December 18
1787 - New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1865 - The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified.
1892 - Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" premiered at St. Petersburg's Maryinsky Theatre.
1915 - President Woodrow Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt.
1917 - Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and sent it to the states for ratification.
1940 - Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. (Operation Barbarossa was launched in June 1941.)
1944 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s wartime evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that “concededly loyal” Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained.
1956 - Japan was admitted to the United Nations.
1957 - The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania became the first civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States.
1958 - The world's first communications satellite was launched by the United States aboard an Atlas rocket.
1969 - The British Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.
1972 - The United States began the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
1987 - Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street's biggest insider-trading scandal.
1998 - The House of Representatives debated articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.
1998 - South Carolina carried out the nation's 500th execution since capital punishment resumed in 1977.
2000 - The Electoral College met to cast its ballots with President-elect George W. Bush receiving the expected 271; Al Gore, however, received 266, one fewer than expected, because of a District of Columbia Democrat who left her ballot blank to protest the district's lack of representation in Congress.
2003 - A judge in Seattle sentenced confessed Green River killer Gary Ridgeway to 48 consecutive life terms.
2003 - Two federal appeals courts ruled the U.S. military could not indefinitely hold prisoners without access to lawyers or American courts.
2003 - A jury in Chesapeake, Virginia, convicted teenager Lee Boyd Malvo of two counts of murder in the Washington-area sniper shootings. (He was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
2008 - A U.N. court in Tanzania convicted former Rwandan army Col. Theoneste Bagosora of genocide and crimes against humanity for masterminding the killings of more than half a million people in a 100-day slaughter in 1994.
2008 - W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who’d revealed himself as “Deep Throat” three decades after the Watergate scandal, died in Santa Rosa, Calif., at age 95.
2009 - Reality TV stars Jon and Kate Gosselin, parents of eight children, divorced.
2010 - The U.S. Senate voted 65 to 31 in favor of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the Clinton-era military policy that forbids openly gay men and women from serving in the military. (President Barack Obama later signed it into law.)
2015 - Congress ended a chaotic year on a surprising note of bipartisan unity and productivity as it overwhelmingly approved a massive 2016 tax and spending package and sent it to President Barack Obama, who promptly signed it.
2018 - The Trump administration banned bump stocks, the firearm attachments that allowed semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns, and gave gun owners until late March to turn in or destroy the devices.
2018 - President Donald Trump authorized the Defense Department to create a new Space Command, an effort to better organize and advance the military's operations in space.
2019 - The House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump on two charges, sending his case to the Senate for trial; the articles of impeachment accused him of abusing the power of the presidency to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election and then obstructing Congress' investigation. At a Michigan rally that took place as the House voted to impeach him, a defiant Trump declared that the vote was a “suicide march” for the Democratic Party.
Birthdays
23 - Ronald Acuna Jr. (baseball player)
28 - Bridgit Mendler (actress/singer)
31 - Ashley Benson (actress)
31 - Emily Atack (actress)
32 - Lyrica Anderson (singer)
40 - Christina Aguilera (singer)
42 - Ravi Patel (actor)
42 - Katie Holmes (actress)
42 - Josh Dallas (actor)
44 - Randy Houser (country singer)
45 - Sia (singer)
45 - Trish Stratus (professional wrestler)
49 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (tennis player)
50 - DMX (rapper)
50 - Rob Van Dam (professional wrestler)
50 - Cowboy Troy (country singer)
52 - Casper Van Dien (actor)
52 - Rachel Griffiths (actress)
55 - Shawn Christian (actor)
56 - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (professional wrestler)
57 - Brad Pitt (actor)
59 - Angie Stone (singer)
64 - Ron White (comedian)
66 - Ray Liotta (actor)
70 - Leonard Maltin (movie critic)
74 - Steven Spielberg (director/producer)
77 - Keith Richards (musician)
82 - Roger Mosley (actor)
96 - Cicely Tyson (actress)
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Today in Sports History - December 18
1886 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia.
1949 - The Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Los Angeles Rams 14-0 to win the NFL Championship Game.
1961 - Wilt Chamberlain scores 78 points against the Los Angeles Lakers.
1962 - Wilt Chamberlain scores 62 points against the St. Louis Hawks.
1977 - The Cleveland Cavaliers retire Nate Thurmond's #42.
1983 - The San Diego Clippers end an NBA 29-game road losing streak.
2006 - The NBA announced fines and supsensions related to a fight that occurred during a game between the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks on December 16, 2006. Both teams were fined $500,000, Carmelo Anthony was suspended for 15 games and Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith were suspended 10 games.
1787 - New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1865 - The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified.
