January 3 ...

In 1496 references in Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks suggested that he tested his flying machine. The test didn't succeed and he didn't try to fly again for several years. In 1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther. In 1777 Gen. George Washington defeated Gen. Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton in the Revolutionary War. In 1815 by secret treaty, Austria, Britain, and France formed a defensive alliance against Prusso-Russian plans to solve the Saxon and Polish problems. In 1823 Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas. In 1825 the first engineering college in the US, Rensselaer School (now now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) opened in Troy, NY. In 1868 the Shogunate was abolished in Japan and Meiji dynasty was restored. In 1871 Henry W. Bradley patented oleomargarine (known as margarine). In 1892 author J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. In 1924 English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen (King Tut) in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt. In 1925 Italy's Benito Mussolini announced that he would take dictatorial powers in the country. In 1947 US Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time as viewers in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City saw some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress. In 1953 Ohioans Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver, became the first mother-son combination to serve at the same time in the US Congress. In 1959 Alaska became the 49th state. In 1961 the US severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. In 1962 Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro. In 1973 CBS sold the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by George Steinbrenner for $10 million. In 1988 Great Britain's Margaret Thatcher became the country's longest-serving prime minister in the 20th century. In 1990 ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to US forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission. In 1991 the British government announced that seven Iraqi diplomats, another embassy staff member, and 67 other Iraqis were being expelled from Britain. In 1993 President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Moscow. In 2000 Charles M. Schulz's final original Peanuts comic strip appeared in newspapers. In 2004 NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars. The craft was able to send back black and white images three hours after landing.

January 2 ...

In 1492 the leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. In 1788 Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the US Constitution. In 1872 Brigham Young, the 71-year-old leader of the Mormon Church, was arrested on a charge of bigamy; he had 25 wives. In 1879 Thomas Edison began construction on his first generator. In 1890 Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer. In 1900 US Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with China. In 1920 science fiction author Isaac Asimov was born near Smolensk, Russia. In 1929 the United States and Canada reached an agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls. In 1935 Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, NJ, on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was found guilty, and executed.) In 1942 the Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II. In 1955 Panamanian President Jose Antonio Remon was assassinated. In 1960 Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 1968 Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant. In 1971 a federally imposed ban on television cigarette advertisements went into effect in the US. In 1974 President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring all states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH. The law was intended to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries; federal speed limits were abolished in 1995. In 1986 former baseball owner Bill Veeck, known for his innovative promotions with the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Sox, died in Chicago at age 71.

January 1 ...

In 404 AD the last gladiator competition was held in Rome. In 1622 the Papal Chancery adopted January 1st as the beginning of the New Year (instead of March 25th). In 1735 Paul Revere was born in Boston, MA. In 1752 Betsy Ross was born in Philadelphia, PA. In 1772 the first traveler's checks were issued in London. In 1785 London's oldest daily paper The Daily Universal Register (later renamed The Times in 1788) was first published. In 1797 Albany became the capital of New York state, replacing New York City. In 1801 Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi became the first person to discover an asteroid; he named it Ceres. In 1804 Haiti gained its independence. In 1808 the US prohibited import of slaves from Africa. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel states were free. In 1879 author E.M. Forster was born in London, England. In 1892 Ellis Island Immigrant Station formally opened in New York; also on this day, Brooklyn and New York merged to form the single city of New York. In 1898 Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island were consolidated into New York City. In 1901 the Commonwealth of Australia was founded. In 1902 the first Tournament of Roses (later the Rose Bowl) collegiate football game was played in Pasadena, CA. In 1909 the first payments of old-age pensions were made in Britain, with people over 70 receiving five shillings a week. In 1919 J.D. Salinger was born in New York City; also on this day, George Halas was named the MVP of the Rose Bowl. In 1926 the Rose Bowl was carried coast to coast on network radio for the first time. In 1937 the First Cotton Bowl football game was played in Dallas, TX, with TCU beating Marquette, 16-6. In 1939 the Hewlett-Packard partnership was formed. In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a declaration called the "United Nations"; it was signed by 26 countries that vowed to create an international postwar World War II peacekeeping organization. In 1945 France was admitted to the United Nations. In 1953 country singer Hank Williams, 29, died of a drug and alcohol overdose while en route to a concert date in Canton, OH. In 1956 Sudan gained its independence. In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba. In 1975 the magazine Popular Electronics announced the invention of a personal computer called Altair. MITS, using an Intel microprocessor, developed the computer. In 1984 AT&T was broken up into 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement with the Justice Department. In 1987 a pro-democracy rally took place in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (China). In 1993 Czechoslovakia split into two separate states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful division had been engineered in 1992. In 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. In 1995 the World Trade Organization came into existance. The group of 125 nations monitors global trade. In 1999 the euro became currency for 11 Member States of the European Union. Coins and notes were not available until January 1, 2002. In 2004 Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the US Congress, died at age 80; also on this day, California Congressman Robert T. Matsui died at age 63.

