December 9 - Definition and Overview

December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 22 days remaining.

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 U.S. 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
• 1897 - Marguerite Durand, a French stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette, founded the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde.
• 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.
• 1946 - Doctors' Trial: The trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity began for medical researchers involved in the horrors of Nazi human experimentation .
• 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.
• 1960 - Coronation Street first airs on televisions across the United Kingdom.
• 1961 - Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in Israel
• 1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic
• 1982 - Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.
• 1987 - First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank
• 1990 - Lech Wałęsa becomes the first directly elected president of Poland.
• 1991 - Recognizing Iraq as the aggressor of Iraq–Iran war
• 1992 - Separation of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales is announced
• 1992 - US Marines land in Somalia
• 2001 - Professional wrestler Chris Jericho unifies top titles WWE Championship and WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the first time ever in San Diego, California at the WWE Vengeance pay-per-view.

Births

• 1594 - King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (d. 1632)
• 1608 - John Milton, English poet, writer (d. 1674)
• 1842 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (d. 1921)
• 1868 - Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1918.
• 1871 - Joe Kelley, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1943)
• 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)
• 1901 - Jean Mermoz, French aviator.
• 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 - Lee J. Cobb, actor
• 1911 - Broderick Crawford, actor (d. 1986)
• 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)
• 1929 - Bob Hawke, twenty-third Prime Minister of Australia
• 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)
• 1946 - Sonia Gandhi, Indian politician and president of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party).
• 1947 - Tom Daschle, American politician
• 1947 - Steve Owens, football player
• 1950 - Joan Armatrading, singer
• 1951 - Dominique Dropsy, French soccer player
• 1952 - Michael Dorn, actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine)
• 1953 - John Malkovich, actor
• 1957 - Donny Osmond, entertainer
• 1962 - Felicity Huffman, actress (Magnolia, Sports Night, Desperate Housewives)
• 1964 - Paul Landers, guitarist for Rammstein
• 1967 - Joshua Bell, violinist
• 1968 - Kurt Angle, Olympic gold medalist in amateur wrestling, now WWE professional wrestler
• 1968 - Dave Harold, English snooker player
• 1969 - Jakob Dylan, musician
• 1969 - Bixente Lizarazu, French soccer player, world champion in 1998.
• 1972 - Tre Cool, musician (Green Day)
• 1972 - Fabrice Santoro, French tennis player.
• 1981 - Diya Mirza , Indian actress.

Deaths

• 1565 - Pope Pius IV
• 1669 - Pope Clement IX
• 1930 - Andrew "Rube" Foster, pioneer of Negro League baseball
• 1937 - Nils Gustaf Dalén, engineer, physicist
• 1964 - Dame Edith Sitwell, poet
• 1965 - Branch Rickey, baseball commissioner
• 1971 - Ralph Bunche, diplomat
• 1972 - Louella Parsons, gossip columnist
• 1995 - Toni Cade Bambara, author (b. 1939)
• 1996 - Mary Leakey, archeologist, anthropologist
• 1998 - Archie Moore, boxer
• 1998 - Shaughnessy Cohen
• 2002 - Stan Rice, painter, educator, poet, husband of author Anne Rice
• 2003 - Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois
• 2004 - David Brudnoy, radio personality
• 2004 - Dimebag Darrell, musician

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire - Opalia held in honor of Ops

• Scandinavia (specifically Sweden): Anna's Day. Recognizes everyone named Anna, and marks the day to start the preparation process of the lutefisk to be consumed on Christmas Eve.

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