What Happened On
Photo Credit: Pratyeka
Photo Credit: Pratyeka
Trivial Pursuit
December 15, 1979
The board game Trivial Pursuit is invented by Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott. Over 15,000,000 were sold in 1984 alone.
Gone with the Wind
December 15, 1939
The film version of Margaret Mitchell's American Civil War drama Gone with the Wind is released. It would go on to win 8 Academy Awards. Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy). However, she was racially segregated from her co-stars at the awards ceremony and had to sit at a separate table at the back of the room.
Sitting Bull Killed
December 15, 1890
The Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull is killed when a scuffle ensues while he was being arrested. Afraid that Sitting Bull was about to leave the reservation, U.S. Indian Agent James McLaughlin sent Indian agency policeman to arrest him. They surrounded his house and told him the Indian Affairs agent needed to see him. When he refused to go with them, they attempted to use force. The Sioux villagers were enraged and one shot the leader of the policeman, Lt. Henry Bullhead, who then shot Sitting Bull in the chest. Another policeman then shot Sitting Bull in the head. A fight erupted in which eight policeman were killed, including Lt. Bullhead, and seven of Sitting Bull's supporters were killed. Sitting Bull died a few hours later.
First U.S. Armed Bank Robbery
December 15, 1863
Postmaster Edward Green walked into the First National Bank on Pleasant Street in Malden, Massachusetts, shot the 17-year-old bookkeeper who was the bank president's son, and stole $5,000. The directors of the bank offered a $6,000 reward for the arrest of the murderer.
Green was caught the following year and confessed. He was executed in 1866.
Bill of Rights
December 15, 1791
The Bill of Rights is ratified, providing the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. They provided guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia did not officially ratify it until 1939.
Letterman Served with Restraining Order
December 15, 2005
A Santa Fe, New Mexico woman files a restraining order against New York based late-night TV host David Letterman, claiming he used coded words to ask her to marry him and to train her as his co-host. She claims this all started in 1993 when she sent him "thoughts of love" and he responded in code words and gestures, asking her to come East. She also claimed in her six-page application for the restraining order that Letterman had asked her to marry him during a televised "teaser" for his show by saying, "Marry me, Oprah," noting that "Oprah" was his code name for her. Letterman denied the accusations.
Chess
December 15, 1992
Bobby Fischer is indicted for his Yugoslavian chess match with Boris Spassky.
Homosexuality Declared Not Mental Illness
December 15, 1973
The American Psychiatric Association votes 13-0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders in the DSM-II. The diagnosis was replaced with the category of "sexual orientation disturbance."
Gemini 7 as seen from Gemini 6 during rendezvous
Gemini 7 as seen from Gemini 6 during rendezvous
First Manned Rendezvous in Space
December 15, 1965
U.S. astronaut Wally Schirra maneuvers the Gemini 6 spacecraft to within 1 foot (30 cm) of its sister craft Gemini 7. The two spacecrafts were not equipped with docking equipment, but maintained station-keeping for more than 20 minutes. The first successful space docking would occur three months later.
Passport using name of "Ricardo Klement" that Eichmann used to enter Argentina in 1950
Passport using name of "Ricardo Klement" that Eichmann used to enter Argentina in 1950
Nazi War Criminal Adolf Eichmann Sentenced to Death
December 15, 1961
The German SS officer Adolf Eichmann, who organized the transportation of Jews to concentration camps for "the final solution" during World War II, is sentenced to death by an Israeli court for war crimes. He was hanged the following May.
After the war Eichmann was captured by the U.S., but was using forged papers that identified him as "Otto Eckmann." He eventually escaped and in 1950 used a phony passport to travel to Argentina. He was discovered hiding in Argentina after his son, Klaus Eichmann, bragged to his girlfriend about his Nazi father. He was then captured by Israeli Mossad agents and smuggled to Israel where he stood trial.
Birthdays
Tim Conway on The Carol Burnett Show
Tim Conway on The Carol Burnett Show
Tim Conway (Thomas Daniel Conway)
Born December 15, 1933 d. 2019
American Emmy-winning comedian. TV: McHale's Navy (1962-66, Ensign Parker), The Carol Burnett Show (1967-78), The Tim Conway Show (1980-81), and SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-2012, voice of Barnacle Boy). Film: The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975).
Although Conway has been part of many successful shows, his 1969 TV show Turn-On was so offensive, some stations pulled it off the air midway through the first episode and other stations in later time zones refused to even air it. It was canceled before the next week's episode could be aired.
Maurice Wilkins
Born December 15, 1916 d. 2004
British biochemist, co-winner of the 1962 Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA. He also worked on creating the first atomic bomb.
Charles (left) and Frank Duryea
Charles (left) and Frank Duryea
Charles Edgar Duryea
Born December 15, 1861 d. 1938
American inventor, "Father of the Automobile." He and his brother Frank Duryea built the first successful gas-powered car in the U.S. and formed the first U.S. automobile company, Duryea Motor Wagon Co. (1895), selling their first car in 1896.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel
Born December 15, 1832 d. 1923
French civil engineer. Eiffel designed the framework for the Statue of Liberty (1885) and the Eiffel Tower in Paris (1889).