December 31 ...

In 1687 the first Huguenots set sail from France for the Cape of Good Hope, where they would later create the South African wine industry with the vines they took with them on the voyage. In 1695 a 'window tax' was imposed in Britain, which 'unexpectedly' resulted in many windows being bricked up. After many permutations, the tax was finally repealed July 24, 1851, just 155-plus years later. In 1775 the British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery was killed in the battle. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union. In 1879 Thomas Edison gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting to an audience in Menlo Park, NJ. In 1891 New York's new Immigration Depot was opened at Ellis Island. In 1929 Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played Auld Lang Syne as a New Year's Eve song for the first time. In 1946 President Harry Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II. In 1955 General Motors became the first US corporation to earn more than one billion dollars in a single year. In 1960 the farthing coin, which had been in use in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceased to be legal tender. In 1961 the Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid. In 1979 at year end oil prices were 88% higher than at the start of 1979. In 1999 Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was designated acting president.

December 30 ...

In 1853 the US signed a treaty with Mexico to purchase about 30,000 square miles of land in present-day Arizona and New Mexico in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase. The treaty was ratified by the US Senate and officially signed into law by President Pierce in 1854. In 1865 author and poet Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India. In 1879 Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance was first performed, at Paignton, Devon, England. In 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed. In 1924 Edwin Hubble announced his discovery of the existence of other galactic systems. In 1936 the United Auto Workers union staged its first sit-down strike, at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint, MI. In 1944 King George II of Greece proclaimed a regency to rule his country, virtually renouncing the throne. In 1947 King Michael of Romania abdicated in favor of a Communist Republic, claiming he was forced from his throne. In 1953 the first color TV sets went on sale for about $1,175. In 1972 the US halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam. In 1978 Ohio State University fired head football coach Woody Hayes, one day after Hayes punched Clemson University player Charlie Bauman during the Gator Bowl after Bauman had intercepted an Ohio State pass. In 1980 The Wonderful World of Disney was cancelled by NBC after more than 25 years on the TV; it was the longest-running series in prime-time television history. In 1993 Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations. In 1997 more than 400 people were massacred in four villages in the single worst incident during Algeria's insurgency.

December 29 ...

In 1170 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights acting on Henry II's orders. In 1813 the British burned Buffalo, NY, during the War of 1812. In 1837 Canadian militiamen destroyed the Caroline, a US steamboat docked at Buffalo, NY. In 1845 President James Polk and signed legislation making Texas the 28th state of the United States. In 1848 President James Polk turned on the first gas light at the White House. In 1890 the US Seventh Cavalry killed over 400 men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek, SD, in the last major conflict between American Indians and US troops. In 1934 Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. In 1936 Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke was born in Elmwood Park, IL. In 1940 Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London. In 1952 the first transistorized hearing aid was offered for sale by Sonotone Corporation. In 1972 following 36 years of publication, the last weekly issue of LIFE magazine hit the newsstands; the magazine later became a monthly publication. In 1996 the Guatemalan government and leaders of the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace accord in Guatemala City, ending a civil war that had lasted 36 years. In 1998 Khmer Rouge leaders 'apologized' for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed at least 1 million lives.

December 28 ...

In 1732 The Pennsylvania Gazette, owned by Benjamin Franklin, ran an ad for the first issue of Poor Richard's Almanack. In 1832 John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson. In 1836 Mexico's independence was recognized by Spain. In 1846 Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union. In 1897 Cyrano de Bergerac a play by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris, France. In 1908 an earthquake killed over 75,000 at Messina in Sicily. In 1912 the first municipally-owned street cars were used on the streets of San Francisco, CA. In 1917 the New York Evening Mail published a facetious essay by H.L. Mencken on the history of bathtubs in America. In 1973 Alexander Solzhenitsyn published Gulag Archipelago, an expose of the Soviet prison system. In 1981 the first American test-tube baby was born in Norfolk, VA.

December 27 ...

