December 20

December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.

Events:

• 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed.
• 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.
• 1922 - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics formed
• 1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed
• 1989 - United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
• 1995 - NATO begins peacekeping in Bosnia
• 1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
• 2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.

Births:

• 1579 (baptized) - John Fletcher[?], playwright (+ 1625)
• 1629 - Pieter de Hooch[?], painter (+ 1684)
• 1792 - Nicolas Charlet[?], painter (+ 1845)
• 1805 - Thomas Graham, Father of colloid chemistry (+ 1869)
• 1833 - Samuel Mudd, physician, possible conspirator in the assassinatiion[?] of Abraham Lincoln (+ 1883)
• 1856 - Ferdinand Avenarius[?], author (+ 1923)
• 1868 - Harvey Firestone[?], automobile pioneer (+ 1938)
• 1881 - Branch Rickey[?], baseball executive (+ 1965)
• 1890 - Yvonne Arnaud[?], actress
• 1893 - Charlotte Bühler[?], psychologist
• 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, Australian politician
• 1898 - Irene Dunne, actress (+ 1990)
• 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff[?], physicist, inventor
• 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (+ 1942)
• 1922 - George Roy Hill, film director
• 1923 - James Leasor[?], writer, mystery
• 1924 - Friederike Mayröcker[?], author
• 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff[?], politician
• 1930 - Noel Ferrier[?], producer and actress
• 1942 - Bob Hayes, track and field star, American football star (+ 2002)
• 1946 - Uri Geller, illusionist
• 1952 - Jenny Agutter[?], actress
• 1957 - Billy Bragg, singer, songwriter
• 1957 - Mike Watt, bassist
• 1958 - Billy Bragg, famous musician
• 1959 - Tracey Ullman, actress, comedienne

Deaths:

• 1939 - Nazi Captain Hans Langsdorff committed suicide
• 1954 - James Hilton, author
• 1961 - Moss Hart, author
• 1968 - John Steinbeck, writer
• 1973 - Bobby Darin, singer
• 1976 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago, Illinois
• 1982 - Artur Rubinstein[?], musician
• 1994 - Dean Rusk, former United States Secretary of State
• 1996 - Carl Sagan, astronomer, writer
• 1999 - Hank Snow, country music singer

Holidays and Observances:

December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December