
1903 – Electric arc lamp sets fire to Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, leaving 602 people dead in one of the deadliest single-building blazes in American history.
1917 – A state record minus-37 degrees in Mountain City, Tennessee.
1924 – Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announces existence of other galactic systems at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
1933 – Government disallows National Socialist Party (NSB) membership for civil servants.
1936 – United Auto Workers stage first sit-down strike at Fisher Body Plant in Flint, Michigan.
1942 – New York City’s Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theater, initiating the term “Sinatramanie.”
1950 – “Sixty Minute Man” record single released by The Dominoes. It wins Billboard Song of the Year for 1951.
1950 – “Tennessee Waltz” sung by Patti Page hits #1 on the Billboard Pop Chart and stays there for nine weeks.
1953 – The first NTSC color television sets go on sale for about $1,175 from RCA.
1959 – USS George Washington, the first ballistic missile submarine, is commissioned.
1963 – TV game show “Let’s Make A Deal,” hosted by Monty Hall, debuts on NBC-TV.
1968 – Frank Sinatra first records “My Way” with lyrics written by Paul Anka and based on the French song “Comme d’habitude.”
1972 – President Richard Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam and announces peace talks.
1980 – “Wonderful World of Disney” makes its last performance on NBC-TV.
1988 – Oliver North subpoenas President Ronald Reagan and President-elect George H.W. Bush as defense witnesses for his upcoming trial on criminal charges stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal.
1996 – United Nations announces that a total of 21 contracts have been approved for the limited Iraqi oil sales under Resolution 986 that established the Oil-for-Food Program.
2005 – Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record set in the 1954-55 season for the latest tropical cyclone to form in the North Atlantic basin.
2013 – NFL head coach Mike Shanahan is fired by the Washington Redskins.
2019 – 86th Orange Bowl: #6 Florida State beats #24 Virginia 36-28.
2021 – Rare winter wildfire destroys nearly 1,000 homes at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in suburban neighborhoods between Boulder and Denver.