December 20
is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.
Events
 217 - The papacy of Pope Zephyrinus ends.
1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
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.
1951 - Nuclear power first harvested when EBR-1 powers four light bulbs.
1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
1973 - The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
1984 - The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines.
1988 - The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
1989 - Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1995 - An American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757 crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
1996 - NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
2001 - Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002): President of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa is forced out of office.
2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
2005 - 2005 New York City transit strike: New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.
Births
1537 - King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
1566 - Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher (d. 1612)
1579 - (baptized) John Fletcher, English playwright (d. 1625)
1626 - Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (d. 1692)
1629 - Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
1717 - Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (d. 1787)
1786 - Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
1792 - Nicolas Charlet, French painter (d. 1845)
1833 - Samuel Mudd, American physician (d. 1883)
1838 - Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster, theologian, and author (d. 1926)
1841 - Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1932)
1860 - Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
1861 - Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
1865 - Elsie De Wolfe, American socialite and interior decorator (d. 1950)
1868 - Harvey Firestone, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
1886 - Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player (d. 1974)
1890 - Yvonne Arnaud, French-born actress (d. 1958)
1890 - Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
1898 - Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, American physicist and inventor (d. 1967)
1902 - Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
1917 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
1922 - George Roy Hill, American film director (d. 2002)
1926 - Sir Geoffrey Howe, British politician
1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician
1927 - Kim Young-sam, President of South Korea
1933 - Jean Carnahan, U.S. Senator
1938 - John Harbison, American composer
1944 - Bobby Colomby, American musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1945 - Peter George Criscoula, American drummer and singer (KISS)
1946 - Uri Geller, Israeli psychic
1946 - Dick Wolf, American television series creator
1947 - Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner
1949 - Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
1952 - Jenny Agutter, English actress
1954 - Michael Badalucco, American actor
1957 - Billy Bragg, English singer and songwriter
1957 - Mike Watt, American bassist
1957 - Joyce Hyser, American actress
1957 - Anna Vissi, Greek singer
1960 - Nalo Hopkinson, Canadian writer
1963 - Infanta Elena of Spain, Duchess of Lugo
1965 - Rich Gannon, American football player
1966 - Chris Robinson, American singer (Black Crowes)
1970 - Nicole DeBoer, Canadian actress
1976 - Aubrey Huff, baseball player
1978 - Njitap Geremi, Cameroon footballer
1980 - Ashley Cole, English footballer
1990 - JoJo, American child singer
Deaths
217 - Pope Zephyrinus
860 - King Ethelbald of Wessex
910 - Alfonso III of Leon
1022 - Elvira Mendes, wife of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
1494 - Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet
1524 - Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician
1539 - Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer
1590 - Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)
1722 - Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
1723 - Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (b. 1652)
1740 - Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English military officer and statesman (b. 1675)
1768 - Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
1812 - Sacagawea, Shoshone guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
1929 - Émile Loubet, 7th President of France (b.1838)
1937 - Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
1941 - Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
1954 - James Hilton, American author (b. 1900)
1961 - Moss Hart, American author (b. 1904)
1961 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
1968 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1973 - Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain (assassinated) (b. 1903)
1973 - Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
1974 - André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
1976 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
1982 - Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist (b. 1887)
1984 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (b. 1946)
1989 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
1994 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
1996 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
1997 - Denise Levertov, English-born poet (b. 1923)
1997 - Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
1998 - Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
1998 - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)
1999 - Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)
2000 - Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Indian statesman, politician, and philanthropist (b. 1920)
2001 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
2001 - Léopold Sédar Senghor, first President of Senegal (b. 1906)
Holidays and observances
R.C. Saints - Saint Dominic of Silos
Also see December 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
External links
BBC: On This Day
December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days
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