1776 – Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France.
1823 – “Visit from St. Nicholas” by C Moore published in Troy (NY) Sentinel.
1863 – Union General Ben “Beast” Butler is proclaimed a “felon, outlaw & common enemy of mankind” by Jefferson Davis.
1907 – 1st all-steel passenger railroad coach completed, Altoona, Pa.
1913 – US President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law.
1919 – Alice H. Parker patents gas heating furnace.
1928 – NBC sets up a permanent, coast-to-coast radio network.
1938 – Margaret Hamilton’s costume catches fire in filming of “The Wizard of Oz”
1943 – 1st telecast of a complete opera (Hansel & Gretel), Schenectady, NY.
1951 – 1st coast-to-coast televised football game (Dumont paid $75,000), LA Rams beat Cleveland Browns 24-17 in NFL championship game.
1954 – The first human kidney transport is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
1961 – Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food & medical supplies.
1963 – Beach Boys 1st appearance on “Shindig”
1982 – The United States Environment Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.
1987 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, serving a life sentence for attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford, escape from Alderson Prison.
1994 – Fearing arrest by the FBI, Whitey Bulger flees Boston, and successfully hides from law enforcement for the next 16 years.
1997 – US Agricultural Department estimates it costs $149,820 to raise a child to 18.
1997 – Terry Nichols found guilty of manslaughter in Oklahoma bombing.
1997 – Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson is quickest to reach 500 wins (682 games)
2016 – United Nations Security Council adopts a landmark resolution demanding a halt to all Israeli settlement in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. Resolution 2334 was moved by New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela and passed 14-0 with a US abstention.