Today is Thursday, Dec. 19, the 354th day of 2024. There are 12 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Dec. 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, Gen. George Washington led his army of more than 12,000 soldiers to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.
In 1907, 239 workers died in an explosion at the Darr coal mine, near Van Meter, Pennsylvania.
In 1960, 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 splashed down in the Pacific, concluding the Apollo program of crewed lunar landings.
In 2008, citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered a $17.4 billion emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.
In 2011, North Korea announced the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans marched by the thousands to mourn while state media proclaimed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as the nation’s new leader.
In 2016, a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State. (The suspected attacker was killed in a police shootout four days later.)
In 2022, the House Jan. 6 Committee urged the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for the violent 2021 Capitol insurrection, 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.
