GMT 12/15/2017 TGIF

Today in History December 15

1862--Nathan Bedford Forrest crosses the Tennessee River at Clifton with 2,500 men to raid the communications around Vicksburg, Mississippi.

1862--In New Orleans, Louisiana, Union Major General Benjamin F. Butler turns his command over to Nathaniel Banks. The citizens of New Orleans hold farewell parties for Butler, "The Beast" - but only after he leaves.

1864--The battle at Nashville begins.

1890--As U.S. Army soldiers attempt to arrest Sitting Bull at his cabin in Standing Rock, South Dakota, shooting breaks out and Lt. Bullhead shoots the great Sioux leader.

1903--The British parliament places a 15-year ban on whale hunting in Norway.

1920--China wins a place on the League Council; Austria is admitted.

1924--The Soviet Union warns the United States against repeated entry of ships into Soviet territorial waters.

1938--Washington sends its fourth note to Berlin demanding amnesty for Jews.

1944--The battle for Luzon begins.

1946--Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh sends a note to the new French Premier, Leon Blum, asking for peace talks.

1961--Adolf Eichmann, the former German Gestapo official accused of a major role in the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews, is sentenced by a Jerusalem court to be hanged.


1965--The United States drops 12 tons of bombs on an industrial center near Haiphong Harbor, North Vietnam.

1967--President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the meat bill in the presence of Upton Sinclair, the author of the controversial book The Jungle.

1972--The Commonwealth of Australia orders equal pay for women.

1973--The American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders.

1976--The oil tanker MV Argo Merchant causes one of the worst marine oil spills in history when it runs aground near Nantucket, Massachusetts.

1978--US President Jimmy Carter announces the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and will sever all relations with Taiwan.

1981--In what is often called the first modern suicide bombing, a suicide car bomb kills 61 people at the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon; Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon is among the casualties.

1993--The Downing Street Declaration, issued jointly by UK and the Republic of Ireland, affirms the UK would transfer Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland only if a majority of Northern Ireland's people approved.

2001--The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after an 11-year, $27 million project to fortify it without eliminating its famed lean.

2005--F-22 Raptor Stealth fighter enters active service with the US Air Force.


Born on December 15


1832--Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, designer of the famous tower in Paris.