1892 - Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" premiered at St. Petersburg's Maryinsky Theatre.
1915 - President Woodrow Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt.
1917 - Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and sent it to the states for ratification.
1940 - Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. (Operation Barbarossa was launched in June 1941.)
1944 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s wartime evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that “concededly loyal” Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained.
1956 - Japan was admitted to the United Nations.
1957 - The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania became the first civilian nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States.
1958 - The world's first communications satellite was launched by the United States aboard an Atlas rocket.
1969 - The British Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.
1972 - The United States began the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
1987 - Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street's biggest insider-trading scandal.
1998 - The House of Representatives debated articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.
1998 - South Carolina carried out the nation's 500th execution since capital punishment resumed in 1977.
2000 - The Electoral College met to cast its ballots with President-elect George W. Bush receiving the expected 271; Al Gore, however, received 266, one fewer than expected, because of a District of Columbia Democrat who left her ballot blank to protest the district's lack of representation in Congress.
2003 - A judge in Seattle sentenced confessed Green River killer Gary Ridgeway to 48 consecutive life terms.
2003 - Two federal appeals courts ruled the U.S. military could not indefinitely hold prisoners without access to lawyers or American courts.
2003 - A jury in Chesapeake, Virginia, convicted teenager Lee Boyd Malvo of two counts of murder in the Washington-area sniper shootings. (He was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
2008 - A U.N. court in Tanzania convicted former Rwandan army Col. Theoneste Bagosora of genocide and crimes against humanity for masterminding the killings of more than half a million people in a 100-day slaughter in 1994.
2008 - W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who’d revealed himself as “Deep Throat” three decades after the Watergate scandal, died in Santa Rosa, Calif., at age 95.
2009 - Reality TV stars Jon and Kate Gosselin, parents of eight children, divorced.
2010 - The U.S. Senate voted 65 to 31 in favor of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the Clinton-era military policy that forbids openly gay men and women from serving in the military. (President Barack Obama later signed it into law.)
2015 - Congress ended a chaotic year on a surprising note of bipartisan unity and productivity as it overwhelmingly approved a massive 2016 tax and spending package and sent it to President Barack Obama, who promptly signed it.
2018 - The Trump administration banned bump stocks, the firearm attachments that allowed semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns, and gave gun owners until late March to turn in or destroy the devices.
2018 - President Donald Trump authorized the Defense Department to create a new Space Command, an effort to better organize and advance the military's operations in space.
2019 - The House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump on two charges, sending his case to the Senate for trial; the articles of impeachment accused him of abusing the power of the presidency to investigate a political rival ahead of the 2020 election and then obstructing Congress' investigation. At a Michigan rally that took place as the House voted to impeach him, a defiant Trump declared that the vote was a “suicide march” for the Democratic Party.
Birthdays
23 - Ronald Acuna Jr. (baseball player)
28 - Bridgit Mendler (actress/singer)
31 - Ashley Benson (actress)
31 - Emily Atack (actress)
32 - Lyrica Anderson (singer)
40 - Christina Aguilera (singer)
42 - Ravi Patel (actor)
42 - Katie Holmes (actress)
42 - Josh Dallas (actor)
44 - Randy Houser (country singer)
45 - Sia (singer)
45 - Trish Stratus (professional wrestler)
49 - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (tennis player)
50 - DMX (rapper)
50 - Rob Van Dam (professional wrestler)
50 - Cowboy Troy (country singer)
52 - Casper Van Dien (actor)
52 - Rachel Griffiths (actress)
55 - Shawn Christian (actor)
56 - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (professional wrestler)
57 - Brad Pitt (actor)
59 - Angie Stone (singer)
64 - Ron White (comedian)
66 - Ray Liotta (actor)
70 - Leonard Maltin (movie critic)
74 - Steven Spielberg (director/producer)
77 - Keith Richards (musician)
82 - Roger Mosley (actor)
96 - Cicely Tyson (actress)
=============================================
Today in Sports History - December 18
1886 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb was born in Narrows, Georgia.
1949 - The Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Los Angeles Rams 14-0 to win the NFL Championship Game.
1961 - Wilt Chamberlain scores 78 points against the Los Angeles Lakers.
1962 - Wilt Chamberlain scores 62 points against the St. Louis Hawks.
1977 - The Cleveland Cavaliers retire Nate Thurmond's #42.
1983 - The San Diego Clippers end an NBA 29-game road losing streak.
2006 - The NBA announced fines and supsensions related to a fight that occurred during a game between the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks on December 16, 2006. Both teams were fined $500,000, Carmelo Anthony was suspended for 15 games and Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith were suspended 10 games.