December 31

Birthdays:

1995 ~ Gabby Douglas (née Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas), African-American gymnast.  She was born in Newport News, Virginia.

 

1977 ~ Psy (né Park Jae-sang), South Korean singer-songwriter.  He is best known for his song and video, Gangnam Style.  He was born in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

 

1977 ~ Donald Trump, Jr. (né Donald John Trump, Jr.), American businessman and son of President Donald Trump.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1959 ~ Val Kilmer (né Val Edward Kilmer), American actor.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.

 

1958 ~ Bebe Neuwirth (née Beatrice Neuwirth), American actress best known for her role as Lilith on Cheers.  She was born in Newark, New Jersey.

 

1952 ~ Sir Vaughn Jones (né Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones), New Zealander mathematician.  He is known for his work in von Neumann algebras and knot polynomials.  He was the recipient of the 1990 Fields Medal.  He was born in Gisborne, New Zealand.

 

1948 ~ Donna Summer (née LaDonna Adrian Gaines; d. May 17, 2012), African-American singer known as the Queen of Disco.  She was the reluctant diva of disco.  She was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  She died of lung cancer at age 63.

 

1946 ~ Roy Porter (né Roy Sydney Porter; d. Mar. 3, 2002), British medical historian.  He was born in London, England.  He died of a heart attack at age 55.

 

1946 ~ Diane von Fürstenberg (née Diane Simone Michelle Halfin), Belgian-born fashion designer.  She was born in Brussels, Belgium.

 

1944 ~ Taylor Hackford (né Taylor Edwin Hackford), American film director and screenwriter.  He was born in Santa Barbara, California.

 

1943 ~ John Denver (né Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.; d. Oct. 12, 1997), American singer.  He was killed at age 53 while piloting his experimental aircraft, which crashed.

 

1943 ~ Sir Ben Kingsley (né Krishna Pandit Bhanji), English actor.  He was born in Snainton, England.

 

1941 ~ Sarah Miles, English actress.  She was born in Ingatestone, England.

 

1937 ~ Avram Hershko (né Herskó Ferenc), Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist and recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.  He was born in Karcag, Hungary.  During World War II, he and his family were sent to a concentration camp in Austria.  They all survived the war and in 1950, he and his family immigrated to Israel.

 

1937 ~ Sir Anthony Hopkins (né Philip Anthony Hopkins), Welsh actor.  He was born in Margam, Wales.

 

1930 ~ Odetta Holmes (d. Dec. 2, 2008), African-American singer who gave voice to Black America.  She died of heart disease 29 days before her 78^th birthday.

 

1924 ~ Taylor Mead (d. May 8, 2013), American underground movie star of Warhold’s Factory.  He died at age 88.

 

1919 ~ Artur Fischer (d. Jan. 27, 2016), German prolific inventor who created a DYI essential.  He had more patents than Thomas Edison.  He was born and died in Waldachtal, Germany.  He died a month after his 96^thbirthday.

 

1914 ~ Mary Reddick (née Mary Logan; d. Oct. 1, 1966), African-American neuroembryologist.  She died at age 51.

 

1908 ~ Simon Wiesenthal (d. Sept. 20, 2005), Austrian holocaust survivor, author and Nazi hunter.  He died at age 96.

 

1905 ~ Helen Dodson Prince (née Helen Dodson; d. Feb. 4, 2002), American astronomer.  She is best known for her pioneering work in solar flares.  She died at age 96.

 

1884 ~ Stanley Forman Reed (d. Apr. 2, 1980), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Franklin Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from January 1938 until February 1957.  He replaced George Sutherland on the Court.  He was succeeded by Charles Whittaker.  He was born in Minerva, Kentucky.  He died at age 95 in Huntington, New York.

 

1880 ~ George C. Marshall (né George Catlett Marshall, Jr.; d. Oct. 16, 1959), 50^th United States Secretary of State and author of the Marshall Plan.  He was the recipient of the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for being the architect of the Marshall Plan, the rebuilding of Europe following World War II.  He served as Secretary of State under President Harry S Truman, from January 1947 until January 1949.  He subsequently served as the 3^rd United States Secretary of Defense, also during the Truman administration.  He died at age 78.

 

1878 ~ Elizabeth Arden (née Florence Nightingale Graham, d. Oct. 18, 1966), Canadian-American businesswoman and founder of Elizabeth Arden, Inc., the cosmetic company.  She died at age 87.

 

1869 ~ Henri Matisse (né Henri Émile Benoît Matisse; d. Nov. 3, 1954), French artist.  He died at age 84.

 

1860 ~ Joseph S. Cullinan (né Joseph Stephen Cullinan; d. Mar. 11, 1937), American businessman and co-founder of Texaco.  He died at age 76.

 

1830 ~ Isma’il Pasha (d. Mar. 2, 1895), Egyptian ruler.  He governed Egypt from January 1863 until June 1879 when he was removed from power by pressure from Great Britain.  He died at age 64.

 

1815 ~ George Meade (né George Gordon Meade; d. Nov. 6, 1872), Union General during the American Civil War.  He is best remembered for defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.  He died at age 56.

 

1738 ~ Charles Cornwallis, 1^st Marquess Cornwallis (né Charles Edward Cornwallis V; d. Oct. 5, 1805), British general who served during the American Revolutionary War.  He died at age 66.

