On This Day - What Happened On December 15 | Britannica

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Featured Event

1939 Atlanta premiere of Gone with the Wind A citywide celebration accompanied the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, Georgia, on this day in 1939. Actresses Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel and director Victor Fleming were among those who won Academy Awards for their work on a film that has a controversial legacy. Read today's edition of Today in History >> Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

Featured Biography

Harold Abrahams British athlete bornDecember 15, 1899Bedford, EnglanddiedJanuary 14, 1978 (aged 78)London, EnglandAP/REX/Shutterstock.com 1923 Freeman Dyson American physicist 1907 Oscar Niemeyer Brazilian architect 1892 J. Paul Getty American industrialist 1852 Henri Becquerel French physicist 1832 Gustave Eiffel French engineer See All Biographies On This Day

More Events On This Day

2011 The Iraq War officially ended when the United States formally declared that its mission in Iraq was over. Read about eight of the deadliest wars of the 21st centuryOfficial White House Photo by Pete Souza 2001 The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened in Pisa, Italy, after more than 10 years of work to stabilize the structure. Take our quiz about the history of architecture© Corbis 1997 The U.S. Department of Defense ordered that all Americans in its service (about 2.5 million people) be inoculated against anthrax, a potential weapon of biological warfare. Test your knowledge of weapons and warfare©Carolina K. Smith, M.D./Shutterstock.com 1997 Janet Jagan was elected president of Guyana, becoming the first elected female president in South America and the first white president of Guyana. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about South AmericaKeystone/Hulton Archive /Getty Images 1989 Antigovernment demonstrations erupted in Timișoara, Romania, beginning the revolution that toppled the communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu from power a few days afterward. Test your knowledge of plots and revolutions© Peter Turnley—Corbis/Getty Images 1987 Septima Poinsette Clark, an educator and civil rights activist who became director of education and teaching of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1960s, died on Johns Island in South Carolina. Explore a timeline of the American civil rights movementBob Fitch Photography Archive, Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Library 1948 Alger Hiss, a former U.S. government official, was indicted on two charges of perjury in connection with accusations of membership in a communist espionage ring during the 1930s. The Hiss case was one of the most publicized espionage incidents of the Cold War. Read about 10 notable spies from across history© Bettmann/Getty Images 1907 Oscar Niemeyer, an early exponent of Modernist architecture in Latin America and a cowinner of the 1988 Pritzker Architecture Prize, was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Test your knowledge of architecture and architectsClaus C. Meyer/Black Star 1890 The Lakota (Teton) chief Sitting Bull was killed on the Grand River in South Dakota by Native police and soldiers who had been sent by the U.S. government to arrest him so as to prevent him from leading an insurrection.Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-12277) 1791 The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution—the Bill of Rights, traditionally defined as a collection of mutually reinforcing guarantees of individual rights and limitations on federal and state governments—were adopted as a single unit. How much do you know about the amendments to the U.S. Constitution?United States National Archives, Washington, D.C. 37 ce Nero, who became infamous for his personal debaucheries and extravagances as the fifth Roman emperor, was born. Did Nero really fiddle as Rome burned?© Photos.com/Getty Images SIGN UP FOR History's Biggest Headlines Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors. SIGN UP Thanks for signing up for Today in History. Your first newsletter will arrive soon! SIGN UP By clicking "Sign Up" you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.