December 21

69 – The Roman Senate declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors where the preceding 3 were either murdered or committed suicide during a civil war among themselves after they had deposed Emperor Nero.

1361 – During the Spanish Reconquista, the combined army of the Kingdom of Castile and of the Bishop of Jaén defeat the forces of the Emirate of Granada in battle at the city of Huesa.

1605 – The Spanish Queirós Expedition departs Callao, Peru, led by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in attempt to find the legendary continent Terra Australis but instead reaching Espíritu Santo and other Vanuatu islands.

1620 – William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1784 – In office as Chief Justice of the U.S. for only the past 2 months,  John Jay is also appointed U.S. Secretary of State.

1826 – American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.

1861 – Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

1872 –  The crew of HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth, England on their voyage of exploration.

1913 – Arthur Wynne’s “word-cross”, is the first crossword puzzle published in the New York World newspaper.

1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first full length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood.

1945 – General George S. Patton dies in Heidelberg, Germany, age 60, 12 days after being injured in an automobile accident.

1949 – The movie, Samson and Delilah, directed and produced by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature, premieres in New York

1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a human to human heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the operation

1968 – Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to the Moon.

1970 – The first flight of Grumman F-14 Tomcat Navy fighter

1988 – A bomb placed by Libyan moslem terrorists explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and crew aboard and 11 more on the ground.

2004 – A suicide bomber kills 14 U.S. soldiers, 4 U.S. citizen Halliburton employees, 4  allied Iraqi soldiers and wounds 72 more at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq.