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December 22
December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 9 days remaining.
Events
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1603 - Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Ahmed I.
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1807 - The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson
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1809 - The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, passes the U.S. Congress
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1849 - The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is canceled at the last second
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1864 - Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman
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1885 - Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.
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1894 - The Dreyfus affair begins in France when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason.
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1910 - Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire, 21 firemen were killed
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1937 - The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic
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1944 - German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium. See Battle of the Bulge
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1944 - Vietnam People's Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Vietnam
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1964 - Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity
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1974 - Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.
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1988 - Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper , unionist and environmental activist, was assassinated.
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1989 - After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceauşescu's Communist dictatorship.
- 1989 - Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
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1990 - Lech Wałęsa sworn in as President of Poland
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1997 - Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas were massacred by paramilitary forces.
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1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard finds near Calatayud (Zaragoza) another van loaded by ETA with 750 kg of explosives (see related event on December 21, 1999).
- 1999 - Tandja Mamadou became President of Niger.
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2001 - Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, handed over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by Hamid Karzai.
- 2001 - Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
- 2001 - Cc the cat, the first cloned pet, was born.
Births
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1639 - Jean Racine, dramatist (other sources report December 21st as his birth date) (d. 1699)
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1666 - Guru Gobind Singh, (d. 1708)
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1694 - Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (b. 1768)
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1723 - Karl Friedrich Abel, German baroque composer (d. 1787)
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1805 - John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist
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1858 - Giacomo Puccini, composer (d. 1924)
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1860 - Austin Norman Palmer, populiser of handwriting style
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1862 - Connie Mack, baseball executive, manager (d. 1956)
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1866 - Käthe Paulus , Germany's first female parachutist (d. 1935)
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1869 - Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (d. 1935)
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1874 - Franz Schmidt, composer (d. 1939)
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1876 - Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, poet and editor (d. 1944)
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1883 - Edgar Varèse composer (d. 1965)
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1887 - Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d. 1920)
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1888 - J. Arthur Rank, producer (d. 1972)
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1899 - Gustav Gründgens, actor and film director (d. 1963)
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1905 - Pierre Brasseur , actor (d. 1972)
- 1905 - Kenneth Rexroth, American poet (d. 1982)
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1907 - Dame Peggy Ashcroft, actress (d. 1991)
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1907 - Doris Miles Disney , writer
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1912 - Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States
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1917 - Gene Rayburn, game show host (d. 1999).
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1922 - Barbara Billingsley, actress
- 1922 - Jack Brooks, American politician
- 1922 - Ruth Roman, actress (d. 1999)
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1944 - Steve Carlton, Baseball Hall of Famer
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1945 - Diane Sawyer, journalist
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1946 - Rick Nielsen, musician (Cheap Trick)
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1948 - Lynne Thigpen, actress (d. 2003)
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1949 - Robin Gibb, musician (The Bee Gees)
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1949 - Maurice Gibb, musician (The Bee Gees) (d. 2003)
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1951 - Charles DeLint , writer
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1951 - Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster
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1962 - Ralph Fiennes, actor
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1967 - Dan Petrescu, English Premiership club Chelsea and Romanian football (soccer) player.
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1969 - Myriam Bédard, biathlon athlete
Deaths
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1603 - Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (b. 1566)
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1738 - Constantia Jones, British prostitute (executed)
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1828 - William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (b. 1766)
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1880 - George Eliot, English writer (b. 1819)
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1884 - John Chisum , American cattle baron
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1899 - Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist (b. 1837)
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1902 - Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German sexologist (b. 1840)
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1936 - Dragutin Gorjanovic-Kramberger, Croatian paleontologist (b. 1856)
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1939 - Ma Rainey, blues singer (b. 1886)
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1940 - Nathanael West, writer (b. 1903)
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1942 - Franz Boas, German cultural anthropologist (b. 1858)
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1943 - Beatrix Potter, English writer (b. 1866)
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1965 - Richard Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster (b. 1913)
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1969 - Joseph von Sternberg , director
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1979 - Darryl F. Zanuck, producer (b. 1902)
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1980 - Karl Dönitz, German politician and U-boat commander (b. 1891)
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1988 - Chico Mendes, Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist, and environmental activist (assassinated) (b. 1944)
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1989 - Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1969 (b. 1906)
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1995 - Butterfly McQueen, actress
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2002 - Desmond Hoyte, President of Guyana
- 2002 - Joe Strummer, musician (b. 1952)
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2003 - Dave Dudley, singer (b. 1928)
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2004 - Doug Ault, Major League Baseball player (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances
External links
December 21 - December 23 - November 22 - January 22 -- listing of all days
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