December 20: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans, Louisiana.
2. 1860 - South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
3. 1941 - World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
4. 1946 - The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York, New York.
5. 1951 - The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
6. 1957 - Boeing's first jet-powered aircraft, the 707, makes its first flight.
7. 1977 - Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
8. 1984 - The Summit Tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England in the Pennines.
9. 1996 - NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
10. 2007 - Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
11. Famous Birthdays: Samuel Mudd (American physician), Harvey Samuel Firestone (American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company), Jaroslav Heyrovský (Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate), James Thomson (American biologist), Jim Carr (American educator)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: December 19

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: December 21

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.