Updated December 12, 2011, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 13, 1981, authorities in Poland imposed martial law in a crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. Martial law formally ended in 1983.
On Dec. 13, 1903, Carlos Montoya, the Spanish-American guitarist who popularized flamenco guitar music, was born. Following his death on March 3, 1993, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1642 Dutch navigator Abel Tasman arrived in present-day New Zealand. 1769 Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter. 1862 Confederate forces dealt Union troops a major defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia. 1981 Authorities in Poland imposed martial law in a crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. 1988 PLO chairman Yasser Arafat addressed the U.N. General Assembly in Geneva, where it had reconvened after the United States refused to grant Arafat a visa to visit New York. 1989 South African President F.W. de Klerk met for the first time with imprisoned African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, at de Klerk’s office in Cape Town. 1996 The U.N. Security Council chose Kofi Annan of Ghana to be the world body’s seventh secretary-general. 2000 Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency 36 days after Election Day. 2001 The Pentagon released a captured videotape of Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaida leader said the deaths and destruction achieved by the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded his “most optimistic” expectations. 2001 Five suspected Islamic militants killed nine people in an attack on India’s parliament before being killed themselves. 2001 President George W. Bush served formal notice that the United States was pulling out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia. 2002 Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as Boston archbishop because of the priest sex abuse scandal. 2003 Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole under a farmhouse in Adwar, near his hometown of Tikrit. 2007 Shareholders of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, approved a takeover by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. 2007 The Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball was released, implicating seven MVPs and 31 All-Stars. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Country singer Taylor Swift turns 22 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Actor Christopher Plummer turns 82 years old today.
AP Photo/Vince Bucci
1920 George P. Shultz, Former Secretary of State, turns 91 1925 Dick Van Dyke, Actor, turns 86 1930 Lou Adler, Music producer, turns 81 1941 John Davidson, Singer, turns 70 1943 Ferguson Jenkins, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 68 1948 Ted Nugent, Rock musician, turns 63 1950 Wendie Malick, Actress (“Just Shoot Me”), turns 61 1950 Tom Vilsack, Secretary of agriculture, turns 61 1953 Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, turns 58 1954 Steve Forbert, Rock singer, turns 57 1956 Morris Day, R&B singer-actor (The Time), turns 55 1957 Steve Buscemi, Actor, turns 54 1959 Johnny Whitaker, Actor (“Family Affair”), turns 52 1960 Richard Dent, Football Hall of Famer, turns 51 1961 Gary Zimmerman, Football Hall of Famer, turns 50 1967 Jamie Foxx, Actor, singer, turns 44 1969 Sergei Fedorov, Hockey player, turns 42 1975 James Kyson Lee, Actor (“Heroes”), turns 36 1981 Chelsea Hertford, Actress (“Major Dad”), turns 30 1981 Amy Lee, Rock singer (Evanescence), turns 30 Historic Birthdays
Carlos Montoya 12/13/1903 – 3/3/1993 Spanish-American flamenco guitarist. Go to obituary »
85 Carlos Gozzi 12/13/1720 – 4/4/1806
Italian poet and dramatist72 Sir William Hamilton 12/13/1730 – 4/6/1803
English diplomat and archaeologist68 Joseph Howe 12/13/1804 – 6/1/1873
Canadian statesman and publisher86 Lawrence Lowell 12/13/1856 – 1/6/1943
American lawyer, educator, and president of Harvard University (1909-1933)73 Emily Carr 12/13/1871 – 3/2/1945
Canadian painter and writer76 Alvin York 12/13/1887 – 9/2/1964
American military hero of World War I90 Marc Connelly 12/13/1890 – 12/21/1980
American playwright and journalist84 Archie Moore 12/13/1913 – 12/9/1998
American boxer
Category: Uncategorized
On This Day: December 12
Updated December 11, 2011, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 12, 1963, Kenya gained its independence from Britain.
