|
What happened in history on this day: December 20?
Since 1995, I have been collecting information on a variety of topics,
creating several timelines of history.
Here you will find specific events from those databases
for this day, on the topics of personal computers, video games, the Walt Disney Company,
Chevrolet Corvettes, A&W Root Beer, Sweden, and Canadian coins.
On December 20 in ...
- 1996 - Apple Computer announces it will buy the NeXT Software company for about US$400 million in cash and Apple stock. NeXT Software CEO Steve Jobs will become an advisor to Apple chairman and CEO Gilbert Amelio.
- 1999 - Intel releases the 750 and 800 MHz Pentium III processors. Prices are US$803 and US$851 respectively, in 1000-unit quantities.
- 1946 - Disney releases the Goofy film Double Dribble to theaters.
- 1956 - Disney releases the sixth People and Places film, Disneyland, U.S.A., to theaters.
- 1956 - Buena Vista releases Disney's live-action feature film Westward Ho the Wagons to theaters in the US. The film is based on the novel by Mary Jane Carr.
- 1961 - Disney releases the Goofy film Aquamania to theaters.
- 1968 - Disney releases the animated short film Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day to theaters.
- 1968 - Buena Vista releases the live-action feature film The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit to theaters.
- 1971 - Roy Oliver Disney dies of a massive brain hemorrhage, at age 78. Roy was CEO of Walt Disney Productions for 40+ years, and president for 25+ years.
- 1971 - Donn Tatum becomes chairman and chief executive officer of Walt Disney Productions.
- 1971 - Card Walker becomes president of Walt Disney Productions. Mountain Born.
- 1972 - Disney releases the documentary film The Magic of Walt Disney World.
- 1972 - Buena Vista releases the live-action feature film Snowball Express to theaters. The film is based on the book Chateau Bon Vivant by Frankie and John O'Rear.
- 1974 - The National Broadcasting Company airs The Rockford Files TV show in the USA. Disneyland and the Matterhorn attraction are mentioned.
- 1974 - Buena Vista generally releases the film The Island at the Top of the World to theaters in the US.
- 1974 - Disney releases the animated short film Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too to theaters.
- 1975 - Disney releases the live-action short film Fantasy on Skis to theaters in the US. This is a shortened version of the show that aired on TV in 1962.
- 1981 - The Fantasyland Theater at Disneyland closes.
- 1983 - The TV special A Disney Christmas Gift airs on CBS.
- 1987 - The Disney Channel airs the final College Bowl '87 game show.
- 1989 - The Grenadines of St. Vincent issues ten postage stamps depicting Disney characters in classic cars.
- 1991 - Touchstone Pictures releases the live-action feature film Father of the Bride to theaters.
- 1991 - The film Beauty and the Beast is released to theaters in the Philippines.
- 1993 - The Gambia issues eleven postage stamps depicting various Disney characters participating winter sports.
- 1993 - Guyana issues thirty postage stamps depicting scenes from the film Aladdin.
- 1993 - Maldives issues 26 postage stamps depicting scenes from Disney's Peter and the Wolf.
- 1996 - Disney releases the live-action feature film Shadow Conspiracy to theaters in Taiwan.
- 2000 - Comedy Central airs the South Park TV show in the USA. A musical number is a spoof of the Disney film The Lion King. The sequence parodies the opening sequence from the movie along with the song "The Circle of Life"
- 2002 - Ariel's Grotto restaurant opens at Paradise Pier in Disney California Adventure.
- 1955 - Zora Arkus-Duntov drives EX87/5951 to just under 163 MPH at General Motors' Desert Proving Ground near Mesa, Arizona. The mule Corvette incorporates Duntov's special camshaft, giving the 307-ci engine 275 horsepower.
- 1939 - Captain Langsdorff of the pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee kills himself.
- 1941 - (0400 hours) Japanese forces land at Davao.
- 1941 - On Hong Kong Island, Japanese forces reach Deep Water Bay, succeeding in splitting the island defenders into two groups.
- 1941 - In treaty negotiations with the British, Soviet leader Josef Stalin drops demand for immediate recognition of USSR frontiers at war's end.
- 1942 - (evening) Britain's Oboe air navigation system is tried operationally for the first time. Six Mosquito bombers attack a power station at Lutterade in Holland. Three planes succeed in their bombing.
