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This Week in History

Bonnie K. Goodman

This Week in History... December 2009

This Week in History... December 1-6, 2009

01/12/1641 - Mass becomes 1st colony to give statutory recognition to slavery

01/12/1824 - House of Reps begins to end election deadlock between JQ Adams

01/12/1864 - Raid at Stoneman: Knoxville, TN to Saltville, VA

01/12/1878 - 1st White House telephone installed

01/12/1909 - 1st Israeli kibbutz founded, Deganya Alef

01/12/1919 - Lady Nancy Astor sworn-in as 1st female member of British Parliament

01/12/1943 - FDR, Churchill and Stalin agree to Operation Overlord (D-Day)

01/12/1969 - US govt holds its 1st draft lottery since WW II

02/12/1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte crowned emperor of France in Paris by Pope Pius VII

02/12/1812 - James Madison re-elected president of US, E Gerry vice-pres

02/12/1823 - President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine"

02/12/1840 - William H Harrison elected president of US

02/12/1848 - Franz Josef I becomes emperor of Austria and King of Hungary

02/12/1852 - 2nd French empire established; Louis Napoleon becomes emperor

02/12/1961 - Fidel Castro declares he's a Marxist, and will lead Cuba to Communism

02/12/1968 - Pres Nixon names Henry Kissinger security advisor

03/12/1828 - Andrew Jackson elected 7th president of US

03/12/1847 - Frederick Douglass publishes 1st issue of his newspaper "North Star"

03/12/1868 - Trial of Jefferson Davis starts; 1st blacks on US trial jury

03/12/1878 - Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah Israel

03/12/1953 - Eisenhower criticizes McCarthy for saying communists are in Rep party

04/12/1563 - Council of Trent holds last session, after 18 years

04/12/1619 - America's 1st Thanksgiving Day (Va)

04/12/1816 - James Monroe (VA), elected 5th pres, defeating Federalist Rufus King

04/12/1833 - American Anti-Slavery Society formed by Arthur Tappan in Phila

04/12/1836 - Whig party holds its 1st national convention, Harrisburg, Pa

04/12/1844 - James K Polk elected 11th president of US

04/12/1851 - Pres Louis Napolean Boaparte forces crush a coup d'etat in France

04/12/1918 - Pres Wilson sails for Versailles Peace Conference in France, 1st chief executive to travel outside US while in office

04/12/1943 - -Dec 6] 2nd conference of Cairo: FDR, Churchill and Turkish President Inonu

05/12/1349 - 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacre during Black Death riots

05/12/1496 - Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I

05/12/1792 - George Washington re-elected US pres

05/12/1804 - Thomas Jefferson re-elected US pres/George Clinton vice-pres

05/12/1831 - Former Pres John Q Adams takes his seat as member of House of Reps

05/12/1832 - Andrew Jackson re-elected president of US

05/12/1837 - Uprising under William Lyon Mackenzie in Canada

05/12/1935 - National Council of Negro Women forms by Mary McLeod Bethune (NYC)

05/12/1955 - Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery Alabama by Rosa Parks

06/12/1820 - US president James Monroe re-elected

06/12/1849 - Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland

06/12/1862 - Pres Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux indians

06/12/1865 - 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery

06/12/1876 - US Electorial College picks Rep Hayes as pres (although Tilden won)

06/12/1904 - Theodore Roosevelt confirms Monroe-doctrine (Roosevelt Corollary)

06/12/1923 - 1st presidential address broadcast on radio (Pres Calvin Coolidge)

06/12/1973 - Gerald Ford sworn-in as 1st unelected VP, succeeds Spiro T Agnew

This Week in History... December 7-13, 2009

07/12/1787 - Delaware becomes 1st state to ratify constitution

07/12/1808 - James Madison elected US pres/George Clinton vice-pres

07/12/1836 - Martin Van Buren elected 8th president

07/12/1877 - Thomas A Edison demonstrates the gramophone

07/12/1917 - US becomes 13th country to declare war on Austria during World War I

07/12/1941 - Japanese attack Pearl Harbor (a date that will live in infamy)

07/12/1987 - Gorbachev arrives in US for a summit meeting

08/12/1776 - George Washington's retreating army crosses Delaware River from NJ

08/12/1863 - Abraham Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction of South

08/12/1863 - Pres Lincoln offers amnesty for confederate deserters

08/12/1886 - American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions Samuel Gompers elected AFL president

08/12/1987 - President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles

09/12/1958 - Robert H W Welch Jr and 11 other men meet in Indianapolis to form anti-Communist John Birch Society

09/12/1961 - SS Col Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in Israel

