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Revision as of 02:59, 26 December 2002 by Eloquence (talk | contribs) (fixes)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.
Events:
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed.
- 1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States.
- 1915 - Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli
- 1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police founded.
- 1922 - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics formed
- 1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed
- 1989 - United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
- 1995 - NATO begins peacekeping in Bosnia
- 1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
- 2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
Births:
- 1579 (baptized) - John Fletcher, playwright (+ 1625)
- 1629 - Pieter de Hooch, painter (+ 1684)
- 1792 - Nicolas Charlet, painter (+ 1845)
- 1833 - Samuel Mudd, physician, possible conspirator in the assassinatiion of Abraham Lincoln (+ 1883)
- 1856 - Ferdinand Avenarius, author (+ 1923)
- 1868 - Harvey Firestone, automobile pioneer (+ 1938)
- 1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive (+ 1965)
- 1893 - Charlotte Bühler, psychologist
- 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, Australian politician
- 1898 - Irene Dunne, actress (+ 1990)
- 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, physicist, inventor
- 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (+ 1942)
- 1922 - George Roy Hill, film director
- 1924 - Friederike Mayröcker, author
- 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, politician
- 1942 - Bob Hayes, track and field star, American football star (+ 2002)
- 1946 - Uri Geller, illusionist
- 1957 - Billy Bragg, singer, songwriter
- 1959 - Tracey Ullman, actress, comedienne
Deaths:
- 1954 - James Hilton, author
- 1961 - Moss Hart, author
- 1968 - John Steinbeck, writer
- 1973 - Bobby Darin, singer
- 1976 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago, Illinois
- 1982 - Artur Rubinstein, musician
- 1994 - Dean Rusk, former United States Secretary of State
- 1996 - Carl Sagan, astronomer, writer
- 1999 - Hank Snow, country music singer
Holidays and Observances:
See Also:
December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December