more events on December 22
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2010
US President Barack Obama signs a law officially repealing the 17-year-old policy known as “Don’t ask, don’t tell”; the new law permits homosexuals to serve openly in the US military.
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2008
Some 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry flood part of Tennessee after an ash dike breaks at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, in the eastern part of the state.
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2001
A passenger on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris, Richard Reid, unsuccessfully attempts to destroy the plane in flight by igniting explosives he’d hidden in his shoes.
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President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, takes over an interim government.
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1997
Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes his disputed title of President of Somalia, an important step toward reconciliation in the country.
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1992
What became known as the Archives of Terror are discovered in a police station near the capital of Paraguay. The records detail tens of thousands of Latin Americans who had been secretly imprisoned, tortured and / or killed by the security services of several South American governments.
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1989
The division of East and West Germany effectively ends when the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin reopens for the first time in nearly 30 years.
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The Romanian government of Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown, ending 42 years of communist rule.
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1966
The United States announces the allocation of 900,000 tons of grain to fight the famine in India.
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1965
The EF-105F Wild Weasel makes its first kill over Vietnam.
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1951
Major-General Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, owner of the property company Grosvenor Group.
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Charles de Lint, author; helped popularize the urban fantasy genre; received World Fantasy Award (2000) for the collection Moonlight and Vines.
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1949
Robin and Maurice Gibb, singers, songwriters; co-founders of the Bee Gees band.
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1946
Rick Nielsen, musician, vocalist, primary songwriter of the band Cheap Trick.
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1945
Diane Sawyer, journalist; anchor of ABC World News.
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The United States recognizes Tito’s government in Yugoslavia.
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1944
During the Battle of the Bulge, General Anthony McAuliffe responds to a German surrender request with a one word answer: “Nuts!”
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1942
The Soviets drive German troops back 15 miles at the Don River.
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1941
Japanese troops make an amphibious landing on the coast of Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the Philippines.
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1929
Soviet troops leave Manchuria after a truce is reached with the Chinese over the Eastern Railway dispute.
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1921
Hawkshaw Hawkins (Harold Hawkins), country singer; he died along with country stars Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas when the small plane that was carrying them crashed in 1963.
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1918
The last of the food restrictions, enforced because of the shortages during World War I, are lifted.
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1912
Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, wife of US President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
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1883
Arthur Wergs Mitchell, first African-American to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
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1858
Giacomo Puccini, Italian operatic composer best known for Madam Butterfly.
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1856
Frank Kellogg, U.S. Secretary of State who tried to outlaw war with the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
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1829
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opens the first passenger railway line.
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1807
Congress passes the Embargo Act, which halts all trading completely. It is hoped that the act will keep the United States out of the European Wars.
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1775
Esek Hopkins takes command of the Continental Navy — a total of seven ships.
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1135
Stephen of Blois is crowned the king of England.