December 22

This Date In History

• 1639: French dramatist Jean Racine is born.
• 1643: The French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier is born.
• 1666: The squinty-eyed Italian painter Guernica dies.
• 1696: James Oglethorpe, founding father of the Georgia colony, is born.
• 1744: Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams, is born. She is the first Presidential wife to be referred to as "the First Lady."
• 1807: The Embargo Act is signed into law by Thomas Jeffesron, banning all trade with foreign countries. This indirectly leads to The War of 1812.
• 1809: Further complicating issues, the Non-Intercourse Act is enacted by Congress, allowing trade with all foreign countries except Britain and France.
• 1856: U.S. Secretary of War and Nobel Peace Prize winner Frank Kellogg is born. He is most famous for his Kellogg-Briand Pact, which outlawed war.
• 1858: Noted composer Giacomo Puccini is born.
• 1862: Legendary owner of the Philadelphia Athletics Connie Mack is born.
• 1864: General William Tecumseh Sherman captures Savannah, Georgia on his bloody and vicious "march to Atlanta" campaign during the U.S. Civil War.
• 1868: U.S. Vice President John Nance Garner is born.
• 1869: Noted poet Edwin Arlington Robinson is born.
• 1876: Futurism founder and author of The Futurist Manifesto Filippo Marinetti is born.
• 1880: Famed author George Eliot (pen name for Mary Ann Evans), died. She was 61.
• 1890: French premier and war hero Charles de Gaulle is born.
• 1894: Alfred Dreyfus' conviction for treason gives rise to the infamous Drefyus Affair.
• 1899: Noted vaudeville composer Hoagy Carmichael ("Georgia on my Mind") is born.
  Tragic aviation pioneer Wiley Post is born.
• 1912: Outspoken First Lady Lady Bird Johnson is born.
  Tobacco heiress and famous murder victim Doris Duke is born.
• 1915: The Federal League and Major League Baseball agree to a deal that will dissolve the Feds, for a handsome fee and stock ownership in several MLB teams.
• 1917: "Match Game" host Gene Rayburn is born.
• 1922: "Leave it to Beaver" actress Barbara Billingsley is born.
• 1936: Actor Hector Elizondo (Beverly Hills Cop III, "Chicago Hope") is born.
• 1943: Beloved children's author Beatrix Potter dies at 77.
• 1944: Baseball Hall of Famer Steve Carlton is born.
• 1945: One-time Miss America and news anchor Diane Sawyer is born.
• 1946: Cheap Trick frontman Rick Nielsen is born.
• 1948: Actress Lynne Thigpen (Lean On Me, "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?") is born.
• 1949: Twin members of The Bee Gees Maurice and Robin Gibb are born.
• 1957: Buzzcut fitness guru Susan Powter is born.
• 1962: Hollywood actor Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, Quiz Show) is born.
  The Tornado's instrumental "Telstar" reaches number 1 on America's top 40 charts, making it the first UK single to reach that position in the states.
• 1964: Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity. He never recovers from the crime, and it takes nearly 40 years for his conviction to be overturned, well after his early demise.
• 1972: A 7.2 earthquake strikes Nicaragua, killing nearly 13,000 people. Nine days later, while on a relief mission to the beleaguered country, baseball star Roberto Clemente dies when his plane crashes.
• 1974: The island nation of Comoros gains its independence from France.
• 1979: Legendary Hollywood producer Daryl F. Zanuck passes away.
• 1988: Without lead guitarist Johnny Marr, The Smiths play their final performance at Wolfhamption Civic Hall. Nearly 30,000 attend, the price of admission being only to wear a Smiths shirt.
• 1989: Samuel Beckett, poet, playwright, and Nobel Prize winner, dies at 82.
  Nicolea Ceausescu is ousted from power in Romania.
• 1990: After years of Communist domination, Lech Walesa is named the first president of the new democratic Poland.
• 1993: After thirty years of all-white rule, South Africa votes to end apartheid and hold open elections.
• 1995: Oscar winner Butterfly McQueen (Gone with the Wind) dies of burns suffered in a horrific house accident.
• 2000: Pop superstar Madonna and savvy directory Guy Ritchie are wed at a private ceremony at Skibo Castle in Scotland.
• 2001: The infamous "shoe bomb" incident takes place aboard American Airlines Flight 63. A single passenger, British national Richard Reid, is stopped by fellow passengers before he can ignite plastic explosives hidden inside his shoe, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison.
• 2002: Co-founder of The Clash Joe Strummer dies of a heart attack. He was only 50 years old.