History for December 22

History for December 22 - On-This-Day.com
Giacomo Puccini 1858, Gene Rayburn (Rubessa) 1917, Barbara Billingsley 1922


Steve Garvey 1948 - Baseball player, Robin Gibb (Bee Gees) 1949, Maurice Gibb (Bee Gees) 1949, Ted Cruz 1970 - Politician from Texas


1775 - A Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies under the command of Ezek Hopkins.


1864 - During the American Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to U.S. President Lincoln from Georgia. The message read, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."


1894 - French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.


1941 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.


1961 - James Davis became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam, while U.S. involvement was still limited to the provision of military advisers.


1984 - New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway. Goetz claimed they were about to rob him.


1990 - Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president.


1991 - The body of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, an American hostage murdered by his captors, was found along a highway in Lebanon.