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What happened in history on this day: December 20?
On December 20 in ...
- 1790 - First successful US cotton mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, Rhode Island).
- 1820 - Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between ages 21 and 50.
- 1860 - South Carolina's legislature votes 169-0 to pass the "Ordinance of Secession" declaring "the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved."
- 1861 - Battle of Dranesville, Virginia.
- 1862 - Battle of Holly Spring, Mississippi, CSA.
- 1862 - Battle of Kelly's Ford, Virginia, CSA.
- 1862 - CSA Brigadier-General Nathan B Forrest occupies Trenton, Kentucky, USA.
- 1864 - Battle of Fort Fisher, North Carolina.
- 1876 - Hannah Omish, at age 12, is youngest ever hanged in US.
- 1878 - Former Dahlonega Mint building is destroyed by fire.
- 1880 - New York's Broadway is lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way".
- 1883 - International cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls.
- 1892 - Pneumatic automobile tire is patented, in Syracuse, New York, USA.
- 1893 - First state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia.
- 1907 - Explosion at coal mine in Yolande, Alabama, USA, kills 91.
- 1919 - US House of Representatives restricts immigration.
- 1928 - First international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine, USA for Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- 1938 - Vladimir K Zworykin (Pennsylvania, USA) receives patent on the Iconoscope TV system.
- 1944 - Battle of Bastogne, Germans surround US 101st Airborne.
- 1945 - Rationing of auto tires ends in US.
- 1956 - Montgomery, Alabama, removes race-based seat assignments on its buses.
- 1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1978 - Harry R Haldeman, President Richard Nixon's White House chief of staff released from jail.
- 1984 - 33 unknown keyboard (piano) works of Johann Sebastion Bach are found in the Yale library.
- 1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1985 - Position of American Poet Laureate established (Robert Warren is first).
- 1986 - Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
- 1988 - NBC signs lease to stay in New York City for 33 more years.
- 1989 - American forces launch Operation Just Cause in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. 13,000 U.S. troops are sent to occupy Panama City, along with the 12,000 already there.
- 1990 - Pentagon warns Saddam Hussein that US air power is ready to attack on January 15.
- 1991 - A Missouri court passes the death sentence on Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
- 1996 - Apple Computer announces it will buy the NeXT Software company for about US$400 million in cash and Apple stock. NeXT Software CEO Steve Jobs will become an advisor to Apple chairman and CEO Gilbert Amelio.
- 1999 - The Vermont Supreme Court orders the state to legalize same-sex unions.
- 2005 - New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike for three days, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.
- 2007 - A group of activist Lakota Indians send a letter to the United States State Department declaring their secession from the Union.
- 2019 - The United States founds the United States Space Force, a branch of the United States Air Force, dedicated to space warfare.
- 2020 - In Hawaii, USA, Kilauea volcano erupts.
Births on December 20
- 1869 - Birth of Charley Grapewin in Xenia, Ohio, USA; actor (Wizard of Oz, Libeled Lady).
- 1886 - Birth of Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman in California, USA; tennis player (US Open 1909-11).
- 1901 - Birth of Robert Van de Graaff in Alabama, USA; physicist (Mobility of Gaseous Ions).
- 1904 - Birth of Albert Van Dekker in Brooklyn, New York, USA; actor (Dr Cyclops, Beau Gesture).
- 1906 - Birth of Lowell Gilmore in Minnesota, USA; actor (Living Christ Series).
- 1911 - Birth of Hortense Calisher in New York City, New York, USA; novelist (Arts and Letters 1967).
- 1918 - Birth of Audrey Totter in Joliet, Illinois, USA; actress (Carpetbaggers, Set-Up).
- 1922 - Birth of Charita Bauer in Newark, New Jersey, USA; actress (Guiding Light, Aldrich Family).
- 1924 - Birth of Charlie Callas in Brooklyn, New York, USA; comedian/actor (High Anxiety, Hysterical).
- 1928 - Birth of Jack Christiansen in Kansas, USA; NFL hall of famer defensive back (Detroit Lions).
- 1931 - Birth of Mala [Mary Ellen] Powers in San Francisco, California, USA; actress (Cyrano de Bergerac, Death in Small Doses).
- 1932 - Birth of John Hillerman in Denison, Texas, USA; actor (Higgins - Magnum PI, Blazing Saddles, Audrey Rose).
- 1942 - Birth of Robert L Hayes in Jacksonville, Florida, USA; 100 metre/4x100 metre runner (Olympics-2 gold-1964).
- 1943 - Birth of Angel Tompkins in Albany, California, USA; actress (Gloria - Search).
- 1944 - Birth of Robert Colomby in New York City, New York, USA; rock drummer (Blood Sweat and Tears - "When I Die").
- 1948 - Birth of Angela Marie Buchanan in Washington, D.C., USA; US Treasurer.
- 1956 - Birth of Blanche Baker in New York City, New York, USA; Carroll Baker's Daughter, actress (French Postcard).
- 1957 - Birth of Anita Baker [Ward] in Detroit, Michigan, USA; vocalist (Rapture).
- 1963 - Birth of Karen Moncrieff in Sacramento, California, USA; actress (Xtro 3, Days of Our Lives).
- 1963 - Birth of Pam Casale in Camden, New Jersey, USA; tennis player (Marco Island finals 1985).
- 1966 - Birth of Chris Robinson in Atlanta, Georgia, USA; rocker (Black Crowes - "Shake Your Money Maker").
- 1967 - Birth of Duncan Kennedy in Burlington, California, USA; luger (Olympics-1994).
- 1974 - Birth of Augie Ojeda in Los Angeles, California, USA; baseball infielder (Olympics-bronze-1996).
Deaths on December 20
- 1876 - Hannah Omish, at age 12, is youngest ever hanged in US.
- 1961 - Moss Heart, US dramatist (You can't take it with you), dies at age 57.
- 1968 - John Steinbeck, author (Grapes of Wrath, Nobel Prize 1962), dies in New York at age 66.
- 1971 - Roy Oliver Disney, co-founder of Walt Disney Company, dies of a massive brain hemorrhage, at age 78.
- 1976 - Richard J Daley, Chicago mayor, dies at age 74.
- 1986 - Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
- 1988 - Death of Max Robinson of AIDS at age 49; newsman (World News Tonight).
- 1991 - Stephen Birnbaum, US tourism writer, dies at age 54.
- 1993 - W Edwards Deming, US economist (helped Japan after WWII), dies at age 93.
- 1994 - Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State (1961-69), dies at age 85.
- 1996 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer (Contact), dies at age 62 (born 1934).
- 2008 - Death of Robert Mulligan, American director (born 1925).
- 2009 - Death of American actress Brittany Murphy (Clueless, Sin City, 8 Mile, The Dead Girl) at age 32, in Los Angeles, California, possibly of cardiac arrest.
- 2022 - Death of Franco Harris at age 72 at home in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, USA; football player (NFL, running back, Pittsburgh Steelers, four Super Bowl wins).
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