1914, in one of the worst maritime disasters ever, the liner Empress of Ireland, carrying 1,477 passengers and crew, collided with the Norwegian freighter Storstad in Canada’s St. Lawrence River. Just over one thousand people lost their lives.
1917, John F. Kennedy was born. He was assassinated in 1963.
1942, Bing Crosby recorded Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”
1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and sherpa Tensing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
1973, Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles. He retired in 1993.
1974, the TV variety show Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour last aired on CBS.
1980, NBA great Larry Bird beat out another great, Magic Johnson, for Rookie of the Year.
1980, National Urban League president Vernon Jordan was shot and critically wounded in an assassination attempt in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jordan survived, and today is one of former president Bill Clinton‘s closest friends.
1985, in Brussels, Belgium, a drunken group of British soccer fans supporting the Liverpool team stormed stands filled with Italian supporters of the Juventus team before the European Champion’s Cup final. During the attack, a concrete retaining wall collapsed and 39 people were crushed or trampled to death and over 400 were injured.
1989, student protesters in China’s Tiananmen Square built a replica of Statue of Liberty that they called the Goddess of Democracy.