On Dec. 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra, the American singer and actor who elevated popular song into an art, was born. Following his death on May 14, 1998, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1745 John Jay, statesman and the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, was born in New York City. 1787 Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1870 Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first black congressman. 1897 “The Katzenjammer Kids,” the pioneering comic strip by Rudolph Dirks, debuted in the New York Journal. 1914 The New York Stock Exchange re-opened for the first time since July 30. The market had shut down when World War I broke out. 1915 Singer Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, N.J. 1917 Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Neb. 1925 The first motel, the Motel Inn, opened, in San Luis Obispo, Calif. 1947 The United Mine Workers union withdrew from the American Federation of Labor. 1963 Kenya gained its independence from Britain. 1975 Sara Jane Moore pleaded guilty to trying to kill President Gerald R. Ford. 1998 The House Judiciary Committee approved a fourth article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton and submitted the case to the full House. 2003 Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the “Free Willy” movies, died in a Norwegian fjord. 2009 Houston became the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Jennifer Connelly turns 41 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
Actor Bill Nighy (“Pirates of the Caribbean” movies) turns 62 years old today.
AP Photo/Graham Hughes
1923 Bob Barker, TV game show host (“The Price is Right”), turns 88 1924 Ed Koch, Former New York City mayor, turns 87 1937 Connie Francis, Singer, actress, turns 74 1940 Dionne Warwick, R&B singer, turns 71 1943 Dickey Betts, Rock musician (The Allman Brothers), turns 68 1950 Duane Chase, Actor (Kurt in “The Sound of Music”), turns 61 1952 Cathy Rigby, Actress, Olympic gymnast, turns 59 1957 Sheila E., Singer, musician, turns 54 1962 Tracy Austin, Tennis Hall of Famer, turns 49 1975 Mayim Bialik, Actress (“Blossom”), turns 36 Historic Birthdays
Frank Sinatra 12/12/1915 – 5/14/1998 American actor and singer.Go to obituary »
61 Alvaro de Bazan Santa Cruz 12/12/1526 – 2/9/1588
Spanish naval commander83 John Jay 12/12/1745 – 5/17/1829
First chief justice of the United States73 William Lloyd Garrison 12/12/1805 – 5/24/1879
American abolitionist64 Stand Watie 12/12/1806 – 9/9/1871
Cherokee chief67 Gustave Flaubert 12/12/1821 – 5/8/1880
French novelist80 Edvard Munch 12/12/1863 – 1/23/1944
Norweigan painter72 Arthur Garfield Brisbane 12/12/1864 – 12/25/1936
American editor and writer51 Alvin Kraenzlein 12/12/1876 – 1/6/1928
American Olympic athlete; first competitor to win four gold medals in a single Olympics73 Arthur Garfield Hays 12/12/1881 – 12/14/1954
American lawyer and defender of civil liberties79 Edward G. Robinson 12/12/1893 – 1/26/1973
American actor and singer85 Henry Armstrong 12/12/1912 – 10/24/1988
American boxer65 John Osborne 12/12/1929 – 12/24/1994
English playwright
On This Day: December 11
Updated December 10, 2011, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind.
On Dec. 11, 1882, Fiorello H. La Guardia, the former mayor of New York City for three consecutive terms, was born. Following his death on Sept. 20, 1947, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1816 Indiana became the 19th state. 1936 Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. 1941 Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, which responded in kind. 1946 UNICEF (the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) was established. 1972 Man landed on the moon for the last time during the Apollo 17 mission. 1981 The U.N. Security Council chose Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru to be its fifth secretary-general. 1994 Russian troops rolled into breakaway republic of Chechnya in a failed bid to restore Moscow’s control over the region. 1997 More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to take steps to control greenhouse gas emissions. 1998 The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton. 2000 Shortstop Alex Rodriguez agreed to a $252 million 10-year deal with the Texas Rangers, the most lucrative sports contract in history to date. 2002 A congressional report found that intelligence agencies before Sept. 11, 2001, were poorly organized, poorly equipped and slow to pursue clues that might have prevented that day’s terrorist attacks. 2008 Financial manager Bernard Madoff was arrested, accused of running a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that destroyed thousands of people’s life savings and wrecked charities. (Madoff later pleaded guilty and is serving150 years in federal prison.) 2009 Tiger Woods announced on his website that he was taking an indefinite leave from golf to try to save his marriage to Elin Nordegren. (The couple divorced in August 2010.) Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress-comedian Mo’Nique turns 44 years old today.
