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On this day in history - December 22

What Happened On This Day – December 22

  • 2010 Don't ask don't tell was repealed

    President Obama signed the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy that governed the recruitment and service of LGBTQ members in the United States military. The policy was put in place by the Clinton Administration in 1994.

  • 1989 Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu overthrown

    The Communist President was ousted after widespread demonstrations in the country. Ceaușescu and his wife Elena tried to flee the country, but were captured, tried and executed by a firing squad. The Romanian Revolution was the only violent overthrow of a communist government in the 1980s.

  • 1937 Lincoln Tunnel opens

    The 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) long tunnel passes under the Hudson River and connects New Jersey to New York City.

  • 1891 First asteroid discovered through astrophotography

    323 Brucia was discovered by Max Wolf and was named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patron of astronomy.

  • 1882 First Christmas tree to be illuminated by electric lights displayed

    Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison and the Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, became the first person to decorate a Christmas tree with electric lights at his home in New York City.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
December 22

  • 1989 Jordin Sparks

    American singer-songwriter, actress

  • 1943 Paul Wolfowitz

    American politician, 25th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense

  • 1912 Lady Bird Johnson

    American wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, 38th First Lady of the United States

  • 1887 Srinivasa Ramanujan

    Indian mathematician

  • 1666 Guru Gobind Singh

    Indian guru

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
December 22

  • 2014 Joe Cocker

    English singer-songwriter

  • 2002 Joe Strummer

    English singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor

  • 1989 Samuel Beckett

    Irish/French author, playwright, director, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1942 Franz Boas

    German anthropologist

  • 1880 George Eliot

    English author