On this day...

1719 First recorded display of Aurora Borealis in US (New England)
1792 France's King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of treason
1816 Indiana becomes 19th US state
1866 First yacht race across the Atlantic Ocean
1872 First black US governor took office, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (LA)
1901 Marconi sends first transatlantic radio signal, Cornwall to Newfoundland
1909 Colored moving pictures demonstrated at Madison Square Garden, NYC
1917 13 black soldiers hanged for alleged participation in Houston riot
1917 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
1919 Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise, Ala (Gagler's seen it!)
1928 Buenos Aires police thwart an attempt on U.S. President-elect Herbert Hoover
1931 British Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Newfoundland
1934 Ford C. Frick becomes president of baseball's National League
1936 King Edward VIII of England abdicates throne for woman he loves
1937 Italy withdraws from League of Nations
1941 Germany & Italy declare war on US
1941 Japanese occupy Guam
1946 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)
1947 Pacific Coast League application for major league status rejected
1949 Chicago Bear Johnny Lujack passes for 6 touchdowns vs Chicago Cardinals (52-29)
1949 Cleveland Browns beat SF '49ers 21-7 in final AAFC championship game
1951 Joe Dimaggio announces his baseball retirement
1953 KTVA, Anchorage becomes Alaska's First TV station
1954 USS Forrestal christened in Newport News, VA
1957 Jerry Lee Lewis weds Myra
1961 Adolf Eichman is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel
1961 Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii," album goes to #1 and stays #1 for 20 weeks
1961 JFK provides US military helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
1967 SST prototype "Concorde" first shown (France)
1972 Astronauts Cernan & Harrison become 11th & 12th on the Moon
1972 Jet's Don Maynard becomes all time pro reception leader (632)
1973 Houston Astro Caesar Cedeno jailed in death of 19 year old woman
1975 First class postage rises from 10 cents to 13 cents
1981 Muhammad Ali's 61st & last fight, losing to Trevor Berbick
1981 Spacelab I arrives at Kennedy Space Center
1983 First visit to Lutheran church by a Pope (John Paul II in Rome)
1985 General Electric acquires RCA Corp & its subsidiary, NBC
1986 A. Bartlett Giamatti becomes president of baseball's National League
1990 13 die in 83 vehicle accident in Chattanooga TN, due to fog
1991 William Kennedy Smith found not guilty of rape

Birthdays which occurred on December 11th:

1781 Sir David Brewster, Scotland, physicist/inventor (kaleidoscope)
1843 Robert Koch, Germany, discovered TB bacillis (Nobel-1905)
1882 Fiorello La Guardia, (Mayor-R-NYC, 1933-45)
1882 Max Born, Germany, physicist (Nobel 1954)
1892 Leo Ornstein, Kremenchug Russia, composer (Bio in Sonata Form)
1894 Eddie Dowling, Woonsocket RI, composer (Anywhere USA)
1905 Gilbert Roland, actor (Barbarosa)
1908 Elliott Cook Carter, Jr., NYC, composer (Tom & Lily)
1913 Carlo Ponti, producer, married to Sophia Loren (2 Women)
1918 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russia, writer (Cancer Ward, Nobel 1970)
1920 Eddy Firestone, San Francisco, actor (Eddy-Mixed Doubles)
1922 Grace Paley, writer (1970 Arts & Letters Award)
1922 Peter Birch, Bronx NY, choreographer (Jane Froman's USA Canteen)
1923 Betsy Blair, actress (Marty)
1924 Marie Windsor, [Emily Marie Bertelson], Utah, actress (Double Deal)
1926 Big Mama Thornton, blues singer (Ball & Chain, Stronger than Dirt)
1927 Stein Eriksen, Norway, giant slalom (Olympic gold-1952)
1930 Jean-Louis Trintignant, France, actor/director (Man & a Woman, Z)
1931 Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, guru of the rich
1931 Rita Moreno, [Rosa Dolores Alverio], Humacao PR, (West Side Story)
1932 Wynn Irwin, New York, actor (Lotsa Luck, Sugar Time)
1934 Ron Carey, Newark NJ, actor (Barney Miller, Montefuscos, High Anxiety)
1937 Anne Heywood, England, actress (Brain, Dr. at Large)
1940 David Gates, rocker (Bread-Baby I'm A Want You)
1942 Karen Susman, tennis pro (Wimbledon 1962)
1943 Donna Mills, Chicago, actress (Knots Landing, Incident)
1944 Brenda Lee, Atlanta, singer (I'm Sorry)
1944 Lynda Day George, San Marcos TX, actress (Casey-Mission Impossible)
1946 Teri Garr, Lakewood Ohio, actress (Mr Mom, Young Frankenstein)
1948 Elizabeth Baur, Los Angeles, actress (Fran-Ironside, Teresa-Lancer)
195- Isabella Hoffmann, actress (Kate-Dear John)
1952 Susan Seidelman, director (Desperately Seeking Susan)
1953 Bess Armstrong, Baltimore, actress (Julia-On Our Own, 4 Seasons, Jaws)
1953 Ken Wahl, actor (Wanderers, Wise Guys)
1953 Peter Isacksen, Dover NH, actor (CPO Sharkey, Jessie)
1954 Jermaine Jackson, Gary Indiana, singer (Jackson 5-ABC)
1955 Stu Jackson, Reading PA, NBA coach (NY Knicks (1989-90)
1958 Nicki Sixx, San Jose Calif, rock guitarist (Motley Crue)
1962 Kim Linehan, swimmer (1979 1500m World record)
1963 Mark Alalmo, actor (Avenging Force)
1966 Terry Sharpe, rocker (The Adventures, Starjets-Starjets)

Deaths which occurred on December 11th:

1974 Reed Hadley, actor (Racket Squad, Public Defender), dies at 63
1979 Claire Carleton, NYC, actress (Alice-Cimarron City), dies at 66
1984 George Waggner, director/writer dies at 90
1991 Headman Tshabala, musician (Ladysmith Black Mambazo), slain at 44