TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Dec. 15, 1791

The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1890

Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, South Dakota, during a confrontation with Indian police.

1938

Groundbreaking for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington, D.C. with President Franklin D. Roosevelt taking part in the ceremony.

1944

A single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller, a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces, disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

1960

Teflon-coated skillets first went on sale.

1961

Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court for crimes against humanity.

1965

Two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6A and Gemini 7, maneuvered toward each other while in orbit, at one point coming as close as one foot.

1967

The Silver Bridge between Gallipolis, Ohio, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people.

1978

President Jimmy Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China and sever official relations with Taiwan.

1989

A popular uprising began in Romania that resulted in the downfall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

1995

European Union leaders meeting in Madrid chose “euro” as the name of the new European currency.

2000

The long-troubled Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine was closed.