Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1654

A meteorological office established in Tuscany, Italy, began recording daily temperature readings.

1791

The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

1916

The French defeated the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun.

1938

Ground was broken for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

1939

The motion picture ''Gone With the Wind'' had its world premiere in Atlanta.

1939

Nylon was first produced commercially, in Delaware.

1944

A single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller, a U.S. Army major, disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

1948

Former State Department official Alger Hiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of perjury.

1961

Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

1965

Two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, maneuvered to within 10 feet of each other while in orbit.

1973

Jean Paul Getty III, the grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, was found alive in Italy five months after his kidnapping. Getty initially refused to pay the ransom, only cooperating after his severed right ear was sent to a newspaper in Rome.

1978

President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.

1982

Scenes of jubilation as the gates isolating the people of Gibraltar from Spain are to opened for the first time in 13 years.

1986

Carnegie Hall reopened after its $50 million renovation.

1989

A popular uprising began that resulted in the downfall of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

1993

The British and Irish prime ministers John Major and Albert Reynolds sign the historic Joint Declaration for Peace on the steps of Downing street.

1996

Boeing announced plans to pay $13.3 billion to acquire rival aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas, creating the world's largest aerospace company.

2000

First Lady and Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed to an $8 millionbook deal with publisher Simon and Schuster for her White House memoirs.

1832

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and builder of the Eiffel Tower.

1861

Charles Duryea, American automobile inventor.

1883

William A. Hinton, American developer of the "Hinton Test" for diagnosing syphilis.

1892

J. Paul Getty, American industrialist and founder of the Getty Oil Company. Getty, was named the richest man in the world in 1957.

1890

Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake) and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, South Dakota, in a fight with Indian police.

1943

Fats Waller (Thomas Wright Waller), American jazz pianist and composer.

1966

Walt Disney, American motion-picture and television producer and founder of the Disney Company died in Los Angeles.

2005

William Proxmire, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin.