What Happened This Day In History

Today in History
December 9

536		Having captured Naples earlier in the year, Belisarius takes Rome.
1861		The U.S. Senate approves establishment of a committee that would become the Joint Committee on the Conduct of War.
1863		Major General John G. Foster replaces Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside as Commander of the Department of Ohio.
1867		The capital of Colorado Territory is moved from Golden to Denver.
1872		P.B.S. Pinchback becomes the first African-American governor of Louisiana.
1900		The Russian czar rejects Boer Paul Kruger’s pleas for aid in South Africa against the British.
1908		A child labor bill passes in the German Reichstag, forbidding work for children under age 13.
1917		The new Finnish Republic demands the withdrawal of Russian troops.
1940		The British army seizes 1,000 Italians in a sudden thrust in Egypt.
1941		Franklin D. Roosevelt tells Americans to plan for a long war.
1948		The United States abandons a plan to de-concentrate industry in Japan.
1949		The United Nations takes trusteeship over Jerusalem.
1950		President Harry Truman bans U.S. exports to Communist China.
1950		Harry Gold gets 30 years imprisonment for passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II.
1955		Sugar Ray Robinson knocks out Carl Olson to regain the world middleweight boxing title.
1960		The Laos government flees to Cambodia as the capital city of Vientiane is engulfed in war.
1990		Lech Walesa is elected president of Poland.
1992		U.S. Marines land in Somalia to ensure food and medicine reaches the deprived areas of that country.
2008		Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is arrested on federal charges, including an attempt to sell the US Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Born on December 9
1608		John Milton, British writer and poet (Paradise Lost).
1809		William Barret Travis, commander of the Texas troops at the battle of the Alamo.
1848		Joel Chandler Harris, writer, creator of the Uncle Remus tales.
1899		Jean de Brunhoff, illustrator and author, creator of the Babar series of books.
1906		Grace Hopper, mathematician and computer pioneer.
1912		Thomas P. "Tip" O’Neill, speaker of the House of Representatives.
1918		Kirk Douglas, American actor (Spartacus).
1919		William Lipscomb, chemist; awarded Nobel Prize in 1976.
1922		Redd Foxx (John Sanford), comedian, actor; best known for his starring role in the TV series Sanford and Son.
1926		Henry Kendall, particle physicist; shared Nobel Prize in 1990.
1928		Dick Van Patten, actor; best known for his role on the TV series Eight is Enough.
1929		John Cassavetes, actor (The Dirty Dozen), film director, screenwriter (Faces).
1932		Billy Edd Wheeler, singer, songwriter ("Jackson," "Coward of the County").
1934		Judi Dench (Dame Judith Dench), actress; known to James Bond fans for her role as M in Bond films beginning with Golden Eye (1997), her many awards include an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Chocolat, 2000).
1942		Dick Butkus, pro football player; inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1979.
1953		John Malkovich, actor (Places in the Heart), producer (Juno), director, fashion designer.
1963		Masako, Crown Princes of Japan, wife of Crown Prince Naruhito, heir apparent to the Chrysanthemum Throne.