History for December 15

History for December 15 - On-This-Day.com

 

J. Paul Getty 1892 - Oil magnate: Getty Oil

• 1791 - In the U.S., the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, went into effect following ratification by the state of Virginia.
• 1944 - Dr. R. Townley Paton and a small group of doctors laid the groundwork for the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration.
• 1961 - The U.N. General Assembly voted against a Soviet proposal to admit Communist China as a member.
• 1978 - U.S. President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.
• 1993 - In Geneva, 117 countries, including Clinton, completed the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The countries agreed on a reform package.
• 2000 - The Chernobyl atomic power plant in Kiev, Ukraine, was shut down.
• 2000 - New York Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed to accept an $8 million book deal with Simon & Schuster. The book was to be about her eight years in the White House. The advance was the highest ever to be paid to a member of the U.S. Congress.