December 20

December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.

Events:

   * 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed.
   * 1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United
     States.
   * 1915 - Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli
   * 1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police founded.
   * 1922 - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics formed
   * 1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed
   * 1989 - United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government
     of Manuel Noriega.
   * 1995 - NATO begins peacekeping in Bosnia
   * 1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are
     entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual
     couples.
   * 2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.

Births:

   * 1579 (baptized) - John Fletcher, playwright (+ 1625)
   * 1629 - Pieter de Hooch, painter (+ 1684)
   * 1792 - Nicolas Charlet, painter (+ 1845)
   * 1805 - Thomas Graham, Father of colloid chemistry (+ 1869)
   * 1833 - Samuel Mudd, physician, possible conspirator in the
     assassinatiion of Abraham Lincoln (+ 1883)
   * 1856 - Ferdinand Avenarius, author (+ 1923)
   * 1868 - Harvey Firestone, automobile pioneer (+ 1938)
   * 1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive (+ 1965)
   * 1890 - Yvonne Arnaud, actress
   * 1893 - Charlotte BŸhler, psychologist
   * 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, Australian politician
   * 1898 - Irene Dunne, actress (+ 1990)
   * 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, physicist, inventor
   * 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (+ 1942)
   * 1922 - George Roy Hill, film director
   * 1923 - James Leasor, writer, mystery
   * 1924 - Friederike Mayršcker, author
   * 1926 - Sir Geoffrey Howe (Lord Howe of Aberavon), UK politician
   * 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, politician
   * 1930 - Noel Ferrier, producer and actress
   * 1942 - Bob Hayes, track and field star, American football star (+ 2002)
   * 1946 - Uri Geller, illusionist
   * 1952 - Jenny Agutter, actress
   * 1957 - Billy Bragg, singer, songwriter
   * 1957 - Mike Watt, bassist
   * 1959 - Tracey Ullman, actress, comedienne

Deaths:

   * 1939 - Nazi Captain Hans Langsdorff committed suicide
   * 1954 - James Hilton, author
   * 1961 - Moss Hart, author
   * 1968 - John Steinbeck, writer
   * 1973 - Bobby Darin, singer
   * 1976 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago, Illinois
   * 1982 - Artur Rubinstein, musician
   * 1994 - Dean Rusk, former United States Secretary of State
   * 1996 - Carl Sagan, astronomer, writer
   * 1999 - Hank Snow, country music singer

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