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.