Today In History
Today is Saturday, Dec. 30, the 364th day of 2017. There is one day left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1922: Vladimir Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which lasted nearly seven decades before dissolving in December 1991.
ON THIS DATE
› 1853: The United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.
› 1936: The United Auto Workers union staged its first “sit-down” strike at the General Motors Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Michigan. (The strike lasted until Feb. 11, 1937.)
› 1942: A near-riot of bobby-soxers greeted the opening of Frank Sinatra’s singing engagement at the Paramount Theater in New York’s Times Square.
› 1954: Olympic gold medal runner Malvin G. Whitfield became the first black recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award for amateur athletes.
› 1999: Former Beatle George Harrison fought off a knife-wielding intruder who’d broken into his mansion west of London and stabbed him in the chest. (The attacker was later acquitted of attempted murder by reason of insanity.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Russ Tamblyn is
83. Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax is 82. Folk singer Noel Paul Stookey is 80. TV director James Burrows is 77. Actor Fred Ward is 75. TV personality Meredith Vieira is 64. Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is 62. Actress Patricia Kalember is 61. Country singer Suzy Bogguss is
61. Former “Today” show co-host Matt Lauer is 60. Actress-comedian Tracey Ullman is 58. Rock musician Rob Hotchkiss is 57. Actor George Newbern is
54. Movie director Bennett Miller is 51. Singer Jay Kay (Jamiroquai) is
48. Rock musician Byron McMackin (Pennywise) is 48. Actress Meredith Monroe is 48. Actor Daniel Sunjata is 46. Actress Maureen Flannigan is 45. Actor Jason Behr is 44. Golfer Tiger Woods is
42. Actress Eliza Dushku is 37. Rock musician Tim Lopez (Plain White T’s) is 37. Actress Kristin Kreuk is 35. Folk-rock singer-musician Wesley Schultz (The Lumineers) is 35. Pop-rock singer Ellie Goulding is 31. Actress Caity Lotz is 31. Pop-rock musician Jamie Follese (Hot Chelle Rae) is 26.