This day in history...

On December 17, 1777, the United States is formally recognized as an independent nation by Charles Gravier, foreign minister of France (below). The news is quickly relayed to Benjamin Franklin, who had been living in Paris for a year, rallying French support for the American cause. Although Franklin had become a celebrity in France with his social charms, and had obtained quiet, unofficial aid from King Louis XVI, he had not been formally received at court. With Gravier now in America's corner, a formal alliance would be signed two months later.


On December 17, 1944, Major General Henry Platt, USA, issues Proclamation No. 21, declaring that all Japanese "evacuees" on the West Coast will be allowed to return to their homes beginning January 2. The term "evacuees" was a misnomer; more than 110,000 American citizens of Japanese heritage had been interred in relocation camps around the country by order of President Roosevelt in the months following Pearl Harbor. In 1988, President Reagan would order that every survivor of the internment camps be compensated with $20,000 tax-free and receive a formal apology from the government. (interned Japanese harvesting spinach plants at the Tula Lake Relocation Center in California)


On December 17, 1979, Hollywood stuntman Stan Barrett (possibly) becomes the first person to break the sound barrier in a land vehicle. At California's Edwards Air Force Base, Barrett is driving the $800,000 Budweiser Rocket, powered by a 48,000 horsepower rocket engine and retrofitted with a 12,000 horsepower Sidewinder missile for an extra boost. The "sound barrier" can fluctuate with weather conditions; on this day in the dry air at Edwards, its 731.9 mph. Air force data indicates Barrett "possibly" broke the barrier, but the radar gun malfunctions, recording the speed of a passing truck instead (38 mph), and no witness reported a sonic boom. An officially recognized breaking of the sound barrier will finally come in 1997. (Barrett, the Rocket and Chuck Yeager)

 

On December 18, 1917, the German army withdraws from around the French fortress city of Verdun, ending a 10-month long campaign. The Germans hoped to bring the Allies to the peace table by capturing the city, and introduced two new terrifying weapons during the campaign, phosphene gas and the flamethrower. The French held, however, and the staggering casualty count - nearly 700,000 on both sides, including more than a quarter of a million dead - led to the Battle of Verdun to become symbolic of the horrific nature of trench warfare.


On December 18, 1912, amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson announces he has discovered what appear to be two hominid skulls, and other fossilized animal remains, while digging in the Piltdown gravel pit near Sussex, England. They are estimated to be a million years old, and Dawson is hailed in the scientific community as having discovered the "missing link" in the evolutionary chain between ape and man. But there are skeptics; by the late 1920's researchers are certain the artifacts are far more recent in origin, and in 1953, the International Congress of Paleontologists openly calls "Piltdown Man" a hoax. The culprit has never been identified, but investigators suspect a zoologist-volunteer at the British Museum may have been attempting to embarrass his boss after being denied a raise.


On December 18, 1892, Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky premiers his latest ballet, The Nutcracker, at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. It is the story of how a little girl's toy soldier/nutcracker comes to life on Christmas Eve and takes her on a fantasy trip to the Land of Sweets - and it bombs, mostly because of the choreography. But various choreographers tinker with the project over the years and it begins to gain a following, especially when it finds its way to America in 1944. The 20-minute musical extraction, Nutcracker Suite is especially popular with Americans, and today has come to symbolize Christmas. Meanwhile, the complete ballet has become such a Christmas staple that most American ballet companies generate nearly half of their annual revenues from its seasonal performances.
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker (The Royal Ballet) - YouTube

 

On December 19, 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agrees to a commitment returning control of Hong Kong to the Chinese beginning in 1997. The peninsula city had been ceded to the British in the Treaty of Nanking, which ended the first Opium War in 1842. For its part, the Communist Chinese government agreed to a "one country, two systems" plan that would allow Hong Kong to continue to function as a capitalist territory within China's borders.


