Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 20
This is a list of selected December 20 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Louisiana Purchase treaty -
Cheka director Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky
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Experimental Breeder Reactor I -
Four light bulbs were lit with electricity generated from the EBR-1 reactor. -
The sword-and-shield emblem of the Cheka-KGB -
Flag of Concelho de Macau, one of the two concelhos of Macau under Portuguese rule
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MV Doña Paz in port
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1803 – As part of the Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans in the French territory of Louisiana was officially transferred to the United States. | refimprove |
| 1917 – The Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, was established by a decree issued by Vladimir Lenin. | needs copyediting |
| 1989 – American forces invaded Panama to overthrow the government of Manuel Noriega. | {{cleanup-tone}} |
| 1995 – As per the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War, the NATO-led IFOR began peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. | Tagged with {{missing citations}} |
Eligible
- 1860 – South Carolina became the first of eleven slave states to secede from the United States, leading to the eventual creation of the Confederate States of America and later the American Civil War.
- 1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life was first released in New York City.
- 1951 – Experimental Breeder Reactor I near Arco, Idaho, US, became the world's first electricity-generating nuclear power plant when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs.
- 1968 – The Zodiac Killer murdered the first of his five confirmed victims in Vallejo, California, a case which remains unsolved.
- 1987 – The deadliest ferry disaster in history occurred when the MV Doña Paz (pictured) sank after colliding with an oil tanker on the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, resulting in an estimated 4,000 deaths.
- 1995 – American Airlines Flight 965 crashed into a mountain in Buga, Colombia, killing 151 passengers and 8 crew members.
December 20: Hanukkah begins at sunset (Judaism, 2011)
- 1941 – World War II: The Flying Tigers of the Chinese Air Force engaged in its first combat missions.
- 1973 – Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco was assassinated by a bomb planted by members of the Basque nationalist and separatist group ETA.
- 1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances governing international cooperation against the illegal drug trade was signed in Vienna.
- 1999 – Portugal transferred sovereignty of Macau to China (flag lowering ceremony pictured).
- 2005 – US district court Judge John E. Jones III ruled against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.