out at 166 on 6th day
1900 - Giacobini discovers a comet (will be 1st comet visited by spacecraft)
1906 - Venezuela (under vice-pres Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet
1907 - Explosion at Yolande Alabama, coal mine kills 91
1912 - J Hartley Manners' "Peg O' My Heart" premieres in NYC
1912 - Paul Claudels "L'Annonce Faite à Marie" premieres in Paris
1915 - Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia
1917 - Soviet state security force and forerunner to the KGB, the Cheka formed under Felix Dzerzhinsky
1918 - Eugene O'Neill's "Moon of the Caribees" premieres in NYC
1919 - Canadian Natl Railways established (N America's longest, 50,000 KM)
1919 - US House of Representatives restricts immigration
1920 - Bert Collins scores 104 on Test Cricket debut v England SCG
Entertainer Bob HopeEntertainer Bob Hope 1920 - Bob Hope becomes an American citizen
1921 - AL votes to return to best-of-7 World Series, while NL votes best-of-9 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis casts deciding vote for best-of-7
1922 - 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR)
1922 - Polish parliament selects Stanislaw Wojcieckowski as president
1924 - Adolf Hitler freed from jail early
1926 - Cards trade Rogers Hornsby to Giants for Frankie Frisch & Jimmy Ring
1926 - Pope Pius XI convicts fascist pursuit in Italy
1926 - Sidney Howard's "Silver Cord" premieres in NYC
1928 - 1st international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Que
1928 - Ethel Barrymore Theater opens at 243 W 47th St NYC
1929 - Heinie Wagner replaces Bill Carrigan as Red Sox manager
1929 - Mount Davidson dedicated as a SF city park
1930 - Learie Constantine cricket 100 in 52 mins WI v Tas (10x4, 1x6, 1x5)
1932 - Queensland all out 74 v Victoria, Ironmonger (age 50) 7-13
1933 - Bolivia & Paraguay sign weapon cease fire
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler 1935 - Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii
1937 - Bill O'Reilly takes 9-41 for NSW against South Australia
1938 - Vladimir K Zworykin (Penn) receives patent on Iconoscope TV system
1939 - Radio Australia begins overseas shortwave service
1940 - Connie Mack acquires controlling interest in the Athletics for $42,000
1941 - Free France under adm Muselier occupies St-Pierre et Miquelon
1941 - Japanese troops lands on Mindanao
1941 - World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
1942 - 1st Japanese bombing of Calcutta
1943 - "International" is no longer USSR National Anthem
1944 - Archbishop De Young & bishop Huibers condemn black market
1944 - Battle of Bastogne, Nazis surround 101st Airborne (NUTS!)
1944 - Bishop forbids membership in non Catholic unions
1944 - Terence Rattigan's "O Mistress Mine" premieres in London
1945 - Rationing of auto tires ends in US
Baseball Legend Connie MackBaseball Legend Connie Mack 1946 - Darius Milhaud's 2nd Symphony, premieres
1948 - Second Chamber accept 2nd Police Action in Indonesia
1949 - Maurice Ravel/John Cranko's ballet "Beauty & the Beast," premieres
1950 - "Harvey," starring James Stewart, premieres in NY
1952 - KHQ TV channel 6 in Spokane, WA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - KID (now KIDK) TV channel 3 in Idaho Falls, ID (CBS) 1st broadcasting
1953 - KWTV TV channel 9 in Oklahoma City, OK (CBS) begins broadcasting
1955 - Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales
1956 - Military coup under colonel Simbolon in Sumatra
1956 - Montgomery, Ala, removed race-based seat assignments on its buses
1957 - Elvis Presley given draft notice to join US Army for National Service
1959 - Jasu Patel takes 9-69, India v Australia at Kanpur
1960 - Auschwitz-commandant Richard Bar arrested in German FR
1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
1962 - Dmitri Shostakovitch's opera "Katerina Ismailova" premieres in Moscow
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis PresleySinger & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1962 - Osmond brothers debut on Andy Williams Show
1963 - Berlin Wall opens for 1st time to West Berliners
1963 - Massemba-Debate elected pres of Congo-Brazzaville
1963 - Trial against 21 camp guards of Auschwitz begins
1964 - Levi Eshkol forms Israeli government