 

1720 ~ Charles Edward Stuart (d. Jan. 31, 1788), pretender to the British Throne.  He died of a stroke a month after his 67^th birthday.

 

1714 ~ Arima Yoriyuki (d. Dec. 16, 1783), Japanese mathematician.  He died 15 days before his 69^th birthday.

 

1514 ~ Andreas Vesalius (d. Oct. 15, 1564), Flemish anatomist and physician who published a book entitled On the Structure of the Human Body, which was the first manual of human anatomy with clear and detailed illustrations.  He died at age 49.

 

1491 ~ Jacques Cartier (d. Sept. 1, 1557), French explorer.  He led the exploration along the St. Lawrence River in Canada.  He died at age 65.

 

1378 ~ Pope Callixtus III (né Alfons de Borja, d. Aug. 6, 1458).  He was Pope from April 8, 1455 until his death on this date in 1458.  He was responsible for the retrial of Joan of Arc that saw her vindicated.  He was the uncle to Pope Alexander VI.  He died at age 79.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2019 ~ The World Health Organization was informed of cases of pneumonia that had been detected in Wuhan, China.  The cause at the time was unknown.  The cases were later determined to be Covid-19, the cause of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

2014 ~ A New Year’s Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai, China killed over 35 people and injured numerous others.

 

2010 ~ At least 36 tornadoes struck in the Midwest and Southern United States causing massive damage, especially in Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma.  At least 9 people were killed in the storms.

 

2009 ~ Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occurred.

 

2004 ~ Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper in the world at the time, opened in Taiwan.  As of 2020, it stands as the 10^th tallest building in the world.  It stands at a height of approximately 1,677 feet.

 

1999 ~ Boris Yeltsin (1931 ~ 2007), the first president of Russia resigned.  Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (b. 1952) became acting President.

 

1999 ~ The United States relinquished its control over the Panama Canal Zone to the country of Panama.

 

1994 ~ The Russian army began a New Year’s storm of Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, thereby beginning the first Chechen War.

 

1992 ~ Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, creating two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  This was termed as the Velvet Divorce.

 

1991 ~ The Soviet Union officially dissolved and all official institutions of the Soviet Union ceased operation.

 

1983 ~ Benjamin Ward (1926 ~ 2002) was appointed as the first African-American police commissioner in New York City.

 

1983 ~ The United States Government dissolved the AT&T Bell System.

 

1967 ~ The Youth International Party, known as the Yippies, was founded.

 

1960 ~ The United Kingdom ceased to use the farthing coin as legal tender at midnight.

 

1951 ~ The Marshall Plan sun-setted.  It had distributed over $13.3 billion in foreign aid to help rebuild Europe following World War II.

 

1946 ~ United States President Harry Truman (1884 ~ 1972) officially proclaimed the end of World War II.

 

1909 ~ The Manhattan Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting lower Manhattan with Brooklyn, opened to the public.

 

1907 ~ The first New Year’s Eve celebration was held in Times Square New York City.  At the time, the square was known as Longacre Square.  The Ball in Times Square, New York City was dropped at midnight for the first time; thus starting a tradition to bring the New Year.

 

1879 ~ Thomas Edison (1847 ~ 1831) demonstrated his electric light to the public for the first time in Menlo Park, New Jersey.  He had successfully found the right filament to produce the first practical incandescent light bulb.

 

1878 ~ Karl Benz (1844 ~ 1929) filed a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine.  The patent was granted in 1879.

 

1862 ~ The Battle of Stones River during the American Civil War began near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

 

1862 ~ Abraham Lincoln (1809 ~ 1865) signed an act that admitted West Virginia into the Union, thereby dividing Virginia into two.  West Virginia formally entered the Union on June 20, 1863.

 

1857 ~ Queen Victoria (1819 ~ 1901) selected Ottawa, Ontario to be the capital of Canada.

 

1831 ~ Gramercy Park in New York City was given to the City.

 

1799 ~ The Dutch East India Company was dissolved.

 

1796 ~ The city of Baltimore, Maryland was incorporated.

 

1759 ~ Arthur Guinness (1725 ~ 1803) signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per year and began brewing his famous Guinness stout and ale.

 

1696 ~ A window tax was imposed in England during the reign of King William III (1650 ~ 1702).  Many households chose to brick up their windows in order to avoid the tax.

 

1600 ~ Queen Elizabeth I (1533 ~ 1603) of Great Britain granted a charter to the British East India Company in an effort to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2016 ~ William Christopher (b. Oct. 20, 1932), American actor best known for his role as Father Mulcahy from M*A*S*H.  He died of cancer at age 84.

 

2015 ~ Natalie Cole (née Natalie Maria Cole; b. Feb. 6, 1950), American singer who carried on her father’s legacy.  She was the daughter of Nat King Cole.  She died of congested heart failure at age 65.

 

2015 ~ Wayne Rogers (né William Wayne McMillan Rogers, III; b. Apr. 7, 1933), American actor best known for his role as Trapper John from M*A*S*H.  He was born in Birmingham, Alabama.  He died of complications from pneumonia at age 82 in Los Angeles, California.

 

2014 ~ Edward Herrmann (né Edward Kirk Herrmann, b. July 21, 1943), American actor.  He died of brain cancer at age 71.

