Inventions, firsts, and turning points tied to today’s date — each one sourced and dated.
Before dawn on December 20, 1989, nearly 26,000 American troops launched the largest U.S. combat operation since Vietnam.
On December 20, 1951, EBR-I in the Idaho desert turned nuclear fission into usable electricity for the first time, lighting four ordinary bulbs.
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to leave the Union, lighting the fuse toward civil war.
On December 20, 1803, three flags rose and fell over New Orleans as France handed a continent's interior to the young United States.
