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Today is Thursday, December 19, the 354th day of 2024. There are 12 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On December 19, 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice. (He was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.)
Also on this date:
In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington led his army of more than 12,000 soldiers to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.
In 1907, 239 workers were killed in an explosion at the Darr Coal Mine, near Van Meter, Pennsylvania.
In 1960, a fire broke out on the hangar deck of the nearly completed aircraft carrier USS Constellation at the New York Naval Shipyard, killing 50 civilian workers.
In 1972, Apollo 17 crashed in the Pacific Ocean, completing the Apollo program of manned moon landings.
In 2008, citing an impending threat to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered a $17.4 billion emergency bailout for the U.S. auto industry.
In 2011, North Korea announced the death of leader Kim Jong Il two days earlier; North Koreans marched in their thousands to mourn as state media declared his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, the country’s new leader.
In 2016, a truck rammed into a busy Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by Islamic State. (The suspected attacker was killed four days later in a police shootout.)
In 2022, the House of Representatives committee on January 6 urged the Justice Department to file criminal charges against former President Donald Trump over the violent 2021 Capitol riot, calling for accountability for the former president and “a time of reflection and reckoning.”
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Tim Reid is 80.
- Singer Janie Fricke is 77.
- Actor Jennifer Beals is 61.
- Basketball Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis is 60.
- Olympic skiing gold medalist Alberto Tomba is 58.
- Actor Kristy Swanson is 55.
- Model Tyson Beckford is 54.
- Actor Alyssa Milano is 52.
- Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp is 52.
- Actor Jake Gyllenhaal (JIH’-lihn-hahl) is 44.
- Actor Annie Murphy is 38.
- Journalist Ronan Farrow is 37.