 

2011 ~ Jerzy Kluger (b. Apr. 21, 1921), Polish-born Jewish confident of Pope John Paul II.  They were childhood friends and remained so throughout their lives.  He was born in Krakow, Poland.  He died at age 90 in Rome, Italy.

 

2008 ~ Donald E. Westlake (né Donald Edwin Westlake; b. July 12, 1933), American prolific writer who was a master of mysteries.  He died of a heart attack at age 75.

 

2004 ~ Gérard Debreu (b. July 4, 1921), French economist and mathematician.  He was the recipient of the 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 83.

 

2000 ~ Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane (b. Oct. 3, 1966), American-Israeli rabbi and scholar.  He was the son of Rabbi Meir Kahane.  He and his wife were shot and killed in a settlement near Ofra in Israel.  He was 34 years old.

 

2000 ~ José Greco (né Costanzo Greco Bucci; b. Dec. 23, 1918), Italian-born flamenco dancer.  He died 8 days after his 82^nd birthday.

 

2000 ~ Alan Cranston (né Alan MacGregor Cranston; b. June 19, 1914), American journalist and politician from California.  He was a United States Senator from California where he served from January 1969 until January 1993.  He died at age 86.

 

1999 ~ Elliot Richardson (né Elliot Lee Richardson; b. July 20, 1920), 23^rd United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served in this position under the Ford Administration from February 1976 until January 1977.  He had previously served in the Nixon Administration in several positions, including the 69^th United States Attorney General from May 1973 until October 1973; the 11^th United States Secretary of Defense from January 1973 until May 1973; and the 9^th United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare from June 1970 until January 1973.  He had previously served as the 52^nd Attorney General for the State of Massachusetts from January 1967 until January 1969.  He was born and died in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 79.

 

1972 ~ Roberto Clemente (né Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker; b. Aug. 18, 1934), Puerto Rican baseball player who was killed an in plane crash during a humanitarian mission delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.  He was 38 years old.

 

1960 ~ Florence Eliza Allen (b. Oct. 4, 1876), American mathematician and women’s rights activist.  She was born in Horicon, Wisconsin.  She died at age 84 in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

1944 ~ Ruth Hanna McCormick (née Ruth Hanna; b. Mar. 27, 1880), American politician from Illinois and supporter of woman’s rights.  She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.  She developed pancreatitis as a result of a fall from a horse and died at age 64.  She was born in Cleveland, Ohio and died in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1936 ~ Miguel de Umanumo y Jugo (b. Sept. 29, 1864), Spanish Basque essayist, novelist and philosopher.  He died at age 72.

 

1916 ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie (b. Dec. 13, 1846), American essayist and literary critic.  He was born in Cold Spring, New York.  He died 18 days after his 70^th birthday.

 

1894 ~ Thomas Joannes Stieltjes (b. Dec. 29, 1856), Dutch mathematician.  He died 2 days after his 38^th birthday.

 

1888 ~ Samson Raphael Hirsch (b. June 20, 1808), German rabbi.  He opposed the Reform and Conservative movements.  He died at age 80.

 

1877 ~ Gustave Courbet (né Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet; b. June 10, 1819), French painter and leader of the Realism movement.  He died at age 58 of liver disease.

 

1874 ~ Alexandre Ledru-Rollin (né Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin; b. Feb. 2, 1807), French politician and champion of the working class.  He was forced into exile after the failed revolution of 1848.  He died at age 67.

 

1864 ~ George M. Dallas (né George Mifflin Dallas, b. July 10, 1792), 11^th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President James Polk from March 1845 until March 1849.  He died at age 72.  He was born and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

1705 ~ Catherine of Braganza (b. Nov. 25, 1638), Queen consort England, Scotland and Ireland.  She was born in Portugal.  She was the wife of King Charles II of England.  She died at age 67.

 

1691 ~ Robert Boyle (b. Jan. 25, 1627), Irish chemist and physicist.  He is considered to be the father of modern chemistry.  He died 25 days before his 65^th birthday.

 

1650 ~ Dorgon (b. Nov. 17, 1612), Chinese prince and regent of the early Qing dynasty.  He died at age 38.

 

1610 ~ Ludolph van Ceulen (b. Jan. 28, 1540), German-Dutch mathematician.  He died 29 days before his 71^stbirthday.

 

1583 ~ Thomas Erastus (b. Sept. 7, 1524), Swiss physician and theologian.  He argued that sinners should be punished by the government, and not the Church, believing that the Church should not withhold sacraments to sinners.  He died at age 59.

 

1510 ~ Bianca Maria Sforza (b. Apr. 5, 1472), Holy Roman Empress and Italian wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.  He was her second husband and she was his second wife.  She died at age 38.

 

1386 ~ Johanna of Bavaria (b. 1362), Queen consort of Germany and Bohemia.  She was the first wife of King Wenceslaus of Germany and Bohemia.  She died from injuries sustained by an attack of her husband’s hunting dogs.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 23 or 24 years old.

 

1384 ~ John Wycliffe (b. 1320s), English theologian and translator of the Bible into common English.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

335 ~ Pope Sylvester I.  He was Pope from January 314 until his death on this date 21 years later.  The date of is birth is not known.

