December 22 in History
On this day in 1785, the Continental Navy of the United States was formally established. The initial fleet included two frigates, two brigs, and three schooners, with sailors receiving a monthly wage of eight dollars.
In 1894, French military officer Alfred Dreyfus faced a court-martial and was found guilty of treason based on weak evidence in a controversial trial. He received a life sentence for allegedly sharing military secrets with Germany. Dreyfus was freed in 1899 and fully cleared of all charges in 1906.
During the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, U.S. General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne Division was surrounded by Nazi forces near Bastogne, Belgium. When demanded to surrender, he famously responded with a single word: "Nuts!"
The year 1984 saw Bernhard Goetz, later dubbed the "subway vigilante," shoot four individuals attempting a robbery on a New York City subway. He was imprisoned for eight months for possessing an illegal firearm but was acquitted of assault and attempted murder.
In 1986, after seven years of internal exile, Soviet dissident and Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, were permitted to return to Moscow.
Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu, a staunch communist resistant to reforms in the Eastern Bloc, was ousted from power in 1989 following widespread public protests.
A tragic aviation accident occurred in 1992 when Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 crashed, killing all 157 people on board. The disaster was believed to result from a mid-air collision with a military aircraft.
In 2001, on a flight from Paris to Miami, passengers and crew subdued Richard Reid as he attempted to ignite explosives concealed in his shoes. This incident led to the implementation of shoe removal during security screenings at U.S. airports.
Walmart was directed in 2005 to compensate over 100,000 employees in California with $172 million for denying them meal breaks.
Rape allegations against three former Duke University lacrosse players were dismissed in 2006 after the accuser stated she could not be certain an assault had occurred.
President Barack Obama enacted legislation in 2010 to end the prohibition on openly gay and lesbian individuals serving in the U.S. military, reversing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy instituted by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
Football history was made in 2020 when Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona scored his 644th goal for the club, breaking the record previously held by Brazilian icon Pele for the most goals with a single team.
In 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the average life expectancy in the United States had dropped to 76.4 years, the lowest figure since 1996. The decline was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in fatal overdoses from drugs like fentanyl.
