Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of Henry II. Becket clashed almost incessantly with King Henry II over the question of the independence of the Church from the authority of the state.
1808: Andrew Johnson is born
Andrew Johnson, the 17th US President, is born in Raleigh, North Carolina.
1812: USS Constitution and the Java
The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1890: The Wounded Knee Massacre
US 7th Cavalry massacre over 200 captive Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The last major conflict of the Indian wars takes place at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota after Colonel James W. Forsyth of the 7th Cavalry tries to disarm Chief Big Foot and his followers.
1891: Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically"
Thomas Alva Edison, an American Inventor, patents the "transmission of signals electrically".
1911: Sun Yat-sen, first president of a republican China
Sun Yat-sen becomes the first president of a republican China. He formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
1940: London Fire Raid
London suffers its most devastating air raid as Germans firebomb the city on the evening of December 29.
1972: Eastern Air Lines crash
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashes near the Everglades killing 101.
1975: La Guardia Airport blast
11 people are killed and 75 injured by a terrorist bomb blast at LaGuardia Airport in NYC.
1997: Hong Kong bird flu
Hong Kong begins culling more than one million chickens and other poultry to rid itself of the deadly "bird flu" virus.
1998: Khmer Rouge apology
Khmer Rouge leaders apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed a million lives.
