more events on December 21
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2004
A suicide bomber attacks the forward operating base next to the US military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, killing 22 people; it is the deadliest suicide attack on US soldiers during the Iraq War.
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1995
The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
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1994
Popocatepetl, a volcano in Mexico spews forth gases and ash after nearly a half-century of dormancy.
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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.
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1986
500,000 Chinese students gather in Shanghai’s People’s Square calling for democratic reforms, including freedom of the press.
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1969
American draft evaders gather for a holiday dinner in Montreal, Canada.
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1966
Kiefer Sutherland, British-born Canadian actor, producer, director; best known as Jack Bauer on the 24 TV series, a role that garnered him several awards including an Emmy and Golden Globe.
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1965
Four pacifists are indicted in New York for burning draft cards — Thomas C. Cornell, 31, co-secretary of the Catholic Peace Fellowship; Roy Lisker, 27, a volunteer of the Catholic Worker Movement; James E. Wilson, 21, a volunteer at the Catholic Worker Movement and a member of the Fellowship for Reconciliation; and M P, Edelman, a full-time worker for the War Resisters League.
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1964
Great Britain’s House of Commons votes to ban the death penalty.
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1963
The Turk minority riots in Cyprus to protest anti-Turkish revisions in the constitution.
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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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1954
Chris Evert (Chris Evert-Lloyd), No. 1 women’s pro tennis player in the world for 260 weeks in the 1970s; she reached 34 Grand Slam singles finals, a record unmatched by any other pro, female or male.
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1946
An earthquake and tidal wave kill hundreds in Japan.
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1945
General George S. Patton dies at the age of 60 after being injured in a car accident.
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1944
German troops surround the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne in Belgium.
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1940
Frank Zappa, bandleader, composer, guitarist, satirist, filmmaker and advocate of creative freedom.
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1937
Jane Fonda, actress, political activist, exercise guru; films include Klute and Coming Home.
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1928
President Calvin Coolidge signs the Boulder Dam bill.
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1918
Kurt Waldheim, controversial fourth Secretary General of the United Nations.
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1911
Josh Gibson, baseball player for the Negro Leagues, Home-Run King.
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1910
Over 2.5 million plague victims are reported in the An-Hul province of China.
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1879
Joseph Stalin, Communist leader of the Soviet Union.
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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.
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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.
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1804
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain.
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1790
Samuel Slater opens the first cotton mill in the United States (in Rhode Island).
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1708
French forces seize control of the eastern shore of Newfoundland after winning a victory at St. John’s.
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1620
The Pilgrims land at or near Plymouth Rock.
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68
Vespian, a gruff-spoken general of humble origins, enters Rome and is named emperor by the Senate.