December 19
1732
Benjamin Franklin began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac.
1776
Thomas Paine published his first American Crisis essay, in which he wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
1843
Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol.”
1946
War broke out in Indochina when Ho Chi Minh attacked the French.
1972
Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
1984
Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
1998
President Bill Clinton impeached on two counts by the House of Representatives.
2003
Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction.
Birthdays
Richard Leakey
1944–, Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and government official.
Ford Frick
sportswriter and radio announcer (1894)
Sir Ralph Richardson
actor (1902)
Leonid Brezhnev
political leader (1906)
Jean Genet
playwright (1910)
Edith Piaf
cabaret singer (1915)
Doug Harvey
hockey player (1924)
Cicely Tyson
actress (1933)
Alberto Tomba
alpine skier (1966)
Alyssa Milano
actor (1972)
Jake Gyllenhaal
actor (1980)