 

December 30

Birthdays:

1984 ~ LeBron James (né LeBron Raymone James), American basketball player.  He was born in Akron, Ohio.

 

1975 ~ Tiger Woods (né Eldrick Tont Woods), American golfer.  He was born in Cypress, California.

 

1963 ~ Mike Pompeo (né Michael Richard Pompeo), 70^th United States Secretary of State.  He served as Secretary of State during the Trump administration.  He assumed the Office in April 2018.  Prior to becoming Secretary of State, he served as the 6^th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from January 2017 until April 2018, also during the Trump Administration.  He had previously served as a United States Representative from Kansas.  He was born in Orange, California.

 

1959 ~ Tracey Ullman, English actress and comedian.  She was born in Slough, England.

 

1957 ~ Matt Lauer (né Matthew Todd Lauer), American morning news anchor.  He hosted the Today show for 20 years before he was dismissed for allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior towards subordinates in the workplace.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1953 ~ Meredith Vieira (née Meredith Louise Vieira), American journalist and game show host.  She was born in Providence, Rhode Island.

 

1946 ~ Patti Smith (née Patricia Lee Smith), American musician.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.

 

1945 ~ Davy Jones (né David Thomas Jones; d. Feb. 29, 2012), English musician and lead singer for The Monkees.  He was The Monkees’ romantic heartthrob.  He died of a heart attack at age 66.

 

1944 ~ Joseph Hilbe (né Joseph Michael Hilbe; d. Mar. 12, 2017), American mathematician.  He died at age 72.

 

1942 ~ Vladimir Bukovsky (né Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky; d. Oct. 27, 2019), Russian lifelong dissident who exposed Soviet abuse.  He was a Russian-born British human rights activist and writer.  He spent 12 years in psychiatric prison hospitals, labor camps and prisons in the Soviet Union.  He was expelled from the Soviet Union in the mid-1970 and began his campaign to stop human rights abuse in his native country.  He died of a heart-attack at age 76.

 

1942 ~ Michael Nesmith (né Robert Michael Nesmith), American musician in The Monkees.  He was born in Houston, Texas.

 

1940 ~ James Burrows (né James Edward Burrows), American television director and producer.  He is best known for producing such shows as Cheers, Night Court, Wings, and Will & Grace.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.

 

1937 ~ Paul Stookey (né Noel Paul Stookey), American singer-songwriter and member of the folk trio of Peter, Paul and Mary.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1935 ~ Sandy Koufax (né Sanford Braun), American baseball player.  He is known for refusing to play during Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because the game fell on Yom Kippur.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1930 ~ Tu Youyou, Chinese pharmaceutical chemist and recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.  Her research focused on tropical medicine.  She discovered artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin, which are used to treat malaria.  She was born in Ningbo, China.

 

1929 ~ Professor Dame Rosalinde Hurley (aka Mrs. Gortval; d. June 30, 2004), British physician, microbiologist public health administrator and barrister.  She died at age 74.

 

1928 ~ Bo Diddley (né Ellas Ortha Bates; d. June 2, 2008), African-American musician.  He died at age 79.

 

1924 ~ Yvonne Brill (née Yvonne Madelaine Claeys; d. Mar. 27, 2013), Canadian-born woman who blazed a trail in rocketry.  She was a propulsion engineer best known for her development of rocket and jet propulsion technologies.  She died at age 88.

 

1920 ~ Jack Lord (né John Joseph Patrick Ryan; d. Jan. 21, 1998), American actor.  He died of heart failure 22 days after his 77^th birthday.

 

1914 ~ Bert Parks (né Bertram Jacobson; d. Feb. 2, 1992), American television host, best known as being the emcee for the Miss America beauty contests.  He died of lung cancer at age 77.

 

1910 ~ Paul Bowles (né Paul Frederic Bowles; d. Nov. 18, 1999), American expatriate author and composer.  He is closely associated with Tangier, Morocco where he lived from 1947 until the end of his life.  He is best known for his 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky.  He was born in Queens, New York and died Tangier, Morocco.  He was 88 years old at the time of his death.

 

1910 ~ Bill Haast (d. June 15, 2011), American snake handler who charmed tourists and saved lives.  He learned how to extract venom from poisonous snakes for medical and research use.  He was the director of the Miami Serpentarium Laboratories in Florida.  He was 100 years old.

 

1910 ~ Howard W. Jones, Jr. (né Howard Wilbur Jones, Jr., d. July 31, 2015), American medical doctor who pioneered in vitro fertilization in the United States.  When he turned 65, he refused to stop working, despite having reached the mandatory retirement age at Johns Hopkins University.  Instead, in 1975, he began a gynecological practice with his wife, Georgeanna Jones (1912 ~ 2005), a reproductive endocrinologist, and set up the first in vitro fertilization clinic in the United States.  Elizabeth Carr, born on December 28, 1981, was first “test tube” baby born in the United States.  He died at age 104.

 

1890 ~ Adolfo Ruiz Cortines (d. Dec. 3, 1973), 47^th President of Mexico.  He was President from December 1952 through November 1958.  He died 27 days before his 83^rd birthday.

 

1873 ~ Al Smith (né Alfred Emanuel Smith; d. Oct. 4, 1944), 42^nd Governor of New York.  He served as Governor from January 1923 through December 1928.  He was also a Democratic candidate for president in the 1928 election.  He died at age 70.

