December 30th in History

Michael Dobson | December 30

A Soviet propaganda poster. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was officially founded December 30, 1922.

Today in History

  • Gadsden Purchase: The US buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building (1853)
  • The All-India Muslim League is founded (1906)
  • The USSR is formed (1922)
  • The musical Kiss Me, Kate opens on Broadway (1948)
  • December 30, 2011, does not exist in Samoa and Tokelau because of a change in time zone (2011)

Birthdays

  • Titus, emperor of Rome (39)
  • Asa Griggs Candler, Coca-Cola magnate (1851)
  • Rudyard Kipling, author and poet, Nobel laureate (1865)
  • Al Smith, 42nd Governor of New York, US presidential candidate (1873)
  • 東條 英機 (Hideki Tōjō), prime minister of Japan (1884)
  • Bert Parks, beauty pageant icon (1914)
  • Jo Van Fleet, actress (1914)
  • Jack Lord, actor (1920)
  • Bo Diddley, singer-songwriter (1928)
  • Del Shannon, singer-songwriter (1934)
  • Russ Tamblyn, actor, singer, and dancer (1934)
  • Sandy Koufax, baseball player (1935)
  • Paul Stookey, singer-songwriter, member of Peter, Paul, and Mary (1937)
  • Michael Nesmith, singer-songwriter, member of The Monkees (1942)
  • Fred Ward, actor (1942)
  • Davy Jones, singer and actor, member of The Monkees (1945)
  • Patti Smith, singer-songwriter (1945)
  • Meredith Vieira, television journalist (1953)
  • Matt Laurer, television journalist (1957)
  • Tracey Ullman, performer (1959)
  • Sean Hannity, television pundit (1961)
  • Henry Cho, actor (1962)
  • Heidi Fleiss, madam (1965)
  • Tiger Woods, golfer (1975)
  • Eliza Dushku, actress (1980)
  • LeBron James, basketball player (1984)

Deaths

  • José Rizal, Philippine revolutionary (1896)
  • Григорий Распутин (Grigori Rasputin), mystic and royal advisor (1916 [O.S. December 17])*
  • Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher (1947)
  • Trygve Lie, 1st UN Secretary-General (1968)
  • Sonny Liston, boxer (1970)
  • Richard Rodgers, playwright and composer, partner with Oscar Hammerstein II and Lorenz Hart (1979)
  • Alberto Vargas, pin-up painter (1982)
  • Irving “Swifty” Lazar, talent agent (1993)
  • Lew Ayres, actor (1996)
  • John Gregory Dunne, author (2003)
  • Artie Shaw, bandleader (2004)
  • Rona Jaffe, author (2005)
  • صدام حسين (Saddam Hussein), president of Iraq (2006)

* Because Russia did not convert from the Julian “old style” calendar to the modern Gregorian calendar until 1918, some dates are listed both ways.

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Day of the Declaration of Slovakia as an Independent Ecclesiastic Province (Slovakia)
  • Freedom Day (Scientology)
  • Rizal Day (Philippines)
Informal and made-up holidays include National Bacon Day, National Bicarbonate of Soda Day, and Falling Needles Family Fest Day
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December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years). There is 1 day remaining until the end of the year.