In 1831 Charles Darwin set out on a five-year, round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, during which time he recorded his biological, geological, and anthropological observations in South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution. In 1845 Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time, during the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, GA. In 1900 Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS, breaking each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen. In 1904 James Barrie's play Peter Pan premiered in London. In 1927 Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party. In 1945 the World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations. In 1947 the children's television program Howdy Doody, hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC. In 1949 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule. In 1968 The Breakfast Club signed off for the last time on ABC radio after 35 years on the air. In 1978 Spain adopted a new constitution and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship. In 1985 Palestinian terorists opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports. A total of twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who were slain by police and security personnel. Also on this day, American naturalist Dian Fossey was found murdered at a research station in Rawanda. In 1996 Muslim fundamentalist Taliban forces retook the strategic air base of Bagram, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, the Afghanistan capital. In 2001 President George W. Bush granted China permanent normal trade status with the US. In 2002 North Korea ordered UN nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said that it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons; also on this day, at least 40 people were killed when suicide bombers attacked Grozny, Chechnya.

December 26 ...

In 1776 the British suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War when Gen. George Washington's troops famously crossed the Delaware River and marched almost 10 miles to Trenton, NJ, surprising Hessian troops under British command. In 1908 Jack Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, to become the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title. In 1917 during World War I, the US government took over operation of the nation's railroads. In 1941 Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the US Congress. In 1944 Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie was first performed publicly, at the Civic Theatre in Chicago, IL. In 1954 The Shadow aired on radio for the last time. In 1956 Fidel Castro attempted a secret landing in Cuba to overthrow the Batista regime; all but 11 of his supporters were killed. In 1974 Comedian Jack Benny died at age 80. In 1982 Time magazine's Man of the Year was a computer, the first time a non-human received the honor. In 1991 the Soviet Union's parliament formally voted the country out of existence. In 1995 Israel turned dozens of West Bank villages over to the Palestinian Authority. In 1998 Iraq announced that it would fire on US and British warplanes that patrol the skies over northern and southern Iraq. In 1999 Alfonso Portillo, a populist lawyer, won Guatemala's first peacetime presidential elections in 40 years. In 2004 a massive tsunami, caused by magnitude-9 earthquake off Sumatra, crashed into Indian Ocean coastlines from Malaysia to East Africa, killing more than 200,000 in a dozen countries.

December 25 ...

In 800 AD Charlemagne was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. In 1066 William the Conqueror was crowned king of England. In 1646 Sir Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, England. In 1776 Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, NJ. In 1818 Silent Night was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria. In 1868 President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War. In 1883 painter Maurice Utrillo was born in Paris, France. In 1894 the University of Chicago became the first Midwestern football team to play on the west coast. The Maroons defeated Stanford, 24-4, in Palo Alto, CA. In 1899 Humphrey Bogart was born in New York City. In 1914 during World War I, British and German troops observed an unofficial truce, even playing soccer together on the Western Front. In 1918 Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was born in Mit Abu Al-Kum, Al-Minufiyah, Egypt. In 1926 Hirohito became the emperor of Japan after the death of his father, Emperor Taisho. In 1937 Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of Symphony of the Air over NBC radio. In 1939 Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was read on CBS radio for the first time. In 1941 Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese. In 1946 W.C. Fields died at the age of 66; also on this day, musician Jimmy Buffett was born in Pascagoula, MS. In 1962 the Department of Commerce Census Clock in Washington, DC, recorded the US population on this day as 188,000,000. In 1989 ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed by firing squad following a popular uprising; also on this day, dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia. In 1990 computer scientists Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau created the world's first hyperlinked webpage. In 1991 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.

December 24 ...

In 1814 the War of 1812 between the US and Britain was ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium. In 1818 Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany, composed the music for Silent Night to words written by Josef Mohr. In 1851 a fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, destroying about 35,000 volumes. In 1865 several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, TN, called the Ku Klux Klan. In 1906 Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, MA. In 1914 in World War I, the first air raid on Britain was made when a German airplane dropped a bomb on the grounds of a rectory in Dover. In 1943 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces as part of Operation Overlord. In 1944 a German submarine torpedoed the Belgian transport ship SS Leopoldville with 2,235 soldiers aboard. About 800 American soldiers died. The soldiers were crossing the English Channel to be reinforcements at the Battle of the Bulge. In 1948 the first completely solar-heated house became occupied in Dover, MA. In 1951 Libya achieved independence as the United Kingdom of Libya, under King Idris. In 1968 the crew of the US Navy ship USS Pueblo was released by North Korea; the Captain of the Pueblo, Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, and 82 of his crew were held for 11 months after the ship was seized by North Korea because of suspected spying by the Americans. Also on this day, American Apollo 8 astronauts James A. Lovell, William Anders, and Frank Borman reached the moon, orbiting it 10 times before coming back to Earth; seven months later man first landed on the moon. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. In 1992 President George H. W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal. In 1997 Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as "Carlos the Jackal," was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national. In 2004 the international Cassini spacecraft launched a probe on a three-week free-fall toward Saturn's mysterious moon Titan.