 

1865 ~ Rudyard Kipling (né Joseph Rudyard Kipling; d. Jan. 18, 1936), British writer.  In 1907, he became the first English writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in British India.  He died 19 days after his 70^thbirthday.

 

1851 ~ Asa Griggs Candler (d. Mar. 12, 1929), Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.  He served as Mayor from 1916 until 1919.  He died at age 77.

 

1838 ~ Émile Loubet (né Émile François Loubet; d. Dec. 20, 1929), President of France.  He served as President from February 1899 until February 1906.  He died 10 days before his 91^st birthday.

 

1819 ~ John W. Geary (né John White Geary; d. Feb. 8, 1879), 16^th Governor of Pennsylvania and 1^st Mayor of San Francisco, California.  He was also a Union General during the American Civil War.  He served as Pennsylvania’s governor from January 1867 until January 1873.  He served as Mayor of San Francisco from May 1850 until May 1851.  He was born and died in Pennsylvania.  He was 53 at the time of his death.

 

1371 ~ Vasily I of Moscow (d. Feb. 27, 1425).  He was the Grand Prince of Moscow from May 1389 until his death 36 years later.  He was married to Sophia of Lithuania (1371 ~ 1453).  He died at age 53.

 

39 ~ Titus (d. Sept. 13, 81), the traditional date ascribed to the birth of this Roman Emperor.  He is best known for leading the siege on Jerusalem and destroying the Second Temple.  The actual dates of his birth and death are not known.  He is believed to have been 40 or 41 at the time of his death.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2006 ~ Saddam Hussein (1937 ~ 2006), former president of Iraq, was executed.

 

2005 ~ Tropical Storm Zeta formed in the Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone to form in the North Atlantic basin.

 

1993 ~ Israel and the Vatican City established diplomatic relations.

 

1965 ~ Ferdinand Marcos (1917 ~ 1989) became the President of the Philippines.  He retained that position until 1986 when he was removed from power to corruption.

 

1948 ~ Kiss Me, Kate, the Cole Porter musical opened and became the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.

 

1947 ~ King Michael of Romania (1921 ~ 2017) was forced to abdicate by the Soviet Union-backed communist government.

 

1936 ~ The United Auto Workers union staged its first sitdown strike.

 

1927 ~ The first subway in Asia opened with the Ginza Line in Tokyo, Japan.

 

1924 ~ Edwin Hubble (1889 ~ 1953) announced the existence of other galaxies.

 

1922 ~ Vladimir Lenin (1870 ~ 1924) proclaimed the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).  The USSR was dissolved in 1991.

 

1919 ~ At the Lincoln’s Inn in London, England the first female student was admitted to the bar.

 

1916 ~ King Charles IV (1887 ~ 1922) and Queen Zita (1892 ~ 1989) were crowned in Hungary.  This would be last Hungarian coronation before the monarchy was abolished.

 

1903 ~ A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois killed over 600 people.  The theater had opened only a month earlier, on November 23, 1903.  Because the theater had only one entrance, when the fire broke out, theater-goers were unable to easily exit the building.

 

1853 ~ The United States purchased a strip of land that now includes a portion of Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico in what is known as the Gadsden Purchase.  The purpose was to facilitate the construction of the railroads in the Southwest, but also to provide a clear boundary between the two countries.

 

1825 ~ The Treaty of St. Louis of 1825, between the United States and the Shawnee Nation was proclaimed.  This treaty had been signed on November 7, 1825.

 

1816 ~ The Treaty of St. Louis of 1816, between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa and Potawatomi Indian tribes was made public.  The treaty had been signed on August 24, 1816.

 

1813 ~ During the War of 1812, British soldiers burned the town of Buffalo, New York.

 

1066 ~ The Granada massacre occurred when a Muslim mob stormed the palace in Granada and massacred most of the city’s Jewish population, including Joseph ibn Naghrela (1035 ~ 1066), the Jewish vizier.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2016 ~ Tyrus Wong (b. Oct. 25, 1910), the Chinese-American artist who brought Bambi to life.  He was the lead artist on the 1942 Disney animated film, Bambi.  He died at age 106.

 

2013 ~ Paul Sally (né Paul Joseph Sally, Jr.; b. Jan. 29, 1933), American mathematician.  He was born in Massachusetts.  He died of heart failure a month before his 81^st birthday.

 

2012 ~ John Sheardown (né John Vernon Sheardown; b. Oct. 11, 1924), Canadian envoy who sheltered Americans in Tehran during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979.  He sheltered 6 Americans for 79 days in the Canadian embassy.  This event was depicted in the 2012 movie Argo.  He died at age 87.

 

2012 ~ Beate Sirota Gordon (né Beate Siorta; b. Oct. 25, 1823), Austrian woman who shaped Japan’s constitution following World War II.  She was a performing artist and woman’s right’s activist.  Her family moved to Japan when she was 6 years old and became fluent in Japanese.  Following World War II, she was on the team that worked under General MacArthur to draft a new constitution for Japan.  She died at age 89.

 

2012 ~ Rita Levi-Montalcini (b. Apr. 22, 1909), Italian neurologist and recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work in neurobiology.  She was of Sephardic ancestry.  She died at age 103.

