December 20
December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.
Events:
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed.
- 1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States.
- 1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police founded.
- 1989 - United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
- 1999 - Vermont Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
Births:
- 1629 - Pieter de Hooch, painter (+ 1684)
- 1792 - Nicolas Charlet, painter (+ 1845)
- 1856 - Ferdinand Avenarius, author (+ 1923)
- 1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive
- 1893 - Charlotte Bühler, psychologist
- 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, Australian politician
- 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, physicist, inventor
- 1924 - Friederike Mayröcker, author
- 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, politician
- 1957 - Billy Bragg, singer, songwriter
Deaths:
- 1968 - John Steinbeck, writer
- 1976 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago
- 1994 - Dean Rusk, former U.S. Secretary of State
- 1996 - Carl Sagan, astronomer, writer
Holidays and Observances:
See Also:
December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December