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
1603 - Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Ahmed I .
1807 - The Embargo Act , forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress , at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson
1809 - The Non-Intercourse Act , lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France , passes the U.S. Congress
1849 - The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is canceled at the last second
1864 - Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman
1885 - Ito Hirobumi , a samurai , became the first Prime Minister of Japan .
1894 - The Dreyfus affair begins in France when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason .
1910 - Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire , 21 firemen were killed
1937 - The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic
1944 - German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne , Belgium . See Battle of the Bulge
1944 - Vietnam People's Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Vietnam
1964 - Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity
1974 - Grande Comore , Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros . Mayotte remains under French administration.
1988 - Chico Mendes , a Brazilian rubber tapper , unionist and environmental activist , was assassinated .
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 .
1990 - Lech Wałęsa sworn in as President of Poland
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.
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 .
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
1639 - Jean Racine , dramatist (other sources report December 21st as his birth date) (d. 1699 )
1666 - Guru Gobind Singh , (d. 1708 )
1694 - Hermann Samuel Reimarus , German philosopher and writer (b. 1768 )
1723 - Karl Friedrich Abel , German baroque composer (d. 1787 )
1805 - John Obadiah Westwood , British entomologist
1858 - Giacomo Puccini , composer (d. 1924 )
1860 - Austin Norman Palmer , populiser of handwriting style
1862 - Connie Mack , baseball executive, manager (d. 1956 )
1866 - Käthe Paulus , Germany's first female parachutist (d. 1935 )
1869 - Edwin Arlington Robinson , American poet (d. 1935 )
1874 - Franz Schmidt , composer (d. 1939 )
1876 - Filippo Tommaso Marinetti , poet and editor (d. 1944 )
1883 - Edgar Varèse composer (d. 1965 )
1887 - Srinivasa Aaiyangar Ramanujan , Indian mathematician (d. 1920 )
1888 - J. Arthur Rank , producer (d. 1972 )
1899 - Gustav Gründgens , actor and film director (d. 1963 )
1905 - Pierre Brasseur , actor (d. 1972 )
1905 - Kenneth Rexroth , American poet (d. 1982 )
1907 - Dame Peggy Ashcroft , actress (d. 1991 )
1907 - Doris Miles Disney , writer
1912 - Lady Bird Johnson , First Lady of the United States
1917 - Gene Rayburn , game show host (d. 1999 ).
1922 - Barbara Billingsley , actress
1922 - Jack Brooks , American politician
1922 - Ruth Roman , actress (d. 1999 )
1944 - Steve Carlton , Baseball Hall of Famer
1945 - Diane Sawyer , journalist
1946 - Rick Nielsen , musician (Cheap Trick )
1948 - Lynne Thigpen , actress (d. 2003 )
1949 - Robin Gibb , musician (The Bee Gees )
1949 - Maurice Gibb , musician (The Bee Gees ) (d. 2003 )
1951 - Charles DeLint , writer
1951 - Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor , Duke of Westminster
1962 - Ralph Fiennes , actor
1967 - Dan Petrescu , English Premiership club Chelsea and Romanian football (soccer) player.
1969 - Myriam Bédard , biathlon athlete
Deaths
1603 - Mehmed III , Ottoman Emperor (b. 1566 )
1738 - Constantia Jones , British prostitute (executed)
1828 - William Hyde Wollaston , English chemist (b. 1766 )
1880 - George Eliot , English writer (b. 1819 )
1884 - John Chisum , American cattle baron
1899 - Dwight L. Moody , American evangelist (b. 1837 )
1902 - Richard von Krafft-Ebing , German sexologist (b. 1840 )
1936 - Dragutin Gorjanovic-Kramberger , Croatian paleontologist (b. 1856 )
1939 - Ma Rainey , blues singer (b. 1886 )
1940 - Nathanael West , writer (b. 1903 )
1942 - Franz Boas , German cultural anthropologist (b. 1858 )
1943 - Beatrix Potter , English writer (b. 1866 )
1965 - Richard Dimbleby , journalist and broadcaster (b. 1913 )
1969 - Joseph von Sternberg , director
1979 - Darryl F. Zanuck , producer (b. 1902 )
1980 - Karl Dönitz , German politician and U-boat commander (b. 1891 )
1988 - Chico Mendes , Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist, and environmental activist (assassinated) (b. 1944 )
1989 - Samuel Beckett , Irish writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1969 (b. 1906 )
1995 - Butterfly McQueen , actress
2002 - Desmond Hoyte , President of Guyana
2002 - Joe Strummer , musician (b. 1952 )
2003 - Dave Dudley , singer (b. 1928 )
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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