On December 19, 1972, America's last manned mission to the moon ends as Apollo 17 (below) splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmidt (both of whom walked on the moon) and Ronald Evans home safely. The successful splashdown brings Project Apollo to an end, after 11 years, 12 manned and 16 unmanned missions, placing 12 men on the surface of the moon and returning them safely to earth on six missions. A seventh moon mission, Apollo 13, was aborted following an in-flight explosion, with the crew safely returning. A fire on the launch pad during a test of Apollo 1 caused the deaths of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. Three additional planned moon landings were cancelled due to budget cuts. Five missions with unused Apollo equipment followed over the next three years, four to deploy and service Skylab and a goodwill linkup in space with a Soviet manned spacecraft in 1975.


On December 19, 1917, the first season of the National Hockey League (NHL) begins play. The league consists of four leftover teams from the defunct National Hockey Association, the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Arenas. The new league also inherits the NHA's championship trophy, the Stanley Cup. The NHL expands rapidly, adding its first American team, the Boston Bruins, in 1924. Feeling the affects of the Great Depression and WWII, the league reduced to six teams in 1942, the Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. This configuration remains in place for 25 years, leading to these teams now being referred to as the Original Six. Needing to expand to attract a major television contract, the league adds six new teams in 1967. Today, the NHL consists of 31 teams and is considered the premier professional hockey league in the world. (photo is from a 1942 Stanley Cup playoff game between Toronto and Detroit)

 

On December 20, 1803, the city of New Orleans is formally transferred from French to U.S. authority under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase. The American flag is raised for the first time over the Plaza de Armas, now Jackson Square.


On December 20, 1963, about 4,000 West Berliners are allowed to pass through the Berlin Wall and visit relatives on the East side, the first time Communist authorities open the wall since its construction two years earlier. In total, the East German government would issue about 170,000 one-day passes to West German residents, who were greeted with a propaganda campaign on their entry into the East zone and criticized by West German authorities as communist pawns.


On December 20, 1925, NFL Commissioner Joseph Carr suspends the Pottsville Maroons and strips them of their league championship. In those days, there was no championship game; the team with the best overall record was declared champion. Two weeks earlier, Pottsville beat the Chicago Cardinals 21-7 to finish 10-2 and win the championship. But the rules of the day also allowed for exhibition games played following the regular season. The week after the win over Chicago, Pottsville played an exhibition game against the Notre Dame All Stars, playing the game in Philadelphia. Carr ruled the location of the game violated the "territory" of the Frankford Yellow Jackets and suspended Pottsville. In 1963 and again in 2003 the city of Pottsville, PA appealed the stripping of its title to the NFL; both appeals were denied. In 1964, surviving members of the '25 Pottsville team commissioned a championship trophy carved from anthracite coal. The trophy is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

On December 21, 1972, the small, Persian Gulf-situated Kingdoms of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai and Umm al-Quwain unite to become the United Arab Emirates. A seventh kingdom, Ras al-Khaimah, joins two months later. Along with Bahrain and Qatar, the UAR kingdoms had been protectorates of Great Britain for more than 150 years. But Britain announced it would dissolve the protectorate in 1968, and when Bahrain and Qatar declared independence, the remaining kingdoms were in danger of being taken over by the Middle East's larger nations. Although still of little significance in size (114th in area among the world's nations), thanks to oil the UAE ranks 7th in the world in GDP.


On December 21, 1958, Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France. A WWI veteran who rose through the ranks between the wars, de Gaulle fled to England when France fell to the Nazis and organized the Free French forces, who fought successfully in North Africa. In June 1944, he was named head of the French government in exile, and after the Nazis were driven from the country a few months later, elected provincial President. He would retire two years later, but agreed to return in 1958 when French colonists in Algeria began to cause trouble. de Gaulle would be instrumental in drafting a new Constitution even before being elected. Over the next ten years de Gaulle would grant Algeria its independence and withdraw France from NATO in an attempt to restore the nation to international prominence. He retired permanently from government in 1969, two years before his death.