December 23 ...

In 1783 George Washington returned home to Mount Vernon after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War. In 1788 Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government; about two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia. In 1823 the poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, by Clement C. Moore (a.k.a. 'Twas the night before Christmas) was published. In 1888 following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe. In 1913 the Federal Reserve Bill was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, establishing the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. In 1922 the British Broadcasting Corporation began daily news broadcasts. In 1928 the National Broadcasting Company set up a permanent, coast-to-coast network. In 1941 American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese. In 1947 John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley invented the transistor. In 1948 former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo; they had been found guilty of crimes against humanity. In 1951 the NFL Championship Game was first televised nationally by the DuMont Television Network, as the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cleveland Browns 24-17. In 1953 Soviet secret police chief Lavrenti Beria and six of his associates were shot for treason following a secret trial. In 1968 eighty-two crewmembers of the US intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured. In 1986 the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California. In 1989 ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were captured as they were attempting to flee their country. In 1990 elections in Yugoslavia ended, leaving four of its six republics with non-Communist governments. In 1997 Terry Nichols was convicted by a Denver jury on charges of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the 1995 federal building bombing in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people.

December 22 ...

In 1775 a Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies. In 1807 the US Congress passed the Embargo Act, designed to force peace between Britain and France by cutting off all trade with Europe. In 1864 during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to President Lincoln from Georgia, which read, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah." In 1894 French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated. In 1895 German physicist Wilhelm Rontgen made the first X-ray, of his wife's hand. In 1941 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington fifteen days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor for a wartime conference with President Roosevelt. In 1944 during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, US Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe reportedly replied "Nuts!" when the Germans demanded that the Americans surrender. In 1956 the last British and French forces evacuated Egypt. In 1989 Romania's hard-line Communist ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown in a popular uprising. In 1990 Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president. In 1991 the body of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, an American hostage murdered by his captors, was found along a highway in Lebanon. In 2001 thirty Afghans, including two women, were sworn in as part of the new interim government in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai was the head of the post-Taliban government. Also on this day, Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers.

December 21 ...

In 1620 the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, MA. In 1898 scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium. In 1913 the New York World Sunday edition included the first crossword puzzle published in a newspaper. In 1925 Sergei Eisenstein's film Battleship Potemkin was first shown in Moscow. In 1937 Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made its debut. In 1945 US Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident. In 1958 Charles de Gaulle was elected to a seven-year term as the first president of the Fifth Republic of France. In 1968 Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon. In 1971 the UN Security Council chose Kurt Waldheim to succeed U Thant as secretary-general. In 1988 270 people were killed when terrorists blew up a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland. In 1990 Saddam Hussein declared in a German television interview that he would not withdraw from Kuwait by the UN deadline. In 1991 eleven of the 12 former Soviet republics proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

December 20 ...

In 1606 the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery set sail from London. Their landing at Jamestown, VA, was the start of the first permanent English settlement in America. In 1699 Peter the Great ordered that the Russian New Year be changed from September 1 to January 1. In 1790 the first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, RI. In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase was completed at a ceremony in New Orleans. The US paid France $15 million, plus interest, for the territory. In 1820 the state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21-50 for being unmarried; the tax was $1 a year. In 1860 South Carolina became the first Southern state to secede from the Union. In 1864 Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, GA as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his 'March to the Sea.' In 1879 Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ. In 1881 the most innovative Major League Baseball executive in history, Branch Rickey, was born outside of Portsmouth, OH. In 1946 Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its "official" world premiere. Also on this day, full-scale guerrilla warfare between Vietnam partisans and French troops began. In 1954 Buick Motor Company signed Jackie Gleason to one of the largest contracts ever entered into with an entertainer; Gleason agreed to produce 78 half-hour shows over a two-year period for $6,142,500. In 1968 author John Steinbeck died at the age of 66. In 1976 Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley died of a heart attack at the age of 74; at the time, he was the longest-serving mayor in Chicago history, having served from 1955-1976. His son, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, eclipsed his father's tenure, and now is the longest-serving mayor in Chicago history, having served from 1989-2011. In 1989 General Manuel Noriega, Panama's former dictator, was overthrown by a US invasion force invited by the new civilian government. In 2002 US Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) resigned as Senate Majority Leader.