In 1831, Nat Turner led a violent slave rebellion in Virginia, resulting in the deaths of at least 55 white individuals. In the brutal aftermath, scores of Black people were killed in retaliation, and Turner was eventually executed.
The year 1858 marked the beginning of a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, both vying for a Senate seat in Illinois.
In 1944, representatives from the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China convened at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington to discuss the formation of what would become the United Nations.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower made history in 1959 by signing an executive order that officially recognized Hawaii as the 50th state of the United States.
On August 21, 1983, Filipino politician Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated at Manila International Airport upon his return from exile. His death paved the way for his widow, Corazon Aquino, to become the president of the Philippines three years later.
In 1991, a hardline coup attempt against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev unraveled due to a popular uprising led by Boris Yeltsin, then-President of the Russian Federation.
An 11-day standoff began in 1992 at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents sought to arrest white separatist Randy Weaver on charges related to illegal firearms. The siege’s first day saw the deaths of Weaver’s teenage son, Samuel, and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan.
NASA faced a significant setback in 1993 when engineers lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft just as it neared the red planet, jeopardizing a $980 million mission.
In 2000, the tragic end of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk’s crew was confirmed when divers announced that none of the 118 sailors had survived the disaster.
August 21, 2010, saw the beginning of operations at Iran’s first nuclear power plant, as Iranian and Russian engineers started loading fuel into the facility. Moscow assured the international community that the plant would be safeguarded to prevent the material from being used in weapons production.
In 2015, a heroic act on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris saw three Americans—U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and college student Anthony Sadler—along with British businessman Chris Norman, subdue and disarm a Moroccan gunman, averting a potential massacre.
In 2017, Americans experienced a rare coast-to-coast solar eclipse, the first of its kind since World War I, captivating onlookers along a 2,600-mile stretch across the country.
The year 2018 brought significant legal developments when Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges. Cohen revealed that Trump directed him to arrange payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to avoid damaging his presidential campaign. (Trump was later found guilty of 34 felony counts related to these payments in May 2024.)
Finally, in 2020, Joseph James DeAngelo, the former police officer infamously known as the Golden State Killer, expressed remorse in a Sacramento courtroom before receiving multiple life sentences for his decades-long spree of rapes and murders.
Today in History: December 21
A Look Back At Today: December 21
Terror Attack over Lockerbie
Sherman’s March To The Sea Ended
The first basketball game was played
The first newspaper crossword puzzle was published
Commonwealth of Independent States was formed
Today in History: December 20
A Look Back At Today, December 20
The Louisiana Purchase was completed.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” premiered at the Globe Theater.
The United States launched Operation Just Cause.
The United States Space Force was established.
Today in History: December 19
Today in History: December 19
In 1777, General George Washington led an army of more than 12,000 soldiers to Valley Forge.
In 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, concluding the Apollo program.
In 2011, North Korean announced the death of Kim Jong Il and proclaimed Kim Jong Un as the leader.
In 2022, the House Jan. 6 Committee urged the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against the previous president
Today in History: December 18
Today in History: December 18
In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was proclaimed in effect.
In 1892, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” publicly premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia; although now considered a classic, it received a generally negative reception from critics.
In 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
In 2011, the last convoy of heavily armored U.S. troops left Iraq, crossing into Kuwait in darkness in the final moments of a nearly nine-year war.
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