Dec. 21 history
* First day of winter.
In 1620, Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts.
In 1864, during the Civil War, US. forces led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman concluded their “March to the Sea” as they captured Savannah, Georgia.
In 1891, the first basketball game, devised by James Naismith, is believed to have been played at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. (The final score of this experimental game: 1-0.)
In 1911, Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia.
In 1913, the first newspaper crossword puzzle, billed as a “Word-Cross Puzzle,” was published in the New York World.
In 1914, the U.S. government began requiring passport applicants to provide photographs of themselves.
In 1945, U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton, 60, died in Heidelberg, Germany, 12 days after being seriously injured in a car accident.
In 1970, rock star Elvis Presley is greeted at the White House by President Richard M. Nixon. Presley’s visit was not just a social call: He wanted to meet Nixon in order to offer his services in the government’s war on drugs.
In 1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.
In 1991, 11 of the 12 former Soviet republics proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the death of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In 1995, the city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.
In 2009, the Obama administration imposed a 3-hour limit on how long airlines can keep passengers waiting inside planes delayed on the ground.
In 2015, the nation’s three-decade-old ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men was formally lifted, but major restrictions continued to limit who could give blood in the U.S.
In 2017, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to denounce President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, largely ignoring Trump’s threat to cut off aid to any country that went against him.
In 2020, President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live TV as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations were safe.
In 2022, Franco Harris, the Hall of Fame running back whose “Immaculate Reception” is considered the most iconic play in NFL history, died at age 72. (History.com 12/21/23)
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