This Day in History
20 Dec 1046
Synod of Sutri German King Henry III removes Popes Gregory VI
20 Dec 1046
Benedictus IX & Silvester III & names Bishop Siutger Pope Clemens II at the Council of Sutri
20 Dec 1448
Pope Nicholas V appoints Rudolf of Diepholt Bishop of Utrecht as cardinal
20 Dec 1585
English fleet & Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester reach Vlissingen
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Funky Drummer is recorded
Hip hop was born when DJs began rapping over dance records and no dance records were better suited to rapping than those that included a breakbeat...
The U.S. invades Panama
The United States invades Panama in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking cha...
NATO assumes peacekeeping duties in Bosnia
During a brief military ceremony in Sarajevo Bosnia-Herzegovina French General Bernard Janvier head of the United Nations peacekeeping force formally transf...
Elvis Presley is drafted
On this day in 1957 while spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland his newly purchased Tennessee mansion rock-and-roll star Elvis Presley receives his dr...
President Johnson visits Australia, Thailand, and Vietnam
President Lyndon B. Johnson attends a memorial service for Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt in Melbourne and then visits Vietnam Thailand and the Vatican...
National Liberation Front formed
North Vietnam announces the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of the South at a conference held somewhere in the South. This orga...
Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt get landmark goals in same game
On December 20 1983 ice hockey stars Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt of the Montreal Canadiens score their 500th and 400th career goal respectively in a 6-0 rou...
Jackson submits Indian treaty to Congress
On this day in 1836 President Andrew Jackson presents Congress with a treaty he negotiated with the Ioway Sacs Sioux Fox Otoe and Omaha tribes of the Misso...
The French surrender Orleans to the U.S.
Without a shot fired the French hand over New Orleans and Lower Louisiana to the United States.In April 1803 the United States purchased from France the 8280...
John Fletcher is baptized
On this day playwright John Fletcher is baptized in Sussex England.Fletcher was a prodigy who was admitted to Cambridge before he turned 12. His history is u...
Michael Moore’s Roger & Me opens
On this day in 1989 Roger & Me a documentary by Michael Moore about his quest to interview Roger Smith who was then chairman and chief executive officer ...
Ferry collides with oil tanker near Manila
A passenger ferry collides with an oil tanker near Manila in the Philippines on this day in 1987 leaving 4000 people dead. The ferry the Dona Paz was severe...
Man chased to his death in Howard Beach hate-crime
On this day in 1986 three black men are attacked by a group of white teenagers yelling racial slurs in Howard Beach a predominately white middle-class Itali...
Berlin Wall opened for first time
More than two years after the Berlin Wall was constructed by East Germany to prevent its citizens from fleeing its communist regime nearly 4000 West Berliners...
Raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi
On this day in 1862 Confederate General Earl Van Dorn thwarts Union General Ulysses S. Grants first attempt to capture Vicksburg Mississippi when Van...
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