AP Photo/Matt Sayles
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., turns 70 years old today.
AP Photo/Cliff Owen
1931 Rita Moreno, Actress, turns 80 1939 Tom Hayden, Activist, turns 72 1942 Donna Mills, Actress (“Knots Landing”), turns 69 1943 John Kerry, U.S. senator, D-Mass., turns 68 1944 Lynda Day George, Actress, turns 67 1944 Brenda Lee, Singer, turns 67 1947 Teri Garr, Actress, turns 64 1954 Jermaine Jackson, Singer (The Jackson 5), turns 57 1958 Nikki Sixx, Rock musician (Motley Crue), turns 53 1966 Gary Dourdan, Actor (“CSI”), turns 45 1973 Mos Def, Rapper, actor, turns 38 1996 Hailee Steinfeld, Actress, turns 15 Historic Birthdays
Fiorello H. La Guardia 12/11/1882 – 9/20/1947 New York City mayor. Go to obituary »
45 Leo X 12/11/1475 – 12/1/1521
Italian pope86 Sir David Brewster 12/11/1781 – 2/10/1868
Scottish physicist65 (Louis-)Hector Berlioz 12/11/1803 – 3/8/1869
French composer and conductor46 Alfred de Musset 12/11/1810 – 5/2/1857
French poet and playwright66 Robert H.H. Koch 12/11/1843 – 5/27/1910
German physician77 Annie Jump Cannon 12/11/1863 – 4/13/1941
American astronomer87 Max Born 12/11/1882 – 1/5/1970
German physicist and Nobel Prize winner68 Erskine (Hamilton) Childers 12/11/1905 – 11/17/1974
Irish statesman and fourth president (1973-74)62 Sir Kenneth MacMillan 12/11/1929 – 10/29/1992
Scottish-English choreographer
On This Day: December 10
Updated December 9, 2011, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 10, 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
On Dec. 10, 1851, Melvil Dewey, the American librarian famous for creating the Dewey Decimal Classification system , was born. Following his death on Dec. 26, 1931, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1520 Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant or face excommunication. 1817 Mississippi was admitted to the union as the 20th state. 1948 The U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights. 1965 The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. 1967 Singer Otis Redding died at age 26 in the crash of his private plane in Wisconsin. 1980 Rep. John W. Jenrette, D-S.C., resigned to avoid being expelled from the House following his conviction on charges related to the FBI’s Abscam investigation. 1984 South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize. 1994 Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize. 1998 Six astronauts opened the doors to the new international space station. 1998 The Palestinian leadership scrapped constitutional clauses rejecting Israel’s right to exist. 2001 “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first in a three-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy trilogy, premiered in London. 2002 Former President Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy in the Middle East in the 1970s. 2007 Former Vice President Al Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a call for humanity to rise up against a looming climate crisis. 2007 NFL star Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for bankrolling a dogfighting operation and killing dogs that underperformed. 2007 Cristina Fernandez was sworn in as Argentina’s first elected female president. 2009 President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a humble acknowledgment of his scant accomplishments and a robust defense of the U.S. at war. 2009 James Cameron’s 3-D film epic “Avatar” had its world premiere in London. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor-director Kenneth Branagh turns 51 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
Actress Emmanuelle Chriqui turns 34 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1950 John Boozman, U.S. senator, R-Ark., turns 61 1952 Susan Dey, Actress (“L.A. Law,” “The Partridge Family”), turns 59 1956 Rod Blagojevich, Former governor of Illinois, turns 55 1957 Michael Clarke Duncan, Actor, turns 54 1961 Nia Peeples, Actress, turns 50 1974 Meg White, Rock musician (The White Stripes), turns 37 1985 Raven-Symone, Actress (“That’s So Raven,” “The Cosby Show”), turns 26 Historic Birthdays
Melvil Dewey 12/10/1851 – 12/26/1931 American librarian and inventor of the Dewey Decimal classification system. Go to obituary »
73 (Giovanni) Battista Guarini 12/10/1538 – 10/7/1612
Italian poet and dramatist? Adriaen von Ostade 12/10/1610 – ?/2/1685
Dutch painter and printmaker63 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet 12/10/1787 – 9/10/1851
American philanthropist67 Cesar Franck 12/10/1822 – 11/8/1890
Belgian-French Romantic composer80 George Macdonald 12/10/1824 – 9/18/1905
Scottish novelist55 Emily Dickinson 12/10/1830 – 5/15/1886
American poet62 Adolf Loos 12/10/1870 – 8/23/1933
Austrian architect78 Nelly Sachs 12/10/1891 – 5/12/1970
German poet and dramatist88 Mary Norton 12/10/1903 – 8/29/1992
English children’s author82 Morton Gould 12/10/1913 – 2/21/1996
American composer and pianist
On This Day: December 9
Updated December 8, 2011, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 9, 1992, Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation.
