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December 19 December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 12 days remaining. Events 1700-1899 1732 - Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanack 1777 - George Washington's army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania 1842 - United States recognizes the independence of Hawaii 1900-1999 1912 - William H. Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum, that killed over 1,000 people on June 15, 1904, the worst disaster in New York City before 9/11, was pardoned after 3 1/2 years in Sing Sing prison by President Taft. 1928 - First autogiro flight in the United States 1945 - Austria becomes a republic for the second time, the first having been interupted by the Nazi invasion of Austria in the mid 1930s. 1946 - Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi 1962 - Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1963 - Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom to become a constitutional monarchy under the sultan. 1972 - Apollo 17, the last manned lunar flight, returns to Earth. 1974 - The Altair 8800, the first personal computer, goes on sale 1978 - John Wayne Gacy is arrested for the killings of 33 boys and young men 1979 - Kramer vs. Kramer opens in theaters, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep. 1980 - Anguilla is made a dependency of the United Kingdom separate from St. Kitt's 1984 - The United Kingdom and People's Republic of China sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which handed Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. 1997 - A Silkair Boeing 737-300 crashes into the Musi River, in Sumatra, Indonesia killing 104 2000-2099 2001 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters. Births 1800-1899 1813 - Thomas Andrews, chemist (d. 1885) 1820 - Mary Ashton Livermore, suffragist, women's rights activits (d. 1905) 1865 - Minnie Maddern Fiske, Actress of Broadway fame, (d. 1932) 1885 - Joe King Oliver, jazz musician (d. 1938) 1888 - Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (d. 1963) 1894 - Ford Frick, commissioner of baseball 1900-1999 1900 - Géza von Cziffra, film director (d. 1989) 1901 - Rudolf Hell, inventor (d. 2002) 1906 - Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet politician (d. 1982) 1910 - Jean Genet, novelist (d. 1986) 1915 - Edith Piaf, singer, actress (d. 1963) 1916 - Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, publicist 1918 - Professor Longhair, musician (d. 1980) 1920 - David Susskind, movie, stage and television producer (d. 1987) 1923 - Gordon Jackson, film, stage & tv actor best known as 'Hudson' on Upstairs Downstairs (d. 1990) 1925 - Tankred Dorst, dramatist 1933 - Cicely Tyson, actress 1934 - Al Kaline, Baseball Hall of Famer 1935 - Bobby Timmons, jazz pianist (d. 1974) 1939 - Gwynn Dowell, teacher 1940 - Phil Ochs, singer, songwriter (d. 1976) 1941 - Maurice White, musician 1944 - Richard Leakey, anthropologist 1944 - Alvin Lee, musician 1946 - Robert Urich, actor (d. 2002) 1946 - Stan Smith, tennis player 1949 - Claudia Kolb, swimming star 1960 - Mike Lookinland, actor (The Brady Bunch) 1961 - Reggie White, football player 1964 - Arvydas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball star 1972 - Alyssa Milano, actress 1972 - Warren Sapp, football player 1980 - Jake Gyllenhaal, actor (The Day After Tomorrow) 1980 - Marla Sokoloff, actress (Full House, The Practice) 1992 - Mark Egan Deaths 400-1899 401 - St. Anastasius I, Pope 1370 - Pope Urban V (b. 1310) 1737 - James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland (b. 1667) 1749 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (b. 1672) 1848 - Emily Brontë, author (b. 1818) 1900-1999 1967 - Harold Holt, seventeenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908) 1968 - Norman Thomas, Leading American socialist (b. 1884) 1989 - Stella Gibbons, English author (b. 1902) 1996 - Marcello Mastroianni, actor (b. 1924) 1999 - Desmond Llewelyn, actor (b. 1914) 2000 and beyond 2003 - Hope Lange, American actress 2003 - Peter Carter-Ruck, British libel lawyer Holidays and observances Feast of Saint Boniface December 18 - December 20 - November 19 - January 19 -- listing of all days FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_19