This Day in History – December 22, 2011

1772 – Moravian missionary constructs 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny 1775 – Continental navy organized with 7 ships 1783 – Washington resigns his military commission as US Army’s commander-in-chief 1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson. 1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano). 1809 – The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, is passed by the U.S. Congress. 1864 – Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman, concluding his “March to the Sea”. 1870 – Jules Janssen flies in a balloon in order to study a solar eclipse 1877 – “American Bicycling Journal” first published (Boston MA) 1882 – First string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison 1894 – United States Golf Association is formed (New York NY) 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City. 1943 – WEB Du Bois elected first black member, National Institute of Arts & Letters 1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: “Nuts!” 1956 – Colo is born, the first gorilla to be bred in captivity. 1962 – 1,000,000th NBA point scored 1962 – Harris County voters approve all-weather stadium for Houston Colt .45s 1968 – Julie Nixon weds Dwight David Eisenhower 1976 – 35 Unification church couples wed in New York NY 1984 – Bernhard Hugo Goetz shoots four black would-be muggers on an NYC subway train 1987 – Mötley Crue’s Nikki Sixx overdoses from Heroin (See: The Heroin Diaries: A Year and a Half in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star) 1988 – 2 robbers wearing police uniforms rob armored truck of $3 million in New Jersey 1989 – After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceauşescu’s Communist dictatorship. 1990 – Iraq announces it will never give up Kuwait 1990 – Israeli ferry capsizes killing 21 US servicemen 1990 – Lech Walesa sworn in as Poland’s first popularly elected president 1992 – The Archives of Terror are discovered. 2001 – Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63. 2010 – The repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning on homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama.]]]]> ]]>