Today in History-December 31st

XXXI

Curious about things that happened on New Year's Eve from year's past. There is so much emphasis on the last day of the year, I thought I'd see what the heck has taken place over the years. I'm happy to share my little tidbits with you all.

• Thomas Jefferson gave his first public demonstrations of his electric incandescent lightbulb in Menlo Park, NJ-1879
• The Worlds Tallest building (from 2004-2007), the Taipei 101 at 1,671 feet tall opens in Taipei, Taiwan-2004
• Panama Canal transferred to Panama in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties-1999
• Soviet Union tests supersonic airliner-1968
• Patriot Forces are defeated at Quebec-1775
• Nixon signs National Air Quality Control Act calling for 90% reduction in auto emissions by 1975-1971
• NY's Manhattan Bridge a 1,470 foot span bridge across the East River opens-1909
• America's last cars with crome-plated trim were manufactured-1941
• Relations with Nationalist China are ended by the United States-1978
• Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates dies in plane crash-1972
• Dave Evans and Roy Rogers get hitched-1947
• "The Shadow" a radio mystery program that started in 1930 ends-1954
• President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev share holiday greetings with one another-1961
• Hungary declares war on Germany-1944

I encourage you to look into these moments in history if you want more detail on the actual event. There is a lot more to the event than meets the eye.