 

2010 ~ Roger Milliken (b. Oct. 24, 1915), American business tycoon who turned South Carolina a red (republican) state.  He was known as the political godfather to the American conservative movement.  He died at age 95.

 

2009 ~ Bessie Blount Griffin (née Bessie Virginia Blount; b. Nov. 24, 1914), African-American physical therapist, inventor and forensic scientist.  While working as a physical therapist in a hospital in the Bronx, she developed an apparatus to help amputees to feed themselves.  She died at age 95.

 

2006 ~ Saddam Hussein (b. Apr. 28, 1937), 5^th President, and virtual dictator of, Iraq.  He was executed for war crimes and the mass execution of Iraqi Shi’ietes.  He was 69 years old.

 

2005 ~ Rona Jaffe (b. June 12, 1931), American writer.  She died of cancer at age 74.

 

2004 ~ Artie Shaw (né Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; b. May 23, 1910), American clarinetist and bandleader.  He died at age 94.

 

2003 ~ John Gregory Dunne (b. May 25, 1932), American author and critic.  He was married to author Joan Didion.  His younger brother was Dominick Dunne.  He died of a heart attack at age 71.

 

1993 ~ Swifty Lazar (né Samuel Lazar, also known as Irving Paul Lazar; b. Mar. 28, 1907), American talent agent.  He died at age 86 from complications of diabetes.

 

1983 ~ Violette Cordery (b. Jan. 10, 1900), British race car driver.  In the 1920s she competed in many car races.  She broke long distance records.  She died 11 days before her 84^th birthday.

 

1979 ~ Richard Rodgers (né Richard Charles Rodgers; b. June 28, 1902), American composer.  He is best known for his corroboration with Oscar Hammerstein II.  They wrote many musicals together.  He died at age 77.

 

1970 ~ Sonny Liston (né Charles L. Liston; b. May 8, 1932), American boxer.  The actual date of his birth is unknown but is believed to have been sometime between May 8 and July 22, 1930.

 

1968 ~ Trygve Lie (né Trygve Hlavdan Lie, b. July 16, 1896), Norwegian politician and 1^st Secretary-General of the United Nations.  He served as the Secretary-General from February 1946 until November 1952.  He died of a heart attack at age 72.

 

1966 ~ Christian Herter (né Christian Archibald Herter; b. Mar. 28, 1895), 53^rd United States Secretary of State.  He served under President Dwight David Eisenhower from April 1959 until January 1961.  He also was the 1^st United States Trade Representative under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from December 1962 through December 1966.  He had earlier served as the 59^th Governor of Massachusetts from January 1953 to January 1957.  He was 71 years old at the time of his death.

 

1947 ~ Alfred North Whitehead (b. Feb. 15, 1861), English mathematician and philosopher.  He died at age 86 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

1944 ~ Romain Rolland (b. Jan. 29, 1866), French author and recipient of the 1915 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died a month before his 79^th birthday.

 

1916 ~ Grigori Rasputin (b. Jan. 21, 1869), Russian monk.  He was murdered by a group led by Prince Felix Yusupov just 22 days before his 48^th birthday.  His frozen and trussed body was discovered in a Moscow river 3 days after his murder.  He was best known for his influence over the family of Tsar Nicholas II.

 

1906 ~ Josephine Butler (née Josephine Elizabeth Grey; b. Apr. 13, 1828), British women’s rights activist and social reformer.  She fought against human trafficking and prostitution.  She died at age 78.

 

1894 ~ Amelia Bloomer (née Amelia Jenks; b. May 27, 1818), American women’s rights activist.  Women’s pants called Bloomers are named after her.  She died at age 76.

 

1591 ~ Pope Innocent IX (né Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti; b. July 20, 1519).  He was Pope from October 1591 until his death 2 months later.  He died at age 72.

 

1525 ~ Jakob Fugger (b. Mar. 6, 1459), German banker.  He died at age 66.

 

274 ~ Pope Felix I.  He served as Pope from January 269 until his death on this date in 274.  The date of his birth is not known.

 

December 29

Birthdays:

1982 ~ Alison Brie (née Alison Brie Schermerhorn), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Annie Edison on the television sit-com Community and as Trudy Campbell on the television drama Mad Men.  She was born in Hollywood, California.

 

1972 ~ Jude Law (né David Jude Heyworth Law), English actor.  He was born in London, England.

 

1959 ~ Patricia Clarkson (née Patricia Davies Clarkson), American actress.  She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

 

1959 ~ Paula Poundstone, American comedian.  She was born in Huntsville, Alabama.

 

1954 ~ Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician who specialized in functional analysis.  He was born in Oberwiesenthal, Germany.

 

1952 ~ Gelsey Kirkland, American ballerina and choreographer.  She was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

 

1951 ~ Yvonne Elliman (née Yvonne Marianne Elliman), American singer and songwriter.  She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

1947 ~ Ted Danson (né Edward Bridge Danson, III), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Sam Malone on the television sit-com Cheers.  He was born in San Diego, California.

 

1938 ~ Jon Voight (né Jonathan Vincent Voight), American actor and father of Angelina Jolie.  He was born in Yonkers, New York.

 

1936 ~ Mary Tyler Moore (d. Jan. 25, 2017), American sit-com star who defined the modern career woman.  She died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to pneumonia.  She died 27 days after her 80^th birthday.

