Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1783

George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

1788

Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government; about two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.

1823

The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore was published in the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel.

1888

Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

1913

President Woodrow Wilson signed the Owen-Glass Act, creating the Federal Reserve System.

1921

President Warren G. Harding freed Socialist Eugene Debs and 23 other political prisoners.

1922

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began daily news broadcasts.

1941

American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese during World War II.

1944

General Dwight D. Eisenhower confirmed the death sentence of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War.

1947

John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley invented the transistor at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey. They won the Nobel Prize for their discovery.

1948

Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo for their war crimes during World War II.

1956

The United Nations Emergency Force takes over in Egypt after British and French forces withdraw from Port Said and Port Fuad ending the Suez Crisis.

1968

Eighty-two crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.

1972

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in an NFL playoff game on a last-second play that was dubbed the "Immaculate Reception." Pittsburgh's Franco Harris caught a deflected pass off his shoe-tops and ran it in for the winning touchdown.

1972

Ten thousand people are feared dead after a two-hour earthquake rips through the Nicaraguan capital, Managua.

1974

The B-1 bomber made its first successful test flight.

1975

Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act declaring that the SI (International System of Units) will be the country's basic system of measurement.

1986

The Soviet Union's most prominent dissident, Andrei Sakharov, has returned to Moscow after almost seven years of internal exile.

1986

Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as they landed the experimental airplane Voyager at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

1989

Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were captured while trying to flee the country.

1995

A fire in Dabwali, India, killed 540 people, including 170 children, during a year-end party being held near the children's school.

1997

A jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

1997

Woody Allen, 62, marries Soon-Yi Previn, 27, adopted daughter of ex-companion Mia Farrow.

2003

New York Governor George Pataki pardoned the late comedian Lenny Bruce for his 1964 obscenity conviction.

1777

Alexander I, czar of Russia.

1790

Jean-François Champollion, French founder of Egyptology who deciphered the Rosetta Stone.

1805

Joseph Smith, American, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

1867

Sarah Breedlove Walker, American businesswoman and philanthropist considered to be the first black female millionaire.

1907

Don McNeill, American radio host.

1943

Harry Shearer, American comedic actor and writer.

1965

Eddie Vedder, lead singer, lyricist, and one of the three guitar players for the grunge band Pearl Jam.

1944

Charles Dana Gibson, American artist and illustrator known for his "Gibson Girl" drawings.

2000

Billy Barty, American film actor.

2000

Victor Borge, Danish humorist, entertainer and world-class pianist.