more events on December 31
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1977
Cambodia breaks relations with Vietnam.
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1965
California becomes the largest state in population.
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1944
Hungary declares war on Germany.
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1942
After five months of battle, Emperor Hirohito allows the Japanese commanders at Guadalcanal to retreat.
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1941
General MacArthur reports that U.S. lines in Manila have been pushed back by the Japanese.
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1930
Brewery heir Adolphus Busch is kidnapped.
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1923
The Sahara is crossed by an automobile for the first time.
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1915
The Germans torpedo the British liner Persia without any warning killing 335 passengers.
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1911
Helene Dutrieu wins the Femina aviation cup in Etampes. She sets a distance record for women at 158 miles.
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1910
John B. Moisant and Arch Hoxsey, two of America’s foremost aviators, die in separate plane crashes.
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1908
Simon Wiesenthal, survivor of the Nazi Holocaust who dedicated his life to tracking down former Nazis.
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1889
George Catlett Marshall, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army during World War II, Secretary of State under Truman, won Nobel Peace Prize for the Marshall Plan.
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1869
Henri Matisse, French artist.
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1862
Union General William Rosecrans‘ army repels two Confederate attacks at the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone’s River).
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1852
The richest year of the gold rush ends with $81.3 million in gold produced.
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1815
George Gordon Meade, Union general who defeated Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.
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1775
George Washington orders recruiting officers to accept free blacks into the army.
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1720
Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James II, known as the Young Pretender and Bonnie Prince Charlie.