On This Day - What Happened On December 9 | Britannica

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1990 Lech Wałęsa elected president of Poland On this day in 1990, Lech Wałęsa—who had led Solidarity, Poland's first independent trade union, and had received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983—won Poland's first direct presidential election by a landslide. United Nations

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Robert Hawke prime minister of Australia bornDecember 9, 1929Bordertown, AustraliadiedMay 16, 2019 (aged 89)Sydney, AustraliaJames Pozarik/Gamma Liaison 1946 Sonia Gandhi Indian politician 1934 Judi Dench British actress 1929 John Cassavetes American actor and director 1916 Kirk Douglas American actor and producer 1906 Grace Hopper United States naval officer and mathematician See All Biographies On This Day

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2016 South Korean President Park Geun-Hye was impeached by the National Assembly amid allegations of corruption; she left office the following year, after the country's Constitutional Court upheld the parliamentary decision. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about Korea© Frederic Legrand - COMEO/Shutterstock.com 1998 The United Nations General Assembly declared anti-Semitism a form of racism. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about world organizationsEncyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1990 Slobodan Milošević was reelected president of Serbia at the head of the Socialist Party, formerly the League of Communists of Serbia (LCS). Test your knowledge of European historyStaff Sgt. Brian Schlumbohm/U.S. Air Force 1979 Some 10 years after the World Health Organization began a global vaccination program against smallpox, the disease was officially declared eradicated. Take our viruses, bacteria, and diseases quizKeystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1965 The animated special A Charlie Brown Christmas, featuring characters from Charles Schulz's popular Peanuts comic strip, first aired on American television, and it became a holiday classic. How much do you know about pop culture?© 1969 Cinema Center Films/National General Pictures 1961 Tanganyika became independent, with Julius Nyerere as its first prime minister, and in 1964 the territory united with the island of Zanzibar to form Tanzania. Test your knowledge of Africa© UPI—Bettmann Archive/Getty Images 1958 The John Birch Society was founded in the United States by Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., to combat communism and promote various ultraconservative causes. 1935 University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger won the first Heisman Trophy, an annual award that recognizes the finest college football player in the United States. The trophy was instituted by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City, who renamed it in 1936 in honor of the club's first athletic director, John Heisman. Learn more about people, places, and events that shaped the 1930s 1934 British actress Judi Dench, who was known for her numerous and varied roles, was born. Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about A-list actorsReg Wilson/Shutterstock.com 1868 The world's first traffic light was erected near Westminster Bridge in London; however, it was removed a month later after a gas leak caused one of the lights to explode. Take our inventions quiz 1824 Revolutionary forces under the leadership of Venezuelan Antonio José de Sucre defeated the Spanish royal army at the Battle of Ayacucho. Test your knowledge of Latin American historyCourtesy of the John Carter Brown Library (CC BY 4.0); cropped from the original 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.