1966 - NBA awards Seattle Supersonics a franchise for 1967-68 season
1966 - Nuclear Planning Group forms in Brussels
1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 - "The Graduate" starring Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft premieres
1967 - 474,300 US soldiers in Vietnam
1967 - Ian Anderson & Glenn Cornick form rock group Jethro Tull
1968 - The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
1969 - Peter, Paul & Mary's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" reaches #1
1970 - Edward Gierek succeeds Wladyslaw Gomulka as Poland's party leader
1971 - Pakistan president Yahya Khan resigns
Actor Dustin HoffmanActor Dustin Hoffman 1972 - Neil Simons "Sunshine Boys" premieres in NYC
1973 - AL pres Joe Cronin refuses to allow Dick Williams to manage Yankees
1973 - Dutch Antillean government of Evertsz forms
1973 - Montreal Canadien Henri Richard scores his 1,000th NHL point
1974 - Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state
1974 - George Harrison releases his "Dark Horse" album in UK
1975 - Joe Walsh recruited to join Eagles
1975 - Pope Paul VI named J Willebrands archbishop of Utrecht
1976 - "Music Is" opens at St James Theater NYC for 8 performances
1976 - Israel's PM Yitzhak Rabin resigns
1977 - 1st Space walk made by G Grechko from Salyut
1977 - RAF -terrorist Knut Folkerts sentenced to 20 years
1978 - H R Haldeman, Nixon's White House chief of staff released from jail
1980 - NBC broadcasts NY Jets' 24-17 win over Dolphins without audio
1980 - USSR formally announces death of Alexei Kosygin
1981 - "Dreamgirls" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 1522 performances
1981 - Browns set team records for most fumbles (9) & most turnovers (10)
1981 - Doug Small (Winnipeg Jets) ties NHL record scoring at 5 second mark
1981 - Harry Krieger/Tom Eyen's musical "Dreamgirls" premieres in NYC
1983 - El Salvador adopts constitution
1983 - Guy Lafleur, Montreal, became 10th NHLer to score 500 goals
1983 - NY Islanders score their most goals (11) vs Pitts Penguins
Palestinian Leader Yasser ArafatPalestinian Leader Yasser Arafat 1983 - PLO chairman Yasser Arafat & 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon
1984 - 33 unknown Bach keyboard works found in Yale library
1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1985 - Denis Potvin passes Bobby Orr as NHL defenseman scorer (916 points)
1985 - Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires from television sports after 20 years with ABC
1985 - Position of American Poet Laureate established (Robert Warren is 1st)
1986 - White teenagers beat blacks in Howard Beach, NY
1987 - "Nuts" with Barbra Striesand premieres
1987 - 76th Davis Cup: Sweden beats India in Gothenburg (5-0)
1987 - Dona Paz ferry sinks after crash with oil tanker Vector, 4386 die
1987 - Nancy Lopez/Miller Barber wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
1988 - Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's dept store, London
1988 - NBC signs lease to stay in NYC, 33 more years
1988 - Premier Ranasinghe Premadasa elected pres of Sri Lanka
1989 - Premier Lubbers sees CDA-party leader Elco Brinkman as successor
1989 - US troops invade Panama & oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him
1990 - Pentagon warns Saddam that US air power is ready to attack on 1/15
1990 - Robert F X Sillerman purchases WAFL NY-NJ Knights for $11 million
1990 - Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze resigns
1991 - NHL grants permanent membership to Tampa Lightning & Ottawa Senators
1991 - Paul Keating installed as premier of Australia
1991 - A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1992 - Northwest & KLM introduce a new joint logo "Worldwide Reliability"
1992 - Slobodan Milosevic re-elected president of Serbia
1995 - "Paul Roebson" opens at Longacre Theater NYC for 14 performances
1995 - American Flight 965 crashes in Columbia, 159 die, 5 survive
1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1998 - Wendy's Three-Tour Golf Challenge
1999 - Portugal returns Macau to China
2001 - Argentine economic crisis: President of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa is forced out of office.
