1799 – George Washington is eulogized by Colonel Henry Lee as “1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in hearts of his countrymen”
1848 – 1st gold seekers arrive in Panama en route to San Francisco.
1865 – James H Mason (Mass) patents 1st US coffee percolator.
1914 – US Government protest British interference with American merchant ships at sea, on the same day Germans announced they will treat food as contraband, subject to seizure; weakens America’s protest.
1919 – Yankees & Red Sox reach agreement on transfer of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
1924 – Judy Garland, 2 1/2, billed as Baby Frances, makes her show business debut.
1931 – Pulitzer Prize-winning musical play “Of Thee I Sing” by George and Ira Gershwin premieres on Broadway, New York City.
1933 – FM radio patent granted to American engineer Edwin Howard Armstrong.
1941 – Winston Churchill becomes first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the US Congress, warning that Axis would “stop at nothing”
1946 – Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas opens (start of an era)
1950 – Gillette & Mutual buy All Star & World Series rights ($6M for 6 years)
1960 – National Football League Championship, Franklin Field, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Eagles beat Green Bay Packers, 17-13; lone playoff defeat for Packers coach Vince Lombardi before Packers established dynasty.
1964 – Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” single goes #1 & stays #1 for 3 weeks.
1971 – Muhammad Ali finishes off German Jurgen Blin with a thundering right cross for a 7th-round knockout in a non-title heavyweight boxing contest in Zurich, Switzerland.
1982 – TIME’s Man of the Year is a computer.
1991 – Chuck Knolls retires as NFL coach after 23 years.
1992 – NY Jet announcer Marty Glickman retires at 75.
1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado.
2001 – Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) records one of their largest 1-day jumps of the year as traders become convinced that OPEC will follow through on production cuts.
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