 

1933 ~ Joel M. Reed (d. Apr. 13, 2020), American cult film director.  He is best known for his film Blood Sucking Freaks, a gruesome low-budget horror comedy that was picketed by outraged protesters when it was released in 1974.  He was born and died in New York, New York.  He died at age 86 of Covid-19.

 

1923 ~ Sam Sheppard (né Samuel Holmes Sheppard; d. Apr. 6, 1970), American neurosurgeon who, in 1954, was convicted of the brutal murder of his pregnant wife.  He was convicted and served nearly 10 years in prison.  His case was retried and he was acquitted in 1964.  The television series The Fugitive was loosely based on his story.  He was born in Cleveland, Ohio.  He died at age 46 from liver failure in Columbus, Ohio.

 

1923 ~ Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, French mathematician and physicist.  She is one of the pioneers in the study of General relativity and her work has led to the detection of gravitational waves.  She was born in Lille, France.

 

1917 ~ Tom Bradley (né Thomas J. Bradley; d. Sept. 29, 1998), African-American politician and 38^th Mayor of Los Angeles.  He served as Mayor from July 1973 until July 1993.  He died at age 80.

 

1911 ~ Klaus Fuchs (né Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs; d. Jan. 28, 1988), German theoretical physicist.  In 1950, he was convicted of supplying information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union.  He spent 9 years in prison in Great Britain.  After his prison term, he returned to East Germany and continued his career as a physicist.  He died a month after his 76^th birthday.

 

1910 ~ Ronald Coase (né Ronald Harry Coase; d. Sept. 2, 2013), British economist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science.  He was the Nobel winner who reshaped economics.  He was 102 at the time of his death.

 

1876 ~ Pablo Casals (b. Oct. 22, 1973), Spanish cellist and conductor.  He died at age 96.

 

1875 ~Mileva Marić (d. Aug. 4, 1948), Serbian mathematician and physicist.  She was a student of Albert Einstein.  She was also his first wife.  They married in 1903; but divorced 16 years later.  She was born in Titel, Serbia.  She died at age 72 in Zurich, Switzerland.

 

1859 ~ Venustiano Carranza (né Venustian Carranza Garza; May 21, 1920), 37^th President of Mexico.  He was President from May 1917 until his assassination at age 60 in May 1920.

 

1856 ~ Thomas Joannes Stieltjes (d. Dec. 31, 1894), Dutch mathematician.  He died 2 days after his 38^th birthday.

 

1809 ~ William Gladstone (né William Ewart Gladstone; d. May 19, 1898), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was one of Britain’s most beloved and respected Prime Ministers.  He served several terms as Prime Minister, both during the reign of Queen Victoria.  He died at age 88.

 

1808 ~ Andrew Johnson (d. July 31, 1875), 17^th President of the United States.  Had served as the 16^th Vice President during President Abraham Lincoln’s second term.  He took Office following the assassination of Lincoln.  He was the first president to be impeached, which was the result of a bitter disagreement between him and Congress over how to treat the South following the Civil War.  He died at age 66.

 

1800 ~ Charles Goodyear (d. July 1, 1869), American chemist and manufacturing engineer.  He developed a method for vulcanized rubber.  He was born in New Haven, Connecticut.  He died at age 59.

 

1766 ~ Charles Macintosh (d. July 25, 1843), Scottish chemist and inventor of waterproof fabric, hence the reason raincoats are sometimes referred to as Macintoshes.  He died at age 76.

 

1721 ~ Madame de Pompadour (née Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, d. Apr. 15, 1764), official chief mistress of King Louis XV of France.  She died of tuberculosis at age 42.

 

1709 ~ Elizabeth Petrovna (b. Jan. 5, 1762), Empress of Russia.  She was reigned from December 1741 until her death 21 years later.  She was succeeded by Peter III.  She died 1 week after her 52^nd birthday.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2001 ~ A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru killed nearly 300 people.

 

1997 ~ Health officials in Hong Kong began to kill the city’s 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly strain of influenza virus.

 

1989 ~ Václav Havel (1936 ~ 2011), the Czech writer, philosopher and dissident, was elected as the first post-communist of the Czechoslovakia.  He served in that office from December 1989 until July 1992.

 

1975 ~ A bomb exploded at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring over 70 others.  The perpetrators have never been identified.

 

1972 ~ An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed on its approach to Miami International Airport killing 101 passengers and crew.  Seventy-five crew and passengers survived.

 

1940 ~Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London during World War II.  Over 200 civilians were killed in the bombing and subsequent fires.

 

1916 ~ James Joyce’s first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, was first published as a book.  It had previously been serialized in a magazine.

 

1911 ~ Sun Yat-sen (1866 ~ 1925) became the provisional President of the Republic of China.  He formally took office on January 1, 1912.

 

1911 ~ Mongolia gained its independence from the Qing dynasty.

 

1890 ~ 400 Sioux and Lakota Native Americans were massacred by United States Army troops at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

 

1851 ~ The first YMCA opened in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1845 ~ Texas became the 28^th State of the Union.

 

1835 ~ The Treaty of New Echota was signed, ceding all lands belonging of Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

 

1778 ~ During the American Revolutionary War, British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell (1739 ~ 1791), captured Savannah, Georgia.

