A few of the great historical events that happened today in history, December 31st!
| 1852 | The richest year of the gold rush ends with $81.3 million in gold produced.  |
| 1857 | Britain’s Queen Victoria decided to make Ottawa the capital of Canada. |
| 1862 | Union General William Rosecrans’ army repels two Confederate attacks at the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone’s River). |
| 1862 | President Abraham Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union. |
| 1910 | John B. Moisant and Arch Hoxsey, two of America’s foremost aviators, die in separate plane crashes. |
| 1911 | Helene Dutrieu wins the Femina aviation cup in Etampes. She sets a distance record for women at 158 miles.  |
| 1915 | The Germans torpedo the British liner Persia without any warning killing 335 passengers. |
| 1923 | The Sahara is crossed by an automobile for the first time. |
| 1930 | Brewery heir Adolphus Busch is kidnapped. |
| 1941 | General MacArthur reports that U.S. lines in Manila have been pushed back by the Japanese. |
| 1942 | After five months of battle, Emperor Hirohito allows the Japanese commanders at Guadalcanal to retreat. |
| 1944 | Hungary declares war on Germany. |
| 1951 | The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid. |
| 1965 | California becomes the largest state in population.  |
| 1974 | Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years. |
| 1977 | Cambodia breaks relations with Vietnam. |
| 1985 | Rock singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year’s Eve performance in Dallas. |
| 1993 | Entertainer Barbra Streisand performed her first paid concert in 22 years, singing to a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. (She isn’t singing here, but here she is in 1993. )
Barbra Streisand – 65Th Academy Awards [1993].mpg
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| 1997 | Michael Kennedy, 39-year-old son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado. |
| 2006 | The death toll for Americans killed in the Iraq war reached 3,000. |
Today in history facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, and HistoryOrb.com.
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