| On December 3, the USS Alfred, USS Andrew USS Doria, USS Cabot, and USS Columbus. On December 22, 1775, Esek Hopkins was appointed the naval commander-in-chief, and officers of the navy were commissioned (including First Lieutenant John Paul Jones). With this small fleet, complemented by the USS Providence, and USS Wasp, Hopkins led the first major Naval action of the Continental Navy, in early March 1776. |
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| This law was passed by Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807. It stopped all trade between America and any other country. The goal was to get Britain and France, who were fighting each other at the time, to stop restricting American trade. The plan didn’t work and the act ended in 1809. |
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| In the course of the march the Union army had seized thousands of horses and mules and freed countless slaves. Sherman calculated damage done at about $100,000,000. His telegram to Lincoln was run in newspapers all over the North and it created a sensation. "I beg to present to you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred fifty heavy guns, also about 25,000 bales of cotton." |  |
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| In 1870, Jules César Janssen flew in a balloon in order to study the solar eclipse. Using the balloon he escaped the German siege of Paris to study the eclipse in Algeria. He reached Oran (or Wahran), Algeria, but the eclipse was clouded out. |  |
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| In 1882, the first string of Christmas Tree lights was created by Thomas Edison's associate, Edward H. Johnson. He decorated a Christmas tree at his home. Previously, trees were decorated with wax candles from the early days of the Christmas tree tradition. The first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps were manufactured in strings of nine sockets by the Edison General Electric Co. of Harrison, N.J. and advertised in the Dec 1901 issue of the Ladies' Home Journal. Each socket took a miniature 2 candlepower carbon-filament lamp operating on 32 volts. |
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| The Amateur Golf Association of the United States - soon to be called the United States Golf Association is formed on Dec. 22. Charter members are Newport Golf Club, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, The Country Club (Brookline, Mass.), St. Andrew's Golf Club (Yonkers, N.Y.), and Chicago Golf Club. |
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| After the 1915 season the owners of the American and National Leagues bought out half of the owners (Pittsburgh, Newark, Buffalo, and Brooklyn) of the Federal League teams. Two Federal League owners were allowed to buy struggling franchises in the established leagues: Phil Ball, owner of the St. Louis Terriers, was allowed to buy the St. Louis Browns of the AL, and Charlie Weeghman, owner of the Chicago Whales, bought the Chicago Cubs. Both owners merged their teams into the established ones. |
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| WEAF, in New York City, aired the first broadcast of a prize fight from ringside. The fight was broadcast from Madison Square Garden where Joe Lynch defeated Peter Herman to retain the bantamweight title. Bantamweights top the scales at 118 pounds. |
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| In 1937, the Lincoln Tunnel in New York opened to traffic, passing 1.5 miles under the Hudson River and connecting Weehawken, N.J., and Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Othmar H. Ammann, designer of many of the 20th century's greatest bridges including a number in New York. A second tube of the Lincoln Tunnel to the north of the first was opened on 1 Feb 1945, and a third tube was added south of the first on 25 May 1957, making it the world's only three-tube underwater tunnel for vehicles. |
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| In 1938, a coelacanth, a primitive fish thought extinct, was discovered. Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was curator of the museum in the port town of East London, northeast of Cape Town, South Africa, and always interested in seeing unusual specimens. Hendrik Goosen, captain of the trawler Nerine, called her to see his catch of the day before, made at about 70-m depth, off the Chalumna River southwest of East London. She spotted an unusual 5-ft fish in his "trash" fish pile. It was pale mauvy-blue with iridescent silver markings. |
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| After playing for several years in Cleveland and Buffalo, the band began an important engagement at the Cotton Club, Harlem, in 1934. Two "hot" recordings made in 1934, “Jazzmocracy” and “White Heat,” with arrangements by Will Hudson, immediately attracted attention, and by 1935 the group, then called Jimmie Lunceford's Orchestra, had achieved a national reputation as an outstanding black swing band. “Blues in the Night” was recorded for the movie of the same name. |
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| In 1949 Howard signed to Mercury Records, and during the early 50s supplied the label with such major hits as "Maybe It's Because", "Be Anything, But Be Mine", "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" and "Sin". |  |
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| Mitch Miller, who was in charge of talent at Columbia Records, noted Al in 1950, and he joined Columbia and got his new stage name at Miller's urging: Miller is supposed to have said, "my name is Mitchell and you seem a nice guy, so we'll call you Guy Mitchell." Many of his songs have a decided rock beat to them, including "Knee Deep in the Blues", "Heartaches By the Number", "Rock-a-Billy", "The Same Old Me" and his biggest hit, "Singing the Blues", which was #1 for 10 weeks in 1956. |