 

1170 ~ Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (1119 ~ 1170) was assassinated inside the Canterbury Cathedral by supporters of King Henry II (1133 ~ 1189).

 

875 ~ Charles the Bald (823 ~ 877), King of the Franks was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor Charles II.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2018 ~ Brian Garfield (né Brian Francis Wynne Garfield; b. Jan. 26, 1939), American novelist who fantasized about a vigilante’s Death Wish.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died in Pasadena, California 28 days before his 80^th birthday.

 

2009 ~ David Levine (b. Dec. 20, 1926), American caricaturist who skewered his subjects.  He was born and died in New York, New York.  He died 9 days after his 83^rd birthday.

 

2004 ~ Julius Axelrod (b. May 30, 1912), American biochemist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 92.

 

1986 ~ Harold Macmillan, 1^st Earl of Stockton (né Maurice Harold Macmillan, b. Feb. 10, 1894), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister from January 1957 until October 1963 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.  He died at age 92.

 

1980 ~ Nadezhda Mandelstam (née Nadezhda Yakovlevna Khazina; b. Oct. 30, 1899), Russian writer and educator.  She was born in Saratov, southern Russia.  She died in Moscow, Russia at age 81.

 

1971 ~ John Marshall Harlan, II (b. May 20, 1899), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Dwight David Eisenhower.  He served on the Court from March 1955 until September 1971.  His grandfather, John Marshall Harlan, also served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1877 until 1911.  He replaced Robert Jackson on the Court.  He was succeeded by William Rehnquist.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  John Harlan II died of spinal cancer at age 72, just 3 months after retiring from the Court.  He died in Washington, D.C.

 

1960 ~ Eden Phillpotts (né Eden Henry Phillpotts; b. Nov. 4, 1862), English author, poet and dramatist.  He was born in Mount Abu, India.  He died at age 98 in Devon, England.

 

1941 ~ Tullio Levi-Civita (b. Mar. 29, 1873), Italian mathematician.  He is best known for his work on absolute differential calculus.  He died at age 68.

 

1937 ~ Donald Marquis (né Donald Robert Perry Marquis; b. July 29, 1878), American humorist, journalist and author.  He died of a stroke at age 59.

 

1926 ~ Rainer Marie Rilke (né René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Marie Rilke; b. Dec. 4, 1875), Austrian author.  He died of leukemia 25 days after his 51^st birthday.

 

1924 ~ Carl Spitteler (né Carl Friedrich George Spitteler; b. Apr. 24, 1924), Swiss poet and recipient of the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 79.

 

1919 ~ Sir William Osler, 1^st Baronet (b. July 12, 1849), Canadian physician and one of the founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital.  He was the first physician to bring medical students out of the lecture hall and into the wards for bedside clinical training.  He died at age 70.

 

1894 ~ Christina Rossetti (née Christina Georgina Rossetti; b. Dec. 5, 1830), English poet.  She died 24 days after her 64^th birthday.

 

1891 ~ Leopold Kronecker (b. Dec. 7, 1823), Polish-German mathematician.  He died 22 days after his 68^thbirthday.

 

1877 ~ Sarah Van Buren (née Sarah Angelica Singleton; b. Feb. 13, 1818), daughter-in-law of President Martin Van Buren.  She was married to Abraham Van Buren.  She served as First Lady during Martin Van Buren’s Presidency.  She was born in Wedgefield, South Carolina.  She died at age 59 in New York, New York.

 

1846 ~ Alexander Barrow (b. Mar. 27, 1801), American lawyer and United States Senator from Louisiana.  He was born in Nashville, Tennessee.  He died at age 45 in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

1825 ~ Jacques-Louis David (b. Aug. 30, 1748), French painter.  He died at age 77.

 

1777 ~ William Johnson (d. Aug. 4, 1834), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated by President Thomas Jefferson.  He served on the High Court from May 1804 until his death 30 years later.  He replaced Alfred Moore on the Court.  He was succeeded by James Wayne.  He was born in Charleston, South Carolina.  He died at age 62 following jaw surgery in New York City, New York.

 

1737 ~ Joseph Saurin (b. Sept. 1, 1659), French mathematician and Protestant minister.  He died at age 78.

 

1731 ~ Brook Taylor (b. Aug. 18, 1685), English mathematician.  He died at age 46.

 

1720 ~ Maria Margaretha Kirch (née Maria Margaretha Winkelmann; b. Feb. 25, 1670), German astronomer.  She was one of the first famous astronomers of her time due to her writings on the conjunction of the sun with Saturn, Venus and Jupiter.  She died at age 50.

 

1543 ~ Maria Salviati (d. July 17, 1499), Italian noblewoman.  She was the mother of Cosimo I de Medici.  She died at age 44.

 

1208 ~ Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (b. Aug. 31, 1168), Chinese Emperor.  He was emperor from January 1189 until his death in December 1208.  He died at age 40.

 

1170 ~ Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury (b. Dec. 21, 1119), Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury and Christian martyr.  Although Becket was appointed archbishop by King Henry II in 1162, conflicts erupted between the two and the King’s knights murdered Becket in the Canterbury Cathedral.  He is now an English saint.  The exact date of his birth is not known, December 21 is generally considered to be his birthday.  He was about 51 at the time of his death.