Nero Claudius Caesar
Born December 15, A.D. 37 d. A.D. 68
Emperor of Rome (AD 54-68). He was the first emperor to persecute Christians on a large scale, and is said to be responsible for the deaths of Peter and Paul.
Legend has it Nero, an unpopular ruler, fiddled as Rome burned (although the fiddle wasn't invented until over a thousand years later, they did have other stringed instruments). The legend was probably started as a way to express how ineffectual a leader Nero was by showing he did nothing as his people suffered. There were other accounts that he sang about the destruction of Troy while watching the city burn; however, these are probably not true either.
Nero used the land cleared by the fire to build his Golden Palace and its surrounding gardens. This sparked rumors that he had the fire deliberately set for this purpose.
Believing that the Senate was going to execute him, he had his private secretary kill him.
Don Johnson (Donald Wayne)
Born December 15, 1949
American actor. Film: A Boy and His Dog. TV: Miami Vice (Sonny Crockett).
Dave Clark
Born December 15, 1939
English Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer, leader of the Dave Clark Five (1958). They were the second British group to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Clark stopped drumming after he broke four knuckles in a tobogganing accident (1972). He wrote the science fiction musical Time (1986).
Coined the Phrase "Rock 'n' Roll"
Alan Freed
Born December 15, 1921 d. 1965
American Hall of Fame disc-jockey, coined the phrase "Rock 'n' Roll" to refer to music. He was one of the organizers of the first rock and roll concert, the "Moondog Coronation Ball" (1952).
His TV dance show The Big Beat was canceled after a black male musician danced with a white girl.
In 1958, Freed was arrested and charged with "inciting to riot" after announcing on the radio, "The police don't want you to have fun".
In 1962, he pleaded guilty to commercial bribery for his part in the payola scandal.
Dr. L. L. Zamenhof (Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof)
Born December 15, 1859 d. 1917
Russian philologist. He developed of the international language Esperanto (1887). He believed that an international language could help end wars. He also wrote the first grammar of the Yiddish language (1879).
Deaths
Walt Disney (Walter Elias Disney)
Died December 15, 1966 b. 1901
American Oscar-Emmy winning cartoonist. Disney and Ub Iwerks created Mickey Mouse in 1928, with Disney providing the voice. Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations.
Film: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942), Cinderella (1950), and Mary Poppins (1964, which earned five Oscars).
TV: The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1996) and Walt Disney's Disneyland (1954-, with several name changes).
First Action to Earn a U.S. Medal of Honor
Bernard John Dowling Irwin
Died December 15, 1917 b. 1830
American military leader. He received the U.S. Medal of Honor (1894) for his actions against Apache Indians (1861). This was the first action for which a U.S. Medal of Honor was awarded.
Sitting Bull (Tatanka-yatanka)
Died December 15, 1890 b. circa 1834
Sioux Indian leader. He was killed by U.S. soldiers.
Cayley's glider in Mechanics Magazine, 1852
Cayley's glider in Mechanics Magazine, 1852
Father of Aerodynamics
Sir George Cayley
Died December 15, 1857 b. 1773
English inventor, "Father of Aerodynamics." He built the first manned glider (c1849). By 1799 he had developed the concept of the modern airplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and control.
He was also the inventor of the hot air engine (1807). In 1837 he developed a hot air engine in which the products of combustion acted directly on a piston, making it the forerunner of the modern internal combustion engine.
Walton and his Scholar, by Louis Rhead
Walton and his Scholar, by Louis Rhead
Father of Flyfishing
Izaak Walton
Died December 15, 1683 b. 1593
English author. Called the "Father of Flyfishing" for his book The Compleat Angler, or the Contemplative Man's Recreation (1653). It is considered one of the monuments of English literature and contained the famous quote about Piscator the Frog, "use him as though you loved him, that is, harm him as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer."
The "Izaak Walton League" environmental conservation group, founded in 1922, is named after him.
Vermeer's The Milkmaid
Vermeer's The Milkmaid
Johannes Vermeer
Died December 15, 1675 b. 1632
Dutch painter. Known for his realistic scenes of serene and harmonious domestic life.
Joan Fontaine (Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland)
Died December 15, 2013 b. 1917
British-American Oscar-winning actress. Film: Suspicion (1941, Oscar). She and her sister Olivia de Havilland are the only siblings to have won lead acting Oscars.
Pink Panther Movie Producer
Blake Edwards (William Blake Crump)
Died December 15, 2010 b. 1922
American film writer, director, producer. Producer of the Pink Panther movies (1963). Film: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, director).
Oral Roberts
Died December 15, 2009 b. 1918
American evangelist, founder of Oral Roberts University (1965). In 1987 he announced "God will call me home" if he didn't raise $4.5 million in three months. At the end of the three months, he declared he had reached his goal, but that God told him he now had to raise a total of $8 million or "I'm going to call you home in one year". He was able to raise $9.1 million.
Chill Wills
Died December 15, 1978 b. 1902
American actor, voice of Francis the talking mule.
Glenn Miller
Died December 15, 1944 b. 1904
American bandleader. His was the world's most popular dance band of the time. Music: Moonlight Serenade (1939) and Chattanooga Choo Choo (1941).
Mad Anthony
Anthony Wayne
Died December 15, 1796 b. 1745
American Revolutionary War General. His daring and reckless tactics earned him the name "Mad Anthony". He is a founding father of the United States.