- 1944 - Dwight Eisenhower places British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in charge of all Allied forces north of the German bulge, including US 1st and 9th Armies.
- 1944 - In Germany, Lieutenant Colonel Caesar von Hofacker is executed, at age 48.
- 1944 - Two German panzer divisions bypass resistance at Bastogne, France, advancing around the town on the north and south.
- 1965 - The USSR issues four postage stamps honoring the heroism of cities during the war.
- 1991 - Marshall Islands issues two postage stamps marking the 50th anniversary of the first combat of the American Flying Tigers.
- 1991 - Sierra Leone issues fifteen postage stamps marking the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
- 1996 - Swedish Riksbank says it will investigate assertions by the World Jewish Congress that looted Nazi gold from Holocaust victims had been deposited in Swedish banks.
- 1996 - German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and Czech Foreign Minister Josef Zieleniec meet in Prague, and initial a document in which German appologizes for Adolf Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic expresses regret for the postwar expulsion of Germans from the Sudetenland.
- 1962 - The Stena Line company begins operations, as M/S Östersjön leaves Göteborg for Skagen.
- 1996 - Swedish Riksbank says it will investigate assertions by the World Jewish Congress that looted Nazi gold from Holocaust victims had been deposited in Swedish banks.
- 1938 - An Order in Council continues the prohibition of the export of gold coins, until December 31, 1939.
- 1996 - A Royal proclamation, effective January 1, 1997, sets the 1c coin as 19.1 mm diameter, made of bronze.
- 2002 - Danielle Wetherup resigns as Master of the Royal Canadian Mint.
- 1859 - US Mint issues first advertisment announcing availability of Proof coins for collectors.
- 1878 - Former Dahlonega Mint building destroyed by fire.
- 1958 - President Dwight Eisenhower approves and announces design change for cent from Wheat Heads to Lincoln Memorial.
- 1894 - Day Six 1T Australia versus England; Australia need 177 to win, all out 166.
- 1894 - England beats Australia by ten runs in the first six-day Test Cricket.
- 1920 - Bert Collins scores 104 on Test Cricket debut versus England at Sydney Cricket Ground.
- 1921 - American League votes to return to best-of-7 World Series of Baseball, while National League votes best-of-9. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis casts deciding vote for best-of-7.
- 1926 - Saint Louis Cardinals trade Roger Hornsby to New York Giants for Frankie Frisch and Jimmy Ring.
- 1929 - Heinie Wagner replaces Bill Carrigan as Boston Red Sox manager.
- 1930 - Learie Constantine cricket 100 in 52 minutes West Indies versus Tasmania (10x4, 1x6, 1x5).
- 1932 - Queensland all out 74 versus Victoria, Bert Ironmonger (age 50) 7-13.
- 1937 - Bill O'Reilly takes 9-41 for New South Wales in cricket against South Australia.
- 1940 - Connie Mack acquires controlling interest in the Philadelphia Athletics for US$42,000.
- 1959 - Jasu Patel takes 9-69, India versus Australia at Kanpur.
- 1966 - NBA awards Seattle Supersonics a franchise for 1967-68 season.
- 1973 - American League President Joe Cronin refuses to allow Dick Williams to manage New York Yankees.
- 1973 - Montreal Canadiens' Henri Richard scores his 1,000th NHL point.
- 1978 - Don Blasingame becomes the first American not of Japanese descent to be named as a manager of a Japanese team. The former major league second baseman will pilot the Hanshin Tigers.
- 1980 - NBC broadcasts New York Jets' 24-17 win over Miami Dolphins without audio.
- 1981 - Cleveland Browns set team records for most fumbles (9) and most turnovers (10).
- 1981 - Doug Small (Winnipeg Jets) ties NHL record scoring at 5 second mark.
- 1982 - Super Bowl XX is awarded to the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
- 1983 - Guy Lafleur, Montreal Canadians, becomes 10th NHL player to score 500 goals.
- 1983 - New York Islanders score their most goals (11) versus Pittsburgh Penguins.
- 1985 - Denis Potvin passes Bobby Orr as NHL defenseman scorer (916 points).
- 1985 - Howard Cosell retires from television sports after 20 years with ABC.
- 1987 - 76th Davis Cup: Sweden beats India in Gothenburg (5-0).
- 1987 - Nancy Lopez/Miller Barber win LPGA Mazda Golf Championship.
