1776 – Rhode Island establishes wage and price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors.
1862 – Union ironclad ship “Monitor” sank off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1904 – First New Year Eve’s celebration held in Times Square, New York City.
1918 – Kid Gleason replaces Pants Rowland as Chicago White Sox manager. Team reached the World Series but lost in the “Black Sox” betting scandal. Gleason was not involved.
1930 – US tobacco industry produced a billion cigarettes.
1935 – Charles Darrow patents the board game Monopoly and goes on to be the first millionaire game designer.
1945 – Ratification of the United Nations Charter completed.
1955 – The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. company to make over $1 billion in a year.
1961 – National Football League Championship, City Stadium: Green Bay Packers shut out New York Giants 37-0. It’s the first of five NFL titles won in seven season span by Packers and head coach Vince Lombardi.
1966 – The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” hits #1 and stays there for seven weeks.
1967 – Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump the Caesar’s Palace Fountain in Las Vegas, breaking his pelvis, femur, hip and both ankles.
1972 – NFC Championship, RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.: The Redskins beat the Dallas Cowboys 26-3.
1977 – Ted Bundy escapes from jail in Colorado.
1981 – CNN Headline News cable TV channel debuts.
1988 – “The Fog Bowl”, a heavy, dense fog rolls over Soldier Field in Chicago during second quarter of the Bears vs. the Philadelphia Eagles NFC Divisional Playoff Game. Fog cuts visibility to 15-20 yards. Bears win 20-12.
1997 – Intel cuts price of Pentium II-233 MHz from $401 to $268.
1999 – Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting President.
2004 – Jamie Dimon named as CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
2007 – The Massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ends.
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