December 18
1737
Violin maker Antonio Stradivari died in Cremona, Italy.
1787
New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1865
Slavery was abolished with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
1892
Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” premiered at St. Petersburg’s Maryinksy Theatre.
1944
The Supreme Court upheld the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans.
1956
Japan was admitted to the United Nations.
1957
The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania became the first civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States.
1969
The British Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.
2000
George W. Bush received 271 votes in the delayed Electoral College balloting.
2010
The Senate votes 65 to 31 in favor of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Clinton-era military policy that forbids openly gay men and women from serving in the military.
Birthdays
Steven Spielberg
1946–, American Film Director.
Paul Klee
artist (1879)
Ty Cobb
baseball player (1886)
Edwin Armstrong
engineer and radio inventor (1890)
Fletcher Henderson
jazz composer and pianist (1897)
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
air force general (1912)
Willy Brandt
political leader (1913)
Betty Grable
actress (1916)
Ossie Davis
actor, director, screenwriter (1917)
Ramsey Clark
attorney general (1927)
Keith Richards
musician, songwriter (1943)
Ray Liotta
actor (1954)
Brad Pitt
actor (1963)
DMX
rapper (1970)
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
tennis player (1971)
Katie Holmes
actor (1978)
Christina Aguilera
singer (1980)