10/12/1520 - Martin Luther publicly burned papal edict demands he recant

10/12/1864 - General Sherman's armies reach Savannah and 12 day siege begins

10/12/1869 - Women suffrage (right to vote) granted in Wyoming Territory (US 1st)

10/12/1898 - Spanish-American War ends; US acquires Philippines, PR and Guam

10/12/1906 - Pres Theodore Roosevelt (1st American) awarded Nobel Peace Prize

10/12/1915 - Pres Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Galt

10/12/1919 - Nobel peace prize awarded to US president Wilson

10/12/1931 - Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize

10/12/1936 - King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson

10/12/1978 - In Oslo, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat accept 1978 Nobel Peace Prize

10/12/1520 - Martin Luther publicly burned papal edict demands he recant

10/12/1864 - General Sherman's armies reach Savannah and 12 day siege begins

10/12/1869 - Women suffrage (right to vote) granted in Wyoming Territory (US 1st)

10/12/1898 - Spanish-American War ends; US acquires Philippines, PR and Guam

10/12/1906 - Pres Theodore Roosevelt (1st American) awarded Nobel Peace Prize

10/12/1915 - Pres Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Galt

10/12/1919 - Nobel peace prize awarded to US president Wilson

10/12/1931 - Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize

10/12/1936 - King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson

10/12/1978 - In Oslo, Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat accept 1978 Nobel Peace Prize

11/12/1620 - 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock (12/21 NS)

11/12/1792 - France's King Louis XVI went on trial, accused of treason

11/12/1816 - Indiana becomes 19th state

11/12/1901 - Marconi sends 1st transatlantic radio signal, Cornwall to Nfld

11/12/1906 - US president Roosevelt attacks abuses in the Congo

11/12/1909 - Colored moving pictures demonstrated at Madison Square Garden, NYC

11/12/1916 - David Lloyd George forms British war govt

11/12/1917 - 13 black soldiers hanged for alleged participation in Houston riot

11/12/1931 - Brit Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Ireland, Newfoundland

11/12/1936 - King Edward VIII marries Mrs Wallis Simpson; abdicates throne Duke of York becomes King George VI

11/12/1941 - Japanese attack Wake Island (only failed WW II-landing)

11/12/1961 - JFK provides US miltary helicopters and crews to South Vietnam

11/12/1961 - Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel

13/12/1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to go around world

13/12/1769 - Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter

13/12/1774 - 1st incident of Revolution-400 attack Ft William and Mary, NH

13/12/1843 - "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens published, 6,000 copies sold

13/12/1862 - Battle of Fredericksburg, VA (Marye's Heights)

13/12/1903 - Wright Bros make 1st flight at Kittyhawk

13/12/1918 - Wilson, becomes 1st to make a foreign visit as president (France)

13/12/1920 - League of nations establishes Intl Court of Justice in The Hague

13/12/1949 - Knesset votes to transfer Israel's capital to Jerusalem

13/12/1966 - 1st US bombing of Hanoi

14/12/1774 - Mass militiamen successfully attacked arsenal of Ft William and Mary

14/12/1819 - Alabama admitted to Union as 22nd state

14/12/1863 - Battle of Bean's Station-Confederacy repulses Union in Tenn

This Week in History... December 15-20, 2009

15/12/1791 - Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gave its approval

15/12/1791 - 1st US law school established at University of Pennsylvania

15/12/1874 - 1st reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) received by Pres Grant

15/12/1877 - Thomas Edison patents phonograph

15/12/1916 - French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of Verdun

15/12/1938 - Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Wash DC

15/12/1939 - "Gone With the Wind" premieres in Atlanta

15/12/1948 - Former state dept official Alger Hiss indicted in NYC for perjury

15/12/1964 - Canada adopts maple leaf flag

16/12/1431 - King Henry VI of England crowned king of France

16/12/1631 - Mount Vesuvious, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages and kills 4,000

16/12/1653 - Oliver Cromwell sworn in as English Lord Protector

16/12/1689 - English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution

16/12/1773 - Big tea party in Boston harbor-indians welcome (Boston Tea Party)

16/12/1864 - Battle of Nashville ends after 4400 casualities

16/12/1944 - Battle of Bulge begins in Belgium

16/12/1950 - Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism"

16/12/1980 - Pres-elect Reagan announces Alexander Haig as secretary of state

18/12/1777 - 1st national Thanksgiving Day, commemorating Burgoyne's surrender

18/12/1787 - New Jersey becomes 3rd state to ratify constitution

18/12/1799 - George Washington's body interred at Mount Vernon

18/12/1813 - British take Ft Niagara in War of 1812

18/12/1859 - South Carolina declared an "independent commonwealth"

18/12/1862 - Battle at Lexington, Tennessee (Forrest's Second Raid)

