On This Day
What Happened on December 20 in History
8 events that happened on December 20, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1803
France formally transferred the Louisiana Territory to the United States in New Orleans.
The handover took place in the Cabildo, a government building used by both the Spanish and the French. Spain had returned the territory to France only weeks earlier, on November 30, so French rule there lasted just 20 days.
Source: nps.gov; archives.gov
1860
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
A state convention in Charleston voted to leave the United States after Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election. The secession set the South on the path to the Civil War, which began in Charleston Harbor in April 1861.
Source: nps.gov; battlefields.org
1861
Union troops under Edward Ord defeated J.E.B. Stuart's Confederates at the Battle of Dranesville, Virginia.
The clash in Fairfax County came two months after the Union defeat at Ball's Bluff in neighboring Loudoun County. Estimated casualties were 71 Union and 230 Confederate.
Source: battlefields.org
The Cold War
1951
Experimental Breeder Reactor I in Idaho became the first power plant to make usable electricity from nuclear fission.
On the first day it lit four 200-watt light bulbs, and by the next day it powered its whole building. The liquid metal-cooled reactor ran as a test reactor until 1964 and is now a museum and historic landmark.
Source: energy.gov; tig.iri.isu.edu
1956
The Montgomery bus boycott ended after more than a year of protest against segregated buses.
The boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, began after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. It ended after the Supreme Court upheld the ruling in Browder v. Gayle that segregated bus travel was unconstitutional.
Source: millercenter.org
1986
A white mob attacked three Black men in Howard Beach, Queens, and one of them was killed fleeing into traffic.
The men had walked into the neighborhood seeking help after their car broke down. Michael Griffith, 23, was struck and killed by a car on the Belt Parkway, and Cedric Sandiford was badly beaten.
Source: history.com
1989
The United States invaded Panama to remove military ruler Manuel Noriega.
Noriega had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges. His Panamanian Defense Forces were quickly defeated, and he surrendered on January 3, 1990, after taking refuge at the Vatican embassy in Panama City.
Source: history.com
The Modern Era
2019
The U.S. Space Force was established as the newest branch of the armed forces.
It was created when the National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, the first new military service in 73 years. The new service was created to focus solely on military operations in space.
Source: spaceforce.mil