- 1990 - Robert F X Sillerman purchases WAFL New York-New Jersey Knights for $11 million.
- 1991 - NHL grants permanent membership to Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators.
- 1900 - Giacobini discovers a comet (will be first comet visited by spacecraft).
- 1948 - James Thomas Mangan of Chicago, Illinois, USA declares creation of the Nation of Celestial Space.
- 1977 - First space walk made by G Grechko from Salyut.
- 2019 - The United States founds the United States Space Force, a branch of the United States Air Force, dedicated to space warfare.
- 1790 - First successful US cotton mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, Rhode Island).
- 1820 - Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between ages 21 and 50.
- 1860 - South Carolina's legislature votes 169-0 to pass the "Ordinance of Secession" declaring "the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved."
- 1861 - Battle of Dranesville, Virginia.
- 1862 - Battle of Holly Spring, Mississippi, CSA.
- 1862 - Battle of Kelly's Ford, Virginia, CSA.
- 1862 - CSA Brigadier-General Nathan B Forrest occupies Trenton, Kentucky, USA.
- 1864 - Battle of Fort Fisher, North Carolina.
- 1876 - Hannah Omish, at age 12, is youngest ever hanged in US.
- 1878 - Former Dahlonega Mint building is destroyed by fire.
- 1880 - New York's Broadway is lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way".
- 1883 - International cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls.
- 1892 - Pneumatic automobile tire is patented, in Syracuse, New York, USA.
- 1893 - First state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia.
- 1907 - Explosion at coal mine in Yolande, Alabama, USA, kills 91.
- 1919 - US House of Representatives restricts immigration.
- 1928 - First international dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine, USA for Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- 1938 - Vladimir K Zworykin (Pennsylvania, USA) receives patent on the Iconoscope TV system.
- 1944 - Battle of Bastogne, Germans surround US 101st Airborne.
- 1945 - Rationing of auto tires ends in US.
- 1956 - Montgomery, Alabama, removes race-based seat assignments on its buses.
- 1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1978 - Harry R Haldeman, President Richard Nixon's White House chief of staff released from jail.
- 1984 - 33 unknown keyboard (piano) works of Johann Sebastion Bach are found in the Yale library.
- 1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1985 - Position of American Poet Laureate established (Robert Warren is first).
- 1986 - Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
- 1988 - NBC signs lease to stay in New York City for 33 more years.
- 1989 - American forces launch Operation Just Cause in an attempt to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. 13,000 U.S. troops are sent to occupy Panama City, along with the 12,000 already there.
- 1990 - Pentagon warns Saddam Hussein that US air power is ready to attack on January 15.
- 1991 - A Missouri court passes the death sentence on Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
- 1996 - Apple Computer announces it will buy the NeXT Software company for about US$400 million in cash and Apple stock. NeXT Software CEO Steve Jobs will become an advisor to Apple chairman and CEO Gilbert Amelio.
- 1999 - The Vermont Supreme Court orders the state to legalize same-sex unions.
- 2005 - New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike for three days, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.
- 2007 - A group of activist Lakota Indians send a letter to the United States State Department declaring their secession from the Union.
- 2019 - The United States founds the United States Space Force, a branch of the United States Air Force, dedicated to space warfare.
- 2020 - In Hawaii, USA, Kilauea volcano erupts.
Other history:
- 69 - General Vespasianus occupies Rome.
- 1699 - Peter the Great orders Russian New Year changed - September 1 to January 1.
- 1780 - England declares war on Netherlands.
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to US for US$27 million.
- 1879 - Tom Edison privately demonstrates incandescent light at Menlo Park, California.
- 1919 - Canadian National Railways established (North America's longest, 50,000 KM).
- 1922 - 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR).
- 1987 - Worst peacetime shipping disaster, Dona Paz ferry sinks after collision with oil tanker Vector; 1,749 confirmed deaths (probably closer to 3,000).
- 1988 - Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's department store, London, England.
- 1989 - US troops invade Panamá and oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him.
- 1999 - Portugal returns Macau to China.
vvv advertisement vvv
^^^ advertisement ^^^
You can pick a particular day to view that day's events in history.
Bookmark this URL: http://kpolsson.com/today/ and revisit each day.
(this URL will automatically re-direct to the file containing the current day's events)
Or, visit my Timelines of History page.
|