What Happened on December 14 in History?
Many significant events have occurred on December 14 throughout history, including George Washington's death, the first expedition to reach the South Pole, and the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Key Historical Events on December 14
1542: Mary, Queen of Scots, became Queen Mary I of Scotland at just six days old, following the death of her father, James V of Scotland.
1799: George Washington, the first U.S. president, died at his Mount Vernon estate at the age of 67.
1819: Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd U.S. state.
1861: In Britain, Prince Albert, the consort and husband of Queen Victoria, died of typhoid at Windsor Castle.
1900: German physicist Max Planck presented a groundbreaking study that marked the birth of quantum theory.
1911: Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people in history to reach the South Pole, beating a rival British expedition led by Robert F. Scott.
1939: The League of Nations expelled the Soviet Union for its aggression and invasion of Finland.
1962: NASA's Mariner 2 space probe became the first spacecraft to successfully fly by another planet, Venus, sending back information about its extremely hot atmosphere.
1969: The Jackson 5 made their first appearance on network television, performing on The Ed Sullivan Show.
1972: Eugene Cernan reentered the lunar module after the third and final extravehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission, becoming the most recent person to walk on the Moon.
1985: Wilma Mankiller took office as the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
1995: The Dayton Agreement, a peace treaty intended to end the Bosnian War, was formally signed in Paris by leaders from the former Yugoslavia.
2012: A tragic mass shooting occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were killed by a lone gunman who then committed suicide.
2020: The largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history began as health workers started receiving their first COVID-19 shots on the same day the U.S. death toll from the virus hit 300,000.
2021: Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors set a new NBA career record for 3-point shots made.