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| The Chipmunks (a.k.a. David Seville and the Chipmunks) were a novelty act created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. The Chipmunks made a splash on the charts in the late 1950s with "Witch Doctor" (1958), "The Chipmunk Song" (1958) and "Alvin's Harmonica" (1959), and the Alvin cartoon show premiered on TV in 1961. |  |
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| The Continental League was a proposed 8-team baseball league which never got off the ground but still had significant impact on baseball. It is generally accepted that Major League Baseball's expansion in 1961-1962 was in direct response to pressure from the Continental League. |
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| The millionth point occurred in either Detroit-Chicago, New York-Boston, or Syracuse-San Francisco game. |
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| This was the best-selling British single of 1962. It was also the first song by a British group to hit #1 in the US. This did not happen again until The Beatles "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in 1964. An instrumental with space sound effects, this is about the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched shortly before this was written. |  |
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| The Astrodome was masterminded by a colorful Houstonian named Judge Roy Hofheinz, who in the early 1960s paid $5 million for 495 acres of swampland 6 miles south of downtown Houston, spent $1.2 million to drain it, and then sold 180 acres to Harris County for $5 million, retaining the remaining 315 acres to develop into the privately-owned complex that today contains a hotel, a convention hall complex, and the Astroworld Amusement park. |
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| The SR-71, unofficially known as the "Blackbird," is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft. The first flight of an SR-71 took place on December 22, 1964, and the first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later, 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, California, in January 1966. |  |
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| The movie portraited ife of a Russian doctor/poet who, although married, falls for a political activist's wife and experiences hardships during the Bolshevik Revolution. The cast included Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, and Alec Guinness. |  |
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| It was not until 1965 that a national upper limit of 70mph was introduced for all roads, including motorways. Since 1977 the speed limit for cars and motorcycles on dual carriageways has been 70mph, with a 60mph speed limit on single carriageways. |
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| When Peter Press Maravich stepped onto a basketball court, spectators and opponents had to have a carefully trained eye because "Pistol Pete" rarely duplicated the same move twice. Perhaps the greatest creative offensive talent in history, Maravich's offensive repertoire was endless: He could dazzle with Harlem Globetrotter-like dribbling, toss a no-look pass with pinpoint accuracy or sink a fall-away jumper with two defenders draped on him. The basketball court was "Pistol Pete's" personal playground; every night was a show and no one, not even Maravich, knew what scoring records he might shatter. |
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| He was defeated in the Austrian presidential elections in 1971, but was then elected to succeed U Thant as United Nations Secretary-General the same year. He was re-elected in 1976 despite some opposition. |  |
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| Mitchell’s 1971 “Blue” album firmly established her as one of pop music's most remarkable and insightful talents. Predictably, she turned away from “Blue's” incandescent folk with 1972's “For the Roses,” the first of the many major stylistic turns she would take over the course of her daring career. Backed by rock-jazz performer Tom Scott, Mitchell's music began moving into more pop-oriented territory, a change typified by the single "You Turn Me On (I'm a Radio)," her first significant hit. |
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| Following the success of "Behind Closed Doors," RCA re-released "Tomorrow Night," which reached the Top 30, but it was "The Most Beautiful Girl," the proper follow-up to his first number one single, that established him as a star. "The Most Beautiful Girl" spent three weeks at the top of the country charts and two weeks at the top of the pop charts. |  |
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| Esposito was also the league's top scorer in 1970/71, with an incredible 152 points on 76 goals and 76 assists; in 1971/72, with 133 points on 66 goals and 67 assists; in 1972/73, with 130 points on 55 goals and 75 assists; and in 1973/74, with 145 points on 68 goals and 77 assists. In 1,282 regular season games, he scored 1,590 points on 717 goals and 873 assists. He had 137 points, on 61 goals and 76 assists, in 130 playoff games. |
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| “Your Arms Too Short To Box With God,” conceived and directed by Vinnette Carroll, is a gospel musical about the passion of Jesus Christ. Having premiered on Broadway in 1976, the play is based on the gospel of St. Matthew and is presented through song, sermon and dance. |