On Dec. 9, 1912, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, the American politician who was the Speaker of the U.S House of Representatives for 11 years , was born. Following his death on Jan. 5, 1994, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1608 Poet John Milton was born in London. 1854 The poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was published in England. 1907 Christmas seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, Del., post office. The proceeds went to fight tuberculosis. 1940 British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II. 1941 China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy. 1958 The anti-Communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianapolis. 1975 President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default. 1992 Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. 1993 The Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos marked for elimination under an arms control treaty. 1995 Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., was chosen to head the NAACP. 2000 The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida presidential vote count. 2002 United Airlines filed the biggest bankruptcy in aviation history after losing $4 billion in the previous two years. 2004 Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was constitutional. 2008 Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on suspicion of scheming to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for cash or a job for himself in the new administration. (Blagojevich was convicted of lying to the FBI; he awaits re-trial on 23 other charges.) Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor Kirk Douglas turns 95 years old today.
AP Photo/Charles Sykes
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., turns 45 years old today.
AP Photo/Don Heupel
1928 Dick Van Patten, Actor (“Eight is Enough”), turns 83 1930 Buck Henry, Actor, writer, turns 81 1934 Judi Dench, Actress, turns 77 1938 Deacon Jones, Football Hall of Famer, turns 73 1941 Beau Bridges, Actor, turns 70 1942 Dick Butkus, Football Hall of Famer, turns 69 1947 Tom Daschle, Former U.S. senator, D-S.D., turns 64 1949 Tom Kite, Golfer, turns 62 1950 Joan Armatrading, Rock singer, turns 61 1953 John Malkovich, Actor, turns 58 1957 Donny Osmond, Singer, turns 54 1959 Mario Cantone, Comedian, turns 52 1962 Felicity Huffman, Actress (“Desperate Housewives”), turns 49 1969 Jakob Dylan, Rock musician (Wallflowers), turns 42 1970 Kara DioGuardi, Songwriter, TV personality (“American Idol”), turns 41 1972 Tre Cool, Rock musician (Green Day), turns 39 1974 Canibus, Rapper, turns 37 1978 Jesse Metcalfe, Actor, turns 33 1980 Simon Helberg, Actor (“The Big Bang Theory”), turns 31 Historic Birthdays
Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill 12/9/1912 – 1/5/1994 (1977-86) American politician and longest serving speaker of the House of Representatives. Go to obituary »
65 John Milton 12/9/1608 – 11/8/1674
English poet and scholar43 Carl Wilhelm Scheele 12/9/1742 – 5/21/1786
Swedish chemist73 Comte Claude-Louis Berthollet 12/9/1748 – 11/6/1822
French chemist69 Clarence Birdseye 12/9/1886 – 10/7/1956
American businessman and pioneer of frozen foods80 Emmett Kelly 12/9/1898 – 3/28/1979
American circus clown70 Dalton Trumbo 12/9/1905 – 9/10/1976
American screenwriter and novelist85 Grace Murray Hopper 12/9/1906 – 1/1/1992
American admiral59 John Cassavetes 12/9/1929 – 2/3/1989
American actor and film director
