December 18

Scott Winters December 18, 2023 0 Comments

A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.

TODAY IN HISTORY:

1787 – New Jersey became the third state to ratify the Constitution.

1796 – The “Monitor”, of Baltimore, MD, was published as the first Sunday newspaper.

1862 – The first orthopedic hospital was organized in New York, NY. It was called the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled.

1865 – U.S. Secretary of State William Seward issued a statement verifying the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment abolished slavery with the declaration: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

1898 – A new automobile speed record was set at 39 mph.

1903 – The Panama Canal Zone was acquired “in perpetuity” by the United States for an annual rent.

1915 – President Woodrow Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt at her Washington home.

1917 – The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed by the Senate and then officially proposed the states.

1927 – Michigan’s first solid yellow “no passing” lines were painted on the state’s highways. Signs were posted to let out-of-state drivers know what the lines meant.

1932 – The Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans in the first NFL Championship Game.

1935 – A $1 silver certificate was issued for the first time in the U.S.

1936 – Su-Lin, the first giant panda to come to the United States from China, arrived in San Francisco, CA. The bear was sold to the Brookfield Zoo for $8,750.

1953 – WPTZ, in Philadelphia, PA, presented a Felso commercial, it was the first color telecast seen on a local station.

1956 – The television game show “To Tell the Truth” debuted on CBS.

1957 – The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania went online. It was the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States. It was taken out of service in 1982.

1958 – Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite was launched.

1961 – The Number 1 song on this day, 62 years ago, was “The Lion Sleeps Tonight“, by the Tokens.

1963 – Ron Clarke set a world record when he ran six miles in 28 minutes and 15.6 seconds.

1963 – A winter storm dumped 3 feet of snow on Muskegon, MI.

1965 – Kenneth LeBel jumped 17 barrels on ice skates.

1966 – The animated TV special “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” aired for the first time on CBS.

1971 – Central Michigan University began using it’s Kelly Shorts Stadium.

1971 – Capitol Reef National Park was established in Utah.

1976 – The TV series “Wonder Woman”, starring Lynda Carter, debuted on ABC.

1979 – The sound barrier was broken on land for the first time by Stanley Barrett when he drove at 739.6 mph.

1985 – The movie “The Color Purple”, starring Oprah Winfrey, premiered in theaters.

1987 – Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street’s biggest insider-trading scandal. He only served about two years of the sentence.

1997 – The Michigan Gray Wolf Recovery and Management Plan was put into effect by the state Department of Natural Resources.

1998 – The House of Representatives began the debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning President Bill Clinton. It was only the second time in U.S. history that process had begun.

1999 – After living atop an ancient redwood in Humboldt County, CA, for two years, environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill came down, ending her anti-logging protest.

2001 – A fire damaged St. John Cathedral in New York, NY. The cathedral is the largest in the United States.

2002 – Nine competing designs for the World Trade Center site were unveiled. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. expected to choose a design by January 31, 2003.

2003 – Lee Malvo was found guilty of one murder in the October, 2002 shooting spree that killed 10 people around the Washington, DC area. A Virginia jury sentences him to life in prison.

2003 – Actor Adam Rich, once a star on TV’s “Eight Is Enough”, was arrested for driving onto a closed section of Interstate 10 and nearly striking a California Highway Patrol car.

2003 – In Santa Maria, CA, Michael Jackson was charged with seven counts of molesting a child under 14 and two counts of supplying the child with “an intoxicating agent”. Jackson’s lawyer denounced the allegations and said they were driven by money and revenge.

2009 – General Motors announced that it would shut down its Saab brand.

2009 – A Paris court ruled that Google was breaking French law with its policy of digitizing books and fined the company a $14,300-a-day fine until it rid its search engine of the literary extracts.

2009 – James Cameron’s movie “Avatar” was released in the United States. On January 26, the movie became the highest-grossing film worldwide.

2019 – The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and for obstruction of Congress, with the votes falling almost entirely along party lines. He’s only the third American president in history impeached by the House.

BIRTHDAYS:

Keith Richards – 80 years old (1943) – Guitarist (Rolling Stones)

Steven Spielberg – 77 years old (1946) Movie producer, director (“Saving Private Ryan”, “Schindler’s List”, “Bridge of Spies”, “Lincoln”, “Letters From Iwo Jima”, “Munich”, “The Color Purple”, “ET the Extra-Terrestrial”, “War Horse”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind)

Leonard Maltin – 73 years old (1950) – Film critic

Elliot Easton – 70 years old (1953) – Guitarist, singer (The Cars)

Ray Liotta – 69 years old (1954) – Actor (“Identity”, “Blow”, “Cop Land”, “Goodfellas”, “Field of Dreams”, “Smokin’ Aces”, “The Place Beyond the Pines”, “The Iceman”)

Brad Pitt – 60 years old (1963) – Actor (“12 Years a Slave”, “The Big Short”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Twelve Monkeys”, “Thelma and Louise”, “Legends of the Fall”, “Se7en”, “Meet Joe Black”, “Fight Club”, “Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13”, “Troy”, “Inglourious Basterds”, “The Counselor”, “Fury”, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”)

Stone Cold Steve Austin – 59 years old (1964) – Wrestler

Rachel Griffiths – 55 years old (1968) – Actress (TV’s “Brothers and Sisters”, “Six Feet Under”, movies “Blow”, “Hilary and Jackie”, “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, “Muriel’s Wedding”)

DMX – 53 years old (1970) – Rapper, actor (“Never Die Alone”, “Cradle 2 the Grave”, “Exit Wounds”, “Belly”)

Katie Holmes – 45 years old (1978) – Actress (TV’s “Dawson’s Creek”, “Ray Donovan”, movies “Batman Begins”, “First Daughter”, “The Gift”, “Disturbing Behavior”)

Christina Aguilera – 43 years old (1980) – Singer, music coach (TV’s “The Voice”)

Bridgit Claire Mendler – 31 years old (1992) – Actress, singer (“The Legend of Buddha”, “Alice Upside Down”, “The Clique”, “Labor Pains”)