18/12/1865 - 13th Amendment ratified, slavery abolished

18/12/1892 - "Nutcracker Suite," Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet, premieres

18/12/1915 - Pres Wilson, widowed the year before, marries Edith Bolling Galt

18/12/1966 - Dr Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" airs for 1st time on CBS

19/12/1732 - Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"

19/12/1776 - Thomas Paine published his 1st "American Crisis" essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls"

19/12/1777 - Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge, Pa for winter

19/12/1828 - South Carolina declares right of states to nullify federal laws

19/12/1843 - Charles Dickens publishes "A Christmas Carol," in England

19/12/1861 - Battle of Black Water

19/12/1930 - James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of NAACP

19/12/1946 - War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi

20/12/1606 - Virginia Company settlers leave London to establish Jamestown Va

20/12/1669 - 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection and sentenced to flogging, branding and slavery

20/12/1803 - Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to US for $27M

20/12/1860 - SC votes 169-0 for Ordinace of Secession, 1st state to secede

20/12/1862 - -Jan 3rd] Vicksburg campaign

20/12/1864 - -Dec 27th] Battle of Ft Fisher, NC

20/12/1893 - 1st state anti-lynching statue approved, in Georgia

20/12/1919 - US House of Representatives restricts immigration

20/12/1922 - 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR)

20/12/1956 - Montgomery, Ala, removed race-based seat assignments on its buses

20/12/1989 - US troops invade Panama and oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him

This Week in History... December 21-27, 2009

21/12/1620 - 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock [OS=Dec 11]

21/12/1784 - John Jay becomes 1st US secretary of state (foreign affairs)

21/12/1864 - Gen Sherman conquers Savannah

21/12/1866 - Cheyennes, Arapho's, Sioux, Fetterman Massacre

21/12/1919 - J Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia

21/12/1946 - Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," premieres

21/12/1954 - Dr Sam Sheppard's wife Marilyn is murdered (he is accused of crime)

21/12/1962 - US and Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive

22/12/1783 - Washington resigns his military commission [or 12-23?]

22/12/1807 - Congress passes Embargo Act, to force peace between Britain and France

22/12/1882 - 1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison

22/12/1941 - Winston Churchill arrives in Washington for a wartime conference

22/12/1943 - WEB Du Bois elected 1st black member, Natl Inst of Arts and Letters

22/12/1980 - Pres-elect Reagan appoints J Kirkpatrick (UN) and James Watt (Interior)

23/12/1776 - Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls"

23/12/1779 - Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct

23/12/1788 - Maryland votes to cede a 10ý mile area for Dist of Columbia

23/12/1793 - Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies

23/12/1862 - Union Gen Ben "Beast" Butler is proclaimed a "felon, outlaw and common enemy of mankind" by Jefferson Davis

23/12/1888 - Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear

23/12/1913 - President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law

23/12/1943 - Gen Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day

23/12/1961 - Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food and medical supplies

24/12/1818 - "Silent Night" composed by Franz Joseph Gruber; 1st sung next day

24/12/1851 - Fire devastates Library of Congress in Wash, destroys 35,000 volumes

24/12/1865 - Several Confederate veterans form Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tn

24/12/1935 - National Council of Negro Women forms

24/12/1943 - FDR appoints Gen Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces

24/12/1992 - Pres Bush pardons Caspar Weinberger of Iran-contra affair

24/12/1997 - 1st time a Channukah candle is officially lit in Vatican City

25/12/0001 - 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus

25/12/0337 - Earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th

25/12/0352 - 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th

25/12/1621 - Gov William Bradford of Plymouth forbids game playing on Christmas

25/12/1651 - Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine (five shillings) for "observing any such day as Christmas"

25/12/1776 - Washington crosses Delaware and surprises and defeats 1,400 Hessians

25/12/1818 - 1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night") sung (Austria)

25/12/1837 - Battle of Okeechobee-US forces defeat Seminole Indians

25/12/1862 - 40,000 watch Union army men play baseball at Hilton Head, SC

25/12/1868 - Despite bitter opposition, Pres A Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (Civil War)

25/12/1896 - "Stars and Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa

25/12/1914 - Legendary/unofficial "Christmas Truce" takes place (Brits and Germans)

25/12/1938 - George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will play Scarlett O'Hara

25/12/1939 - Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer

25/12/1977 - Israeli PM Menachem Begin meets Egyptian Pres Sadat in Egypt

25/12/1983 - 1st live telecast of Christmas Parade

25/12/1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as Pres of USSR

This Week in History... December 28-31, 2009

31/12/1879 - Thomas Edison gave the first public demonstration of an electric incandescent lamp.

31/12/1946 - President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

31/12/1961 - The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.

Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 9:05 AM | Return

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