Today in History:
1824
The presidential election between John Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford, and Henry Clay was turned over to the House of Representatives due to the lack of an electoral-vote majority.
1887
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes appeared for the first time in print in the story "A Study in Scarlet."
1955
Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her front-section bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala.
1959
Twelve nations, including the United States, signed a treaty setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve free from military activity.
1997
Representatives from more than 150 countries gathered at a global warming summit in Kyoto, Japan, and over the course of ten days forged an agreement to control the emission of greenhouse gases. President Bush pulled the U.S. out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.
1998
Exxon and Mobil agreed to merge, creating the world's largest corporation.
1791
The Bill of Rights took effect with Virginia's ratification of it.
1890
Sioux Indian chief Sitting Bull was killed by Native American police.
1916
The French defeated the Germans in the Battle of Verdun.
1939
The movie Gone With the Wind premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
1944
Band leader Glenn Miller disappeared in a plane crash over the English Channel.
1961
Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court for organizing the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.
1964
Canada adopted its national flag, a red maple leaf on a white background.
1966
Animated-cartoon pioneer and movie producer Walt Disney died in Los Angeles.
1989
A demonstration that turned into a popular uprising in Romania began the downfall of Nicolae Ceausescu.
1170
Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by four knights acting under the orders of Henry II.
1845
Texas became the 28th state in the United States.
1851
The first Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) opened in Boston.
1890
The last major battle of the Indian Wars, at Wounded Knee Creek, took place with hundreds of Indian men, women, and children massacred.
1937
The Constitution of Ireland, changing the Irish Free State into Eire, went into effect.
1940
During World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.
1989
Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.
1996
A peace agreement was signed, ending 36 years of conflict in Guatemala.
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
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