Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1807 - The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson
1809 - The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, passes the U.S. Congress
1849 - The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is canceled at the last second
1894 - The Dreyfus affair begins in France when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason
1910 - Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire, 21 firemen were killed
1937 - The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic
1944 - German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium. See Battle of the Bulge
1989 - Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany
1990 - Lech Wałęsa sworn in as President of Poland
1997 - Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas were massacred by paramilitary forces

Births
1639 - Jean Racine, dramatist (other sources report December 21st as his birth date) (d. 1699)
1723 - Karl Friedrich Abel, German baroque composer (d. 1787)
1805 - John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist
1858 - Giacomo Puccini, composer (d. 1924)
1860 - Austin Norman Palmer, populiser of handwriting style
1862 - Connie Mack, baseball executive, manager (d. 1956)
1912 - Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States
1948 - Lynne Thigpen, actress (d. 2003)
1949 - Robin Gibb, musician (The Bee Gees)
1949 - Maurice Gibb, musician (The Bee Gees) (d. 2003)

Deaths
1738 - Constantia Jones, British prostitute (executed)
1828 - William Hyde Wollaston, noted English chemist (b. 1766)
1880 - George Eliot, writer (b. 1819)
1943 - Beatrix Potter, writer (b. 1866)
1989 - Samuel Beckett, writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1969 (b. 1906)

Holidays & observances
The winter solstice, sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. It is an important festival in the Chinese calendar. In the Southern Hemisphere the summer solstice occurs around this time