Today In History - December 21

1163 Hurricane hits villages in Holland/Friesland, causing floods
1561 Archbishop Granvelle installed
1620 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1650 Johan de Witt installed as Dutch pension advisor of Dordrecht
1688 Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham
1762 James Cook marries Elizabeth Batts
1784 John Jay becomes 1st U.S. Secretary of State (foreign affairs)
1788 Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam
1829 1st stone arch railroad bridge in U.S. dedicated, Baltimore
1835 HMS Beagle sails into Bay of Islands (New Zealand)
1849 1st U.S. skating club formed (Phila)
1937 O'Reilly completes 14-98 for cricket match, NSW vs. South Aust
1864 Gen Sherman conquers Savannah
1866 Cheyennes, Arapho's, Sioux, Fetterman Massacre
1890 Pim Mulier 1st and only trip to "Alvesteddetocht"
1898 Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovers radium
1900 Gerhart Hauptmann's "Michael Kramer," premieres in Berlin
1907 Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget
1909 Clyde Fitch' "City," premieres in New York City
1909 1st junior high school established (Berkeley California)
1909 University of Coopenhagen rejects Cook's claim that he was 1st to North Pole
1891 18 students play 1st basketball game (Springfield College)
1912 Denmark, Norway and Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war
1914 "Tillie's Punctured Romance," 1st six-reel feature comedy debuts
1914 1st feature-length silent film comedy, "Tillie's Punctured Romance" released. (Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin)
1918 Red Sox trade Dutch Leonard, Ernie Shore and Duffy Lewis to Yankees for Ray Caldwell and Slim Love, Frank Gilhooey, Al Walters and $15,000
1919 J Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
1920 Jerome Kern/BG DeSylva's musical "Sally," premieres in New York City
1921 Supreme Court rules labor injunctions and picketing unconstitutional
1923 Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation
1925 Eisenstein's movie Potemkin premieres in Moscow
1926 Soccer team DOS Struggle forms
1929 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)
1932 Giants sign former outfielder Billy Southworth as a coach
1933 Newfoundland reverts to being a crown colony
1932 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, 1st joint movie (Flying Down to Rio)
1933 Dried human blood serum 1st prepared, Univ of Pennsylvania
1937 1st feature-length color and sound cartoon premieres (Snow White)
1933 Fox signs Shirley Temple, 5, to a studio contract
1939 Hitler named Adolf Eichmann leader of "Referat IV B"
1941 Chicago bears win the NFL championship
1941 Last NFL drop kick for an extra point (Ray McLean, Chicago Bears)
1942 U.S. Supreme Court declares Nevada separation legal
1941 David Diamond's 1st Symphony, premieres
1944 Cards' Marty Marion wins NL MVP
1945 "Billion Dollar Baby" opens at Alvin Theater New York City for 219 performances
1945 Gould/Comden/Green's "Billion Dollar Baby," premieres in New York City
1946 "If the Shoe Fits" closes at Century Theater New York City after 20 performances
1946 Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," premieres
1946 Morton Gould's "Minstrel Show," premieres in Indianapolis
1913 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in New York World
1948 O'Neil Place in the Bronx erronously renamed O'Neill Place
1948 State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
1950 "Out of This World" opens at New Century Theater New York City for 157 performances
1950 Cole Porter's musical "Out of this World," premieres in New York City
1949 Dutch 1st Chamber accept soeveregnty of Indonesia
1951 Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement
1952 Broadway Tunnel opens in SF
1954 Dr. Sam Sheppard's wife Marilyn is murdered (he is accused of crime)
1957 Indonesia proclaims end to state of war
1959 Citizens of Deerfield, Illinois block building of interracial housing
1959 Shah of Persia marries Farah Diba
1959 Tom Landry accepts coaching job with Dallas Cowboys (stays until 1988)
1961 Beatles record "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Ready Teddy"
1961 John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister MacMillan meet in Bermuda
1962 Angolin leaves Comecon
1962 US and Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive
1968 David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash premiere together in California
1969 Diana Ross final TV appearance as a Supreme on theEd Sullivan Show
1969 Vince Lombardi (Redskins) coaches his last football game, losing
1958 Charles De Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st President of 5th Rep of France
1972 Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany
1973 Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, U.S. and U.S.S.R. meet in Geneva
1952 WSBT TV channel 22 in South Bend, IN (CBS) begins broadcasting
1975 "Hello, Dolly" closes at Minskoff Theater New York City after 51 performances
1975 Madagascar adopts constitution
1971 U.N. Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim as 4th secretary General
1976 Patricia R. Harris named secretary of HUD
1976 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968 Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell and Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage
1978 "Broadway Musical" opens/closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater New York City
1978 Police in Des Plaines Ill, arrest John Wayne Gacy, Jr. for murder
1975 "Very Good Eddie" opens at Booth Theater New York City for 307 performances
1979 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1979 Zimbabwe adopts constitution
1966 U.S.S.R. launches Luna 13; soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum
1983 "Tap Dance Kid" opens at Broadhurst Theater New York City for 669 performances
1983 Loretta Swit weds Dennis Holahan
1983 Musical "Tap Dance Kid" with H Battle premieres in New York City
1985 ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
1985 Alice Miller/Don January wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
1987 Soyuz TM-4 launches 3 cosmonauts to space station Mir
1986 Amy Alcott/Bob Charles wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
1985 Heart's "Heart," album goes #1
1984 Islander Kelly Hrudy's 1st shut-out win-Whalers 1-0
1984 U.S.S.R. launches Vega 2 for fly-by of Halley's Come
1987 Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov launched
1987 3 white New York teens convicted of manslaughter in death of a black man
1981 Cincinnati beats Bradley 75-73 in 7 OTs (NCAA record)
1991 El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir Kahane
1991 US actress Jane Fonda marries CNN-director Ted Turner
1995 San Francisco Giants announce plans to build a new stadium to open in 2000
1997 Detroit Lions linebacker Reggie Brown, knocked unconscious in game
1997 Lexus Senior Golf Challenge
1997 Wendy's Three-Tour Senior Golf Challenges
1997 Wendy's Three-Tour LPGA Challenge

Today In History - December 21

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