December 9th

Events:

• 1793 - New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster
• 1824 - Battle of Ayacucho - Peru defeats Spain
• 1835 - The Army of the Republic of Texas captures San Antonio
• 1851 - First YMCA in North America established in Montreal, Quebec
• 1861 - Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War created by the United States Congress
• 1872 - P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African American governor of a U.S. state
• 1888 - Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department
• 1931 - Spain becomes a republic
• 1937 - Battle of Nanjing begins.
• 1940 - British Army attacks Italian forces in North Africa
• 1941 - China declares war on Japan, Germany, and Italy.
• 1950 - Harry Gold sentenced to thirty years in jail for stealing United States nuclear weapon secrets for the Soviet Union
• 1953 - General Electric announces that all Communist employees will be discharged from the company
• 1958 - John Birch Society founded.
• 1961 - Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in Israel
• 1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic
• 1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent
• 1987 - First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank
• 1990 - Lech Walesa becomes the first directly elected president of Poland.
• 1992 - Separation of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales is announced
• 1992 - US Marines land in Somalia

Births:

• 1594 - King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (d. 1632)
• 1608 - John Milton, poet, writer (d. 1674)
• 1842 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (d. 1921)
• 1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, author (d. 1908)
• 1876 - Berton Churchill, pioneer Hollywood actor (d. 1940)
• 1878 - Grand Duke Michael Romanov, Russian royalty (d. 1918)
• 1882 - Joaquín Turina, composer (d. 1949)
• 1885 - Grete Wiesenthal, dancer and choreographer (d. 1970)
• 1886 - Clarence Birdseye, frozen food pioneer (d. 1956)
• 1889 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish long-distance runner
• 1897 - Hermione Gingold, actress (d. 1987)
• 1898 - Emmett Kelly, circus clown (d. 1979)
• 1899 - Jean de Brunhoff, author (d. 1937)
• 1901 - Ödön von Horváth, dramatist and narrator (d. 1938)
• 1902 - Margaret Hamilton, actress (d. 1985)
• 1905 - Dalton Trumbo, writer, member of the "Hollywood Ten" (d. 1976)
• 1906 - Grace Murray Hopper, computer pioneer (d. 1992)
• 1909 - Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor (d. 2000)
• 1911 - Broderick Crawford, actor (d. 1986)
• 1911 - Lee J. Cobb, actor
• 1912 - Tip O'Neill, former speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1994)
• 1915 - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, opera singer
• 1916 - Kirk Douglas, actor and film producer
• 1922 - Redd Foxx, comedian, actor (d. 1991)
• 1927 - Pierre Henry, composer
• 1928 - Dick Van Patten, actor
• 1929 - John Cassavetes, actor and film director (d. 1989)
• 1930 - Buck Henry, actor, comedian, writer, director, producer
• 1933 - Morton Downey Jr., talk show host (d. 2001)
• 1934 - Dame Judi Dench actress
• 1934 - Junior Wells, musician (d. 1998)
• 1938 - Deacon Jones, American football star
• 1941 - Beau Bridges, actor
• 1941 - Dan Hicks, musician
• 1942 - Dick Butkus, American football player
• 1943 - Rick Danko, musician (The Band) (d. 1999)
• 1947 - Steve Owens, football player
• 1947 - Tom Daschle, American politician
• 1950 - Joan Armatrading, singer
• 1953 - John Malkovich, actor
• 1957 - Donny Osmond, entertainer
• 1967 - Joshua Bell, violinist
• 1968 - Kurt Angle, Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, now WWE professional wrestler
• 1969 - Jakob Dylan, musician
• 1972 - Tre Cool, musician (Green Day)

Deaths:

• 1930 - Andrew "Rube" Foster, pioneer of Negro League baseball
• 1937 - Nils Gustaf Dalén, engineer, physicist
• 1965 - Dame Edith Sitwell, poet
• 1965 - Branch Rickey, baseball commissioner
• 1971 - Ralph Bunche, diplomat
• 1972 - Louella Parsons, gossip columnist
• 1996 - Mary Leakey, archeologist, anthropologist
• 1998 - Archie Moore, boxer
• 2003 - Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (75 years)

Holidays and Observances:

• Roman Empire - Opalia held in honor of Ops

See Also:

December 8 - December 10 - November 9 - January 9 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December