December 19th in History

Michael Dobson | December 19

Replicas of Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed reënacting the first landing of settlers at Jamestown, Virginia.

Today in History

  • The Susan Constant and two sister ships depart England to found a settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1606)
  • George Washington’s army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (1777)
  • Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Germany Army (1941)
  • The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, returns to Earth (1972)
  • A joint declaration returning sovereignty over Hong Kong to China is signed by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher (1984)
  • US President Bill Clinton is impeached by the House of Representatives (1998)

Birthdays

  • Albert A. Michelson, physicist and Nobel laureate, known for the Michelson-Morley experiment (1852)
  • Martin Luther King, Sr., pastor and civil rights activist (1899)
  • Ralph Richardson, actor (1902)
  • Леонид Брежнев (Leonid Brezhnev), Soviet leader (1906 — O.S. December 6*)
  • Édith Piaf, singer-songwriter and actress (1915)
  • Professor Longhair, singer-songwriter and pianist (1918)
  • David Susskind, talk show host (1920)
  • Robert Sherman, Disney songwriter, part of the Sherman Brothers (1925)
  • Cicely Tyson, actress (1933)
  • Phil Ochs, singer-songwriter and guitarist (1940)
  • Tim Reid, actor (1944)
  • Robert Urich, actor (1946)
  • Reggie White, football player (1961)
  • Jennifer Beals, actress (1963)
  • Criss Angel, magician (1967)
  • Ken Marino, actor (1968)
  • Richard Hammond, journalist, co-host of Top Gear (1969)
  • Alyssa Milano, actress (1972)
  • Jake Gyllenhaal, actor (1980)

* *O.S., or “Old Style,” refers to the fact that Russia did not convert from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1918, so for people whose lifespans overlap the two calendar systems it’s customary to list both dates.

Deaths

  • Publius Septimus Geta, emperor of Rome (211)
  • أبو حامد الغزالي (Al-Ghazālī or Algazel), Muslim theologian, philosopher, and mystic (1111)
  • Emily Brontë, author and poet (1848)
  • Alois Alzheimer, neuropathologist (1915)
  • Paul Langevin, physicist (1946)
  • Robert A. Millikan, physicist, Nobel laureate (1953)
  • Norman Thomas, minister and US presidential candidate (1968)
  • V. C. Andrews, author (1986)
  • Marcello Mastroianni, actor (1996)
  • 井深 大 (Masaru Ibuka), co-founder of Sony (1997)
  • Jimmie Rogers, singer-songwriter (1997)
  • Desmond Llewelyn, actor, “Q” in 17 James Bond films (1999)
  • John Lindsay, NYC mayor (2000)
  • Hope Lange, actress (2003)
  • Robert Bork, jurist (2012)
  • Al Goldstein, publisher and pornographer (2013)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Liberation Day (Goa)
  • Opalia (Roman Empire)

Informal and made-up holidays include National Hard Candy Day and National Oatmeal Muffin Day.

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December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years). There are 12 days remaining until the end of the year.