Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
On 15, Sunday December 1918, Pauline Neura Reilly born, ornithologist
On 15, Sunday December 1918, Jeff Chandler born, American actor (d. 1961)
On 15, Wednesday December 1943, WWII: American and Australian forces began the Battle of Arawe as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester on New Britain in Papua New Guinea.
On 15, Wednesday December 1943, Lucien den Arend born, Dutch sculptor
On 15, Wednesday December 1943, Fats Waller died, American jazz pianist (b. 1904)
On 15, Monday December 1958, Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories publish a paper in Physical Review Letters setting out the principles of the optical laser.
On 15, Monday December 1958, Alfredo Ormando born, Italian writer (d. 1998)
On 15, Monday December 1958, Wolfgang Pauli died, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
On 15, Friday December 1978, Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to go into default since the Great Depression, under Democrat Mayor Dennis Kucinich.
On 15, Friday December 1978, Superman is released in theaters in the United States.
On 15, Friday December 1978, Jerome McDougle born, American football player
On 15, Thursday December 1988, Emily Head born, English actress
On 15, Wednesday December 1993, The Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks reach a successful conclusion after seven years.
On 15, Wednesday December 1993, Penaia Ganilau died, 1st President of Fiji (b. 1918)
On 15, Tuesday December 1998, Chandler Canterbury born, American actor
On 15, Tuesday December 1998, Brady Boone died, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
On 15, Monday December 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces that Australia will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent of 2000 levels by the year 2020, with an option to reduce by 15 per cent if other developing countries take similar action. The announcement is criticised by the Australian Greens and environmental groups as not going far enough.
On 15, Monday December 2008, León Febres Cordero, 35th President of Ecuador (b. 1931), died.
On 15, Sunday December 2013, Fighting between ethnic Dinka and Nuer members of the presidential guard break out in Juba, South Sudan, plunging the country into civil war.
On 15, Sunday December 2013, Harold Camping, American evangelist (b. 1921), died.
On 15, Sunday December 2013, Joan Fontaine, Japanese-born British American actress (b. 1917), died.
Other On This Day days in history
Neville Buch