December 19th

2012
Election of First female President of South Korea. Park Geun-hye is the eleventh President of South Korea and also holds the distinction of being the first female head of state in Northeast Asia. She assumed office in February 2013.
Park Geun-hye
2003
Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction.
Disarmament of Libya
1998
President Bill Clinton impeached on two counts by the House of Representatives.
Impeachment of Bill Clinton
1986
The Soviet Union announced it had freed dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile and pardoned his wife, Yelena Bonner.
Yasser Arafat
1984
Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong
1974
Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as vice president, replacing Gerald R. Ford, who became president when Richard M. Nixon resigned.
Gerald Ford
1972
Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
Apollo 17
1971
A Clockwork Orange released. The dystopian film was directed by Stanley Kubrick and was based on a novella of the same name by British author, Anthony Burgess. Based in a futuristic London, the film opened with critical acclaim, though the centrality of violence in it drew a lot of mainstream criticism. Today, the movie is considered to be one of the best movies of the 20th century.
A Clockwork Orange (film)
1958
1st radio broadcast from space (President Eisenhower voice "To all mankind, America's wish for Peace on Earth & Good Will to Men Everywhere").
SCORE (satellite)
1950
Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion.
History of Tibet (1950–present)
1946
War broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French.
History of Vietnam since 1945
1932
British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas.
BBC World Service
1922
Theresa Vaughn, 24, confesses in court in Sheffield, England, to being married 61 times over 5 years in 50 cities in three countries.
List of people from Texas
1907
A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa., killed 239 workers.
Darr Mine disaster
1886
Sherlock Holmes' The Adventure of Beryl Coronet begins on this date. The short detective story written by Arthur Conan Doyle and featuring detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and assistant Dr. Watson began on this date with the theft of 3 precious crystals from a coronet. The story is the 11th in a series of 12 stories contained in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
1843
Charles Dickens' Yuletide tale, "A Christmas Carol," was first published in Britain.
Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol)
1783
William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24.
William Pitt the Younger
1777
Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.
Military career of George Washington
1776
Thomas Paine published his first American Crisis essay, in which he wrote, 'These are the times that try men's souls.'.
James Monroe
1732
Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac.".
Poor Richard's Almanack
2021 · hello todayhappened.com