2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
2005 - US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
2005 - The first same sex civil partnerships in Scotland are celebrated.
2005 - 2005 New York City transit strike: New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.
2006 - A judge rules against the death penalty in the case of Naveed Haq, a man convicted in the shooting death and injuries at the Jewish Federation in Seattle.
Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth IIQueen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II 2007 - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
2007 - The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, was stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café, by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
2012 - Apple is denied a patent for mobile pinch-to-zoom gestures by the US patent authorities
2012 - Intercontinental Exchange purchases the New York Stock Exchange, the largest in the world, for $8 billion
1606 - The "Susan Constant," "Godspeed" and "Discovery" set sail from London. Their landing at Jamestown, VA, was the start of the first permanent English settlement in America. 1699 - Peter the Great ordered that the Russian New Year be changed from September 1 to January 1. 1790 - The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, RI. 1803 - The United States Senate ratified a treaty that included the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million. The transfer was completed with formal ceremonies in New Orleans. 1820 - The state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21-50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year. 1860 - South Carolina became the first state to secede from the American Union. 1864 - Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, GA as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his "March to the Sea." 1879 - Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ. 1880 - New York's Broadway became known as the "Great White Way" when it was lighted by electricity. 1892 - Alexander T. Brown and George Stillman patented the pneumatic tire. 1928 - Mail delivery by dog sled began in Lewiston, ME. 1933 - The film "Flying Down to Rio" was first shown in New York. 1938 - Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patented the iconoscope television system. 1946 - The Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life" had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its "official" world premiere. James Stewart and Donna Reed star in the film. 1946 - In Indochina (Vietnam), full-scale guerrilla warfare between Vietnam partisans and French troops began. 1954 - Buick Motor Company signed Jackie Gleason to one of the largest contracts ever entered into with an entertainer. Gleason agreed to produce 78 half-hour shows over a two-year period for $6,142,500. 1962 - A world indoor pole-vault record was set by Don Meyers when he cleared 16 feet, 1-1/4 inches. 1963 - The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners. It was only for the holiday season. It closed again on January 6, 1964. 1968 - Author John Steinbeck died at the age of 66. 1973 - The Spanish premier Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid. 1987 - More than 3,000 people were killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island, setting off a double explosion. 1989 - General Noriega, Panama's former dictator, was overthrown by a United States invasion force invited by the new civilian government. The project was known as Operation Just Cause. 1991 - Ante Markovic resigned as federal Prime Minister of Yugoslavia. 1991 - Oliver Stone's "JFK" opened in the U.S. 1994 - Marcelino Corniel, a homeless man, was shot and mortally wounded by White House security officers. He had brandished a knife near the executive mansion. 1994 - Ivan Lendl retired after a 17-year tennis career. 1995 - An American Airlines Boeing 757 en route to Cali, Colombia, crashed into a mountain, killing all but four of the 163 people aboard. 1996 - Doctors reported that a Cypriot woman who had taken fertility drugs was carrying about 11 embryos. 1998 - In Houston, TX, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets. 1999 - The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex. 1999 - Sovereignty over the colony of Macao was transferred from Portugal to China. 2001 - The U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan. 2001 - Argentina's President Fernando De la Rua resigned after two years in power. 2001 - The first British peacekeepers arrived in Afghanistan to help the nation heal after decades of war.
1790 Samuel Slater built the nation's first cotton mill in Pawtucket, R.I. 1803 The United States purchased the Louisiana territory from France for $15 million. 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. 1968 Author John Steinbeck died at age 66. 1989 The United States invaded Panama and installed a new government but failed to capture General Manuel Antonio Noriega. 1996 Astronomer Carl Sagan died at age 62.
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/dec20.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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