December 15

1925

The New York Americans lose to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, in the formal opening of New York's Madison Square Garden, which became one of the world's most famous sporting venues. The game, played before 17,000 fans, is also the first NHL game played at the arena. "Garden Is Opened in a Blaze of Color," read the headline for a story about the debut in the New York Times. Over the years, Madison Square Garden was home of the New York Knicks, Rangers, college basketball, boxing matches, professional wrestling and other sporting events, dogs shows, the circus and more. A new Madison Square Garden opened nearby in 1968. The old structure was demolished.

   

1973

Jean Paul Getty III, the grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, was found alive near Naples, five months after his kidnapping by an Italian gang. J. Paul Getty, who became the richest man in the world in 1957, had initially refused to pay his 16-year-old grandson’s $17 million ransom. Getty famously said, "I have 14 other grandchildren. If I pay one penny, I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren." He finally agreed to cooperate after the boy’s severed right ear was sent to a newspaper in Rome. He eventually secured his grandson’s release by paying just $2.7 million, the maximum amount that he claimed he was able to raise.

1993

Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Liam Neeson in the true story of a German businessman who saves the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust, opened in theaters. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars and took home 7, including Best Picture and Best Director. It was the first Best Director win for Spielberg after three nominations. Schindler’s List was adapted from Thomas Keneally’s 1982 book Schindler’s Ark, about the Catholic businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved a large number of Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in a factory that made supplies for the German army. The film co-starred Ben Kingsley as Schindler’s Jewish accountant and Ralph Fiennes as an evil Nazi officer.

December 16

1773

In Boston Harbor, Patriot leader Samuel Adams, along with about 60 members of the Sons of Liberty, his underground resistance group, disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians to board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The midnight raid, popularly known as the “Boston Tea Party,” was organized in protest of the British Parliament’s Tea Act of 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the East India Company to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example of taxation tyranny.

1907

President Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet," a force of sixteen battleships bristling with guns and painted sparkling white, steam out of Hampton Roads, Virginia to begin its 43,000-mile, 14-month circumnavigation of the globe "to demonstrate to the world America's naval prowess." The four-mile-long armada's world tour included 20 port calls on six continents and is widely considered one of the greatest peacetime achievements of the U.S. Navy.

1973

The Buffalo Bills running back Orenthal James “OJ” Simpson became the first player in the National Football League (NFL) to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a single season. All told, he led the league in rushing four times (1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976) during his eight years with Buffalo and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1972, 1973 and 1975. Plagued by injuries, Simpson was limited to seven games in 1977 and the following year was traded to the San Francisco 49ers. He played only two more seasons in the NFL, gaining a total of just 1,053 yards and averaging less than four yards per carry.

 

December 17

1892

Arthur Baldwin Turnure first publishes Vogue, a new magazine dedicated to “the ceremonial side of life” and targeted at “the sage as well as the debutante, men of affairs as well as the belle.” From its inception the magazine targeted the New York upper class, such as the Vanderbilts and Astors, "recounting their habits, their leisure activities, their social gatherings, the places they frequented, and the clothing they wore...and everyone who wanted to look like them and enter their exclusive circle". A product of the Gilded Age, Vogue has chronicled and influenced high society, fashion and culture ever since.

1903

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight. During the next few years, the Wright brothers further developed their airplanes but kept a low profile about their successes in order to secure patents and contracts for their flying machines. In 1909, the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps purchased a specially constructed plane, and the brothers founded the Wright Company to build and market their aircraft. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912; Orville lived until 1948. The historic Wright brothers’ aircraft of 1903 is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

1963

One of the first major pieces of environmental legislation in the United States, The Clean Air Act is signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The new law empowered federal and state agencies to research and regulate air pollution, marking a major expansion of government efforts to fight back against the damage being done to the climate. The landmark act and its subsequent amendments—updates were passed in 1967, 1970, 1977 and 1990—comprise some of the most comprehensive air-quality legislation in the world. Though there is a very long way to go, national emissions dropped 63% between 1980 and 2015, despite overall economic growth and an increase in the number of miles driven over that time, thanks largely to the provisions of the Clean Air Act and its successors.

 

December 18

1620

The British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony. Aided by the Wampanoag, especially the English-speaking Squanto, the Pilgrims were able to plant crops, predominantly corn and beans, that were vital to their survival. Over the next several decades, more and more settlers made the trek across the Atlantic to Plymouth, which gradually grew into a prosperous shipbuilding and fishing center. In 1691, Plymouth was incorporated into the new Massachusetts Bay Association, ending its history as an independent colony.

1966

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! aired on CBS for the first time. It is based on the 1957 children's book of the same name by Dr. Seuss, and tells the story of the Grinch, who tries to ruin Christmas for the townsfolk of Whoville below his mountain hideaway. Realizing that Christmas means more than just material possessions, the Grinch's heart grows three sizes its original small size. The special was released in the midst of a wave of animated holiday specials, joining a number of other 1960s productions (such as 1964's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas, 1968's The Little Drummer Boy, 1969's Frosty the Snowman, and 1970's Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town) that have come to be regarded as classics.