On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 launches from Cape Canaveral, FL with astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders aboard. On Christmas Eve, Apollo 8 will achieve orbit around the moon; Borman, Lovell and Anders will become the first humans to see the dark side of the moon, and send back the most detailed photos of the lunar surface ever seen. Apollo 8 is a major step in preparing America's space program to land men on the moon, which will be accomplished just 6 months later.
(below: Jim Lovell's famed photo of earth rising above the moon's horizon, taken on December 24)

 

On December 22, 1989, 42 years of communist rule in Romania comes to an end, as the Romanian army defects to the cause of anti-communist demonstrators, and the government of Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown. The anti-government movement peaked 3 days earlier when Ceausescu’s security forces opened fire on demonstrators in Timisoara. After the army’s defection, Ceausescu and his wife fled from Bucharest in a helicopter but were captured and convicted of mass murder in a hasty military trial. On December 25, they were executed by a firing squad.


On December 22, 1956, the first gorilla ever born in captivity makes her arrival at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. Colo is a 4-pound lowlands gorilla, an endangered species. As was often the problem with captive gorillas, Colo's parents, Mac and Millie, had been captured before learning parenting skills from their own parents. Colo would essentially be raised by zookeepers and learn those vital skills herself. Colo would give birth to 4 generations of captive gorillas; her great-granddaughter, Timu, would be the first gorilla conceived by artificial insemination in 1996, and has since become a parent herself. There are currently about 750 lowlands gorillas in captivity, (about 100,000 in the wild) and most zoos now agree to not accept gorillas taken from the wild. Colo died in 2017; at age 61, the first gorilla born in captivity had also become the oldest known living gorilla.


On December 22, 1968, America has what is about as close as we can get to a royal wedding; in NYC, Julie Nixon, daughter of President-elect Richard Nixon, marries David Eisenhower, grandson of former president Dwight Eisenhower. The two met at the age of 8 when Nixon was Eisenhower's VP, and often found themselves together in front of the presidential press corps. They began dating at age 19, a year before their marriage. Celebrating their 42nd anniversary today, David is an administrator for the University of Pennsylvania. The Eisenhower's have 3 children (one of whom married last week) and a grandchild. Both have written books about their experiences growing up.

 

On December 23, 1948, seven former Japanese leaders are executed in Tokyo for crimes against humanity and other war crimes during WWII. The sentenced include former Premier Hideki Tojo (below) and General Iwane Matsui, who presided over the Rape of Nanking. American, British, French and Rissian authorities presided over the War Crimes Tribunal, with former assistant to the AG Joseph Keenan serving as the sole American prosecutor. Australian judge William F. Webb presided, with Chinese authorities also contributing to the trial. In total, more than 900 Japanese would be executed for war crimes.


On December 23, 1986, the experimental aircraft Voyager lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. Piloted by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, Voyager was made mostly of plastic and stiffened paper and carried more than three times its weight in fuel when it took off from Edwards Air Force Base on December 14. By the time it returned, after flying 25,012 miles around the planet (in 9 days, 4 minutes), it had just five gallons of fuel left in its remaining operational fuel tank.


On December 23, 1888, Dutch master painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off part of his own ear. van Gogh was still building his reputation as an artist when he moved to Paris to share an apartment with his brother Theo (an art dealer) in 1886. He also developed friendships with other artists, including Paul Gaugin. In 1888, van Gogh attempted to establish an artist's colony in nearby Arles. He and Gaugin shared an apartment, and it was there that, in a fit of dementia, van Gogh first threatened Gaugin with a knife and then cut off his left ear lobe. Afterward, (legend has it) he wrapped the lobe in cloth and gave it to a prostitute at a nearby brothel, before checking himself into a mental institute. He later memorialized his famed act by painting Self Portrait With Bandaged Ear. He would shoot and kill himself two years later.