This Month In History December

It is time for December In History.

As we bring this year to a close I want to say that it has been so much fun putting these together each month. There are always so many fun facts that I either did not know or forgot about.

I can’t wait to continue sharing these posts next year.

December In History

December 1^st

• 1955 Rosa Parks was jailed for refusing to give her seat on a public bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.
• 1959 Twelve nations, including the U.S., signed the Antarctica Treaty, which banned any military activity and weapons testing on the continent.

December 2nd

• 1823 President James Monroe announced a new foreign policy that would become known as the Monroe Doctrine.
• 2001 The Enron Corporation filed for bankruptcy. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

December 3^rd

• 1818 Illinois become the twenty-first U.S. state.
• 1967 Lew Washkansky received the first human heart transplant. The surgery was performed in Cape Town, South Africa.

December 4^th

• 1918 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson became the first U.S. President to travel to Europe while in office. He went to Europe to heat the American delegation seeking an end to WWI.
• 1952 Heavy smog began covering London. It lasted five days and killed over four thousand people. The event is known as The Great Smog of London.

December 5^th

• 1901 Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse and Disneyland, and Disney World, was born.
• 1933 The Twenty-First Amendment was ratified, ending Prohibition.

December 6^th

• 1865 The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It officially ended slavery in the U.S.
• 1884 The Washington Monument, in Washington D.C., was completed.

December 7^th

• 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed by a Japanese dive bomber. This surprise attack drew the U.S. into WWII.

December 8^th

• 1765 Eli Whitney, American inventor of the cotton gin, was born.
• 1941 The day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. formally enters WWII. Great Britain declared war on Japan the same day.

December 9^th

• 1835 The Texan army took control of San Antonio. It was a big victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico.

December 10^th

• 1898 The Treaty of Paris was signed ending the Spanish-American War.
• 1901 The First Nobel Prize is awarded.
• 1915 The one millionth Ford Model T is made.

December 11^th

• 1936 Edward VIII abdicated the throne, becoming the first British monarch to voluntarily do that.
• 1941 Germany declares war on the United States.

December 12^th

• 1800 The capital of the United States was moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Washington D.C.
• 1915 Singer and actor Frank Sinatra was born.

December 13^th

• 1818 Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln, was born.
• 1862 The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought. The defeat was a serious loss for the Union Army and over 12,000 Northerners were killed and wounded.
• 2003 Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces.

December 14^th

• 1799 George Washington, the first U.S. President, died at the age of sixty-seven.
• 1911 Roald Amundsen of Norway, become the first explorer to reach the South Pole.

December 15^th

• 1791 The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, were ratified.
• 1939 The movie Gone With the Wind premieres.

December 16th

• 1770 Ludwig Van Beethoven, German composer and pianist, was born.
• 1773 The Boston Tea Party- A group of Massachusetts colonists, disguised as Indians, boarded three British ships and dumped the tea into the harbor. They were protesting the British Tea Act.
• 1901 English author, Beatrix Potter, published The Tale of Peter Rabbit independently because she could not find a publisher.

December 17^th

• 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright, make the first successful airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• 2011 North Korean leader, Kim Jong II, died.

December 18^th

• 1865 The 13^th Amendment was formally adopted, putting an end to slavery in the U.S.
• 1947 American film director, Steven Spielberg, was born.

December 19^th

• 1843 Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, was published.
• 1917 The National Hockey League opened its first season.

December 20^th

• 1989 The U.S. invaded Panama in an attempt to overthrow dictator Manual Noriega.
• 1946 The movie It’s A Wonderful Life debuted.

December 21^st

• 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, when a bomb hidden in the cargo area exploded. It killed all two-hundred and forty-three passengers and sixteen crew members.

December 22^nd

• 1912 Lady Bird Johnson, wife of the thirty-sixth U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, was born.

December 23rd

• 1788 Maryland voted to give 100 square miles to the federal government. Most it is now the District of Columbia.
• 1966 The movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas first aired on television.

December 24th

• 1814 The War of 1812 ends when the Treaty of Peace and Amity is signed.
• 1851 About 35,000 volumes were destroyed in a fire at The Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

December 25th

• 1776 George Washington crossed the Delaware River to attack British troops in New Jersey.
• 1914 During WWI, German troops temporarily ceased fire and began singing Christmas carols. It is now known as The Christmas Truce of 1914.

December 26th

• 1933 Nissan Motor Company was formed in Tokyo, Japan.
• 1972 Former U.S President Harry Truman died.

December 27th

• 1904 The play Peter Pan debuted in London.

December 28th

• 1832 John C. Calhoun resigned as Vice President of the United States.

December 29th

• 1845 Texas became the 28th state.
• 1940 Germany bombed London, devastating the city.

December 30th

• 1922 The U.S.S.R, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic was established.

December 31st

• 1944 Hungary declared war on Germany.