Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
December 21
| 68 | Vespian, a gruff-spoken general of humble origins, enters Rome and is named emperor by the Senate. | |
| 1620 | The Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock. | |
| 1708 | French forces seize control of the eastern shore of Newfoundland after winning a victory at St. John's. | |
| 1790 | Samuel Slater opens the first cotton mill in the United States (in Rhode Island). | |
| 1862 | The U.S. Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor to be awarded to Navy personnel who have distinguished themselves by their gallantry in action. | |
| 1866 | Indians, led by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, kill Captain William J. Fetterman and 79 other men who had ventured out from Fort Phil Kearny to cut wood. | |
| 1910 | Over 2.5 million plague victims are reported in the An-Hul province of China. | |
| 1928 | President Calvin Coolidge signs the Boulder Dam bill. | |
| 1944 | German troops surround the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne in Belgium. | |
| 1945 | General George S. Patton dies at the age of 60 after being injured in a car accident. | |
| 1946 | An earthquake and tidal wave kill hundreds in Japan. | |
| 1963 | The Turk minority riots in Cyprus to protest anti-Turkish revisions in the constitution. | |
| 1964 | Great Britain's House of Commons votes to ban the death penalty. | |
| 1965 | Four pacifists are indicted in New York for burning draft cards. | |
| 1969 | American draft evaders gather for a holiday dinner in Montreal, Canada. | |
| 1986 | 500,000 Chinese students gather in Shanghai's People's Square calling for democratic reforms, including freedom of the press. | |
| 1988 | Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, an hour after departure. All 259 passengers were killed in the explosion caused by a bomb– hidden inside an audio cassette player — that detonated inside the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. A shower of airplane parts falling from the sky also killed 11 Lockerbie residents. | |
| Born on December 21 | ||
| 1804 | Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain. | |
| 1879 | Joseph Stalin, Communist leader of the Soviet Union. | |
| 1911 | Josh Gibson, baseball player for the Negro Leagues, Home-Run King. | |
| 1918 | Kurt Waldheim, controversial fourth Secretary General of the United Nations. | |
| 1937 | Jane Fonda, actress, political activist, exercise guru; films include Klute and Coming Home. | |
| 1940 | Frank Zappa, bandleader, composer, guitarist, satirist, filmmaker and advocate of creative freedom. | |
| 1959 | Florence Griffith Joyner, track star, Olympic medalist. Died unexpectedly of heart failure at age thirty-eight on September 21, 1998. | |
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According to the Congressional Medal of Honor website, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Congressional action to provide for 200 Navy Medals of Honor on December 21, 1861.
http://www.cmohs.org/medal-history.php