December 29
Today in America's Present Past
1607 | Pocahontas successfully plead for the life of John Smith.
1778 | War of Independence: British captured Savannah, Georgia.
1800 | Entrepreneur Charles Goodyear was born.
1808 | POTUS: President Andrew Johnson was born.
1812 | War of 1812: The USS Constitution captured the HMS Java.
1813 | War of 1812: British burned Buffalo, New York.
1835 | Indian Wars: The Treaty of New Echota was signed between the U.S. and representatives of a Cherokee political faction to cede all lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River.
1837 | The Caroline Affair began.
1845 | Statehood: Texas joined the Union.
1848 | POTUS: Democrat President Polk installs gas lights in the White House.
1851 | Civil Rights: The first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) chapter opened in the U.S.
1852 | Civil Rights: Emma Snodgrass was arrested in Boston for wearing pants.
1862 | Civil War: Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, Missouri.
1876 | A railroad bridge disaster occurs in Ashtabula, Ohio, killing 92.
1879 | General Billy Mitchell was born.
1881 | Entrepreneur William S. Harley was born.
1890 | Indian Wars: The Ghost Dance War begins.
1891 | Thomas Edison patented the radio.
1897 | Painter William James Linton died.
1905 | Entrepreneur Charles Yerkes died.
1908 | Inventors Otto Zachow and William Besserdick patented the four-wheel auto brake.
1911 | The San Francisco Symphony was formed.
1914 | Entertainer Billy Tipton was born.
1918 | Classicist Abby Leach died.
1921 | Inventor Robert C. Baker was born.
1922 | Author William Gaddis was born.
1924 | Entrepreneur Joe Allbritton was born.
1936 | Actress Margaret Tyler Moore was born.
1937 | Author Don Marquis died.
1939 | Author Kelly Miller died.
1938 | Actor Jon Voight was born.
1938 | Entrepreneur Wayne Huizenga was born.
1940 | Entrepreneur Stephen Birch died.
1941 | Painter Louis Eilshemius died.
1941 | Actress Maureen O’Hara wed Will Price.
1943 | Painter William Henry Singer died.
1947 | Actor Ted Danson was born.
1955 | Musician Neil “Spyder” Giraldo was born.
1959 | Actress Patricia Clarkson was born.
1971 | Entertainer Tony Bennett wed Sandra Grant.
1971 | SCOTUS: Justice John Marshall Harlan II died.
1972 | Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed in the Florida Everglades, killing 101 people.
1975 | A terrorist bombing at LaGuardia Airport, New York City, kills 11.
1980 | Author Roy Engle died.
1984 | Entrepreneur Sidney Garfield died.
1996 | Actor Dylan Minnette was born.
2016 | POTUS: Democrat President Obama ejected Russian spies for hacking U.S. systems.
2017 | Entrepreneur John C. Portman Jr. died.
2018 | Author Brian Garfield died.
2024 | POTUS: President Jimmy Carter died.