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| This has been used or referred to in many movies and TV shows, including Shrek, The Sweetest Thing (Cameron Diaz sings it), American Splendor, The General's Daughter, Will And Grace, Six Feet Under and The Simpsons. Before this became a hit, there weren't many places you could get a Pina Colada in the US. After this came out, you could get Pina Coladas just about anywhere. |  |
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| Bonds played sparingly in 1980 and 1981 without much success. He retired in 1981 with 332 career homers, 461 steals, and 1,757 whiffs. His 189 strikeouts in 1970 and 187 K’s in 1969 were the top two single-season totals in baseball history when he retired. At the time he left the game, only Willie Stargell and Reggie Jackson had struck out more. |  |
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| The title and lyrics were very racy for a Pop song, which made it more difficult to find someone to record it. Madonna had released only one album and was known as a dance singer, so her record company didn't mind having her record a song that would generate some controversy. It became a huge hit and created a new image for Madonna that set her apart from other singers. |  |
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| Lech Walesa was the first freely elected president of Poland since World War II. In September 1980, Mr. Walesa was chosen to be first national chairman of the Solidarity party. This party was outlawed a year later, but Mr. Walesa continued his leadership of the movement until its relegalization in 1989. |  |
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| His debut hit was 1987's "Party Your Body," which grew from a regional success to national club smash; it was also the title track of his 1988 debut LP, which went gold. With 1989's In My Eyes, Stevie B. launched his first Top 40 hit, "I Wanna Be the One"; its follow-up, "Love Me for Life," soon cracked the Top 40 as well. With 1990's "Because I Love You," he reached the pinnacle of his success, with the single's accompanying album Love & Emotion also generating a pair of Top 20 hits, "I'll Be by Your Side" and the title cut. |
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| The most crucial task for the astronauts is replacing Hubble's six gyroscopes, four of which have failed due to corroded wires, shutting down the NASA observatory since November 13. Besides replacing the gyroscopes, used to aim the telescope and keep it steady, the crew will install a new data recorder, radio transmitter, fine guidance sensor and battery-voltage regulators. |  |
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1775 Continental navy organized
with 7 ships
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1807 Congress passes Embargo Act, to force peace
between Britain & France
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1864 General William T. Sherman sends a Christmas
message to President Lincoln
More ...
1870 Jules Janssen flies in a balloon in order
to study a solar eclipse
More ...
1877 "American Bicycling Journal" first
published (Boston, MA)
1882 First string of Christmas tree lights created
by Thomas Edison
More ...
1894 United States Golf Association is formed
(New York, NY)
More ...
1915 Federal Baseball League is dissolved
More ...
1920 WEAF, in New York City, aired the first broadcast
of a prize fight from ringside
More ...
1934 Miss Theo Trowbridge sets female bowling
record 702 pins
1937 Lincoln Tunnel (New York, NY) opens to traffic
More ...
1938 First coelacanth discovered
More ...
1941 Jimmie Lunceford & his orchestra recorded
"Blues in the Night"
More ...
1943 Manufacturers get permission to use synthetic
rubber for baseball core
1951 "Sin (It's No Sin)" by Eddy Howard
topped the charts
More ...
1953 Jack Dunn III, owner of Baltimore Orioles
in International League, turns name over to newly relocated St Louis Browns
1956 "Singing the Blues" by Guy Mitchell
topped the charts
More ...
1958 The Chipmunks were at the #1 position on
the music charts
More ...
1959 New York Ranger goalie Marcel Paille wears
a customized mask
1959 Continental League awards its last franchise
to Dallas-Fort Worth
More ...
1962 1,000,000th NBA point scored
More ...
1962 "Telstar" by the Tornados topped
the charts
More ...
1962 Harris County voters approve all-weather
stadium for Houston Colt .45s
More ...
1964 Lockheed SR-71 spy aircraft reaches 2194
mph (record for a jet)
More ...
1965 Director David Lean's "Dr Zhivago"
premieres
More ...
1965 Great-Britain sets maximum speed at 70 MPH
More ...
1969 Pete Maravich sets NCAA record of hitting
30 of 31 foul shots
More ...
1971 UN General Assembly ratifies Kurt Waldheim
as Secretary-General
More ...
1972 Joni Mitchell earns a gold
record for the album, "For the Roses"
More ...
1973 "The Most Beautiful Girl" by Charlie
Rich topped the charts
More ...
1974 Phil Esposito, Boston, became 6th NHLer to
score 500 goals
More ...
1976 "Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God"
opens at Lyceum NYC for 429 performances
More ...
1979 "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)"
by Rupert Holmes topped the charts
More ...
1980 Cardinals release outfielder Bobby Bonds
More ...
1981 London was the scene of a rock ’n’
roll auction where buyers paid $2,000 for a letter of introduction from Buddy
Holly to Decca Records.
1984 Madonna's "Like a Virgin" single
goes #1 for 6 weeks
More ...
1990 Lech Walesa sworn in as Poland's first popularly
elected president
More ...
1990 "Because I Love You" by Stevie
B topped the charts
More ...
1996 Steelers' Kordell Stewart runs quarterback
record 80 yds for TD
1997 Merck baldness pill for men approved by FDA
1999 Two astronauts repair the crippled
Hubble Space Telescope
More ...