1972

The “Christmas Bombing” of North Vietnam began. Following the breakdown of peace talks with North Vietnam, President Nixon ordered plans drawn up for retaliatory bombings of North Vietnam. During Operation Linebacker II, American B-52s and fighter-bombers dropped over 20,000 tons of bombs on the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong. The US lost 15 of its giant B-52s and 11 other aircraft during the attacks. North Vietnam claimed that over 1,600 civilians were killed. The bombings continued until December 29, at which time the North Vietnamese agreed to resume peace talks. A few weeks later, the final Paris Peace Treaty was signed and the Vietnam War came to a close.

December 19

1972

The Apollo lunar-landing program ended when the last three astronauts to travel to the moon splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. Apollo 17 had lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, 10 days before. In July 1969, after three years of preparation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) accomplished President John F. Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon and safely returning him to Earth with Apollo 11. From 1969 to 1972, there were six successful lunar landing missions, and one aborted mission, Apollo 13. During the Apollo 17 mission, astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt stayed for a record 75 hours on the surface of the moon, conducting three separate surface excursions in the Lunar Rover vehicle and collecting 243 pounds of rock and soil samples.

   

1990

Los Angeles Raiders running back Bo Jackson was named to the AFC Pro Bowl team as a reserve, becoming the first athlete chosen for all-star games in Major League Baseball and the NFL. In the late 1980s, Bo Jackson—who won the Heisman Trophy at Auburn in 1985—captivated fans with his athleticism. Fans' fascination with Jackson continued into the next decade. In the summer of 1989, Jackson was selected to his first MLB All-Star Game. He made his mark in the Midsummer Classic with a towering first-inning home run off National League pitcher Rick Reuschel. Jackson fractured his hip in a 1991 NFL playoff game, forcing his eventual retirement from both sports.

1997

Director James Cameron’s epic drama Titanic, the story of the real-life luxury ocean liner that struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 passengers and crew, opened in theaters. Titanic catapulted its young stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to international fame and won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Music (for the song “My Heart Will Go On,” sung by Celine Dion). The film also immortalized the line “I’m the king of the world!”—which Cameron famously repeated during the Oscar ceremony, as he picked up his gold statuette for Best Director.

December 20

1946

Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" premiered in New York. The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams, in order to help others in his community, and whose suicide attempt on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George how he has touched the lives of others and how different life would be for his wife Mary and his community of Bedford Falls if he had not been born. The film has since been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made.

  

1957

While spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland, his newly purchased Tennessee mansion, rock-and-roll star Elvis Presley received his draft notice for the United States Army. After basic training, Presley sailed to Europe on the USS General Randall. For the next 18 months, he served in Company D, 32nd Tank Battalion, 3rd Armor Division in Friedberg, Germany, where he attained the rank of sergeant. Meanwhile, Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, continued to release singles recorded before his departure, keeping the money rolling in and his most famous client fresh in the public’s mind.

1989

The United States invaded Panama in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega, who had come to power after being recruited by the CIA to assist in the U.S. struggle against the spread of communism in Central America in 1970. He had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracy in Panama and endangering U.S. nationals. Noriega’s Panamanian Defense Forces were promptly crushed by the 9,000 U.S. troops who joined the 12,000 U.S. military personnel already in Panama. The U.S. invasion of Panama cost the lives of only 23 U.S. soldiers and three U.S. civilians. In 1992, Noriega was found guilty of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering, marking the first time in history that a U.S. jury convicted a foreign leader of criminal charges.

December 21

1891

30-year-old James Naismith introduced the first game of basketball. Based on 13 rules created by Naismith, the game was tested by 18 students at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Two teams of nine players each competed against each other, with the objective to throw a soccer ball into a peach basket attached to a balcony 10 feet above the floor. Naismith, who died in 1939, became the first basketball coach at Kansas University, where he led the Jayhawks from 1898-1907.

1937

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre. Based on the 1812 German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, it is the first full-length traditionally animated feature film and the first Disney animated feature film. It was a critical and commercial success and, with international earnings of more than $8 million during its initial release, it briefly held the record of highest-grossing sound film at the time. Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top-ten performers at the North American box office and the highest-grossing animated film. In 1989, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry.

  

1968

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr. and William Anders aboard. On Christmas Eve, the astronauts entered into orbit around the moon, the first manned spacecraft ever to do so. During Apollo 8‘s 10 lunar orbits, television images were sent back home, and spectacular photos were taken of Earth and the moon from the spacecraft. In addition to being the first human beings to view first-hand their home world in its entirety, the three astronauts were also the first to see the far side of the moon. On July 20 of the next year, Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission, became the first men to walk on the moon.