On Dec. 30, 1853, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase. (The area covered by the agreement is located in present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.)
On this date:
In 1813, the British burned Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.
In 1862, the Union ironclad ship USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, N.C., during a storm. Sixteen members of the crew were lost.
In 1865, author Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India.
In 1907, the Mills Commission issued its final report, concluding that Abner Doubleday had invented baseball, a view few sports historians, if any, agree with.
In 1911, Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.
In 1936, the United Auto Workers union staged its first "sit-down" strike, at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich.
In 1940, California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened.
In 1947, King Michael of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged he was being forced off the throne by Communists.
In 1965, former Philippines Senate President Ferdinand Marcos was inaugurated president of the Southeast Asian archipelago nation.
In 1972, the United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.
In 1978, Ohio State University fired Woody Hayes as its football coach, one day after Hayes punched a Clemson University player during a game.
In 1986, Exxon Corp. became the first major international oil company to withdraw from South Africa because of that nation's racial policies.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan and President-elect George H.W. Bush were subpoenaed to testify as defense witnesses in the pending Iran-Contra trial of Oliver North. (The subpoenas were subsequently quashed.)
In 1989, a Northwest Airlines DC-10, which had been the target of a telephoned threat, flew safely from Paris to Detroit with 22 passengers amid extra-tight security.
In 1992, Ling-Ling, the giant female panda who delighted visitors to Washington's National Zoo for more than two decades, died of heart failure.
In 1993, Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize one another.
In 1994, a gunman walked into a pair of suburban Boston abortion clinics and opened fire, killing two employees. (John C. Salvi III was later convicted of murder; he died in prison, an apparent suicide.)
In 1995, North Korea released a U.S. Army pilot whose helicopter had been shot down 13 days earlier over North Korean territory.
In 1997, a deadly massacre in Algeria began in four mountain villages as armed men killed 412 men, women and children in an attack that lasted from dusk until dawn the following morning.
In 1998, weak but radiant with pride, Nkem Chukwu, the mother of the Houston octuplets, went home from the hospital.
In 1999, in Tampa, Fla., a gunman opened fire inside a hotel, killing four co-workers before shooting a fifth person dead as he tried to escape. (A suspect, housekeeper Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva, later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.)
In 2002, a suspected extremist killed three US missionaries at a Baptist hospital in Yemen. (The gunman, Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, was executed in February 2006.) China catapulted a fourth unmanned craft into orbit. [Imagine how much farther along their space program would be if they used rockets. — Ed.]
In 2003, the federal government announced it would ban the sale of ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes. Author John Gregory Dunne died in New York City at age 71.
In 2004, Democrat Christine Gregoire was declared victor of Washington's gubernatorial election over Republican Dino Rossi by a mere 129 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast. A fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 194 people.
In 2006, Iraqis awoke to news that Saddam Hussein had been hanged; victims of his three decades of autocratic rule took to the streets to celebrate. The casket bearing the body of former President Gerald R. Ford arrived in Washington, D. C. Gerald "Wash" Washington, the mayor-elect of Westlake, Louisiana, was found shot to death in a parking lot; authorities ruled his death a suicide, a conclusion disputed by his family.
In 2007, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of an election that opponents and observers alleged was rigged; violence flared in Nairobi slums and coastal resort towns, killing scores in the following days. The 19-year-old son of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal Zardari, was named symbolic leader of her Pakistan Peoples Party, while Bhutto's widower took effective control.
In 2008, in a surprise move, a defiant Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich named former state Attorney General Roland Burris to Barack Obama's Senate seat. Israeli aircraft kept up a relentless string of attacks on Hamas-ruled Gaza, smashing a government complex, security installations and the home of a top militant commander. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law extending presidential terms from four years to six.
Today's Birthdays: Actor Joseph Bologna is 75. Actor Russ Tamblyn is 75. Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax is 74. Actor Jack Riley is 74. Folk singer Noel Paul Stookey is 72. TV director James Burrows is 69. Actor Fred Ward is 67. Singer-musician Michael Nesmith is 67. Singer Davy Jones is 64. Actress Concetta Tomei is 64. Singer Patti Smith is 63. Rock singer-musician Jeff Lynne is 62. TV host Meredith Vieira is 56. Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is 54. Actress Patricia Kalember is 53. Country singer Suzy Bogguss is 53. "Today" show anchor Matt Lauer is 52. Actress-comedian Tracey Ullman is 50. Rock musician Rob Hotchkiss is 49. Radio-TV commentator Sean Hannity is 48. Track star Ben Johnson is 48. Actor George Newbern is 46. Singer Jay Kay (Jamiroquai) is 40. Rock musician Byron McMackin (Pennywise) is 40. Actress Meredith Monroe is 40. Actor Daniel Sunjata is 38. Actress Maureen Flannigan is 37. Actor Jason Behr is 36. Golfer Tiger Woods is 34. TV personality-boxer Laila Ali is 32. Singer-actress Tyrese Gibson is 31. Actress Eliza Dushku is 29. Rock musician Tim Lopez (Plain White T's) is 29. Actress Kristin Kreuk is 27. Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is 25.
Born This Date But Refuse to Respond to Stimuli: Titus, emperor (39); John Milne, seismologist (1850); Canadian economist and humorist Stephen Leacock (1869); Alfred E. Smith, political leader (1873); Japan's World War II Prime Minister Hideki Tojo (1884); Paul Bowles, writer and composer (1910); TV personality Bert Parks (1914); Jack Lord, actor (1920).
In 1928, rock 'n' roll pioneer Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates in McComb, Miss.
In 1944, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys made their first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.
In 1948, the Cole Porter musical "Kiss Me, Kate" opened on Broadway.
In 1962, singer Brenda Lee was slightly injured when she tried to rescue her dog from her burning home in Nashville. The dog died of smoke inhalation.
In 1979, composer and lyricist Richard Rodgers died in New York at the age of 77. His musicals include "The King and I" and "The Sound of Music." Also in 1979, Emerson, Lake and Palmer announced they were splitting up. They later reunited.
In 1981, XTC played their first American concert, in Philadelphia.
In 1999, an intruder broke into George Harrison's home outside London and stabbed Harrison and his wife. Michael Abram was later found innocent by reason of insanity. Also in 1999, singer Johnny Moore of The Drifters died on his way to a London hospital after having breathing difficulties. He was 64.
In 2002, singer Diana Ross was arrested for drunk driving in Tucson, Arizona.
In 2004, bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw died in Thousand Oaks, Calif., at age 94.
In 2006, more than 8,500 James Brown fans filled an arena in Augusta, Georgia, for a final, joyful farewell to the godfather of soul.
Thought for Today: "Work is a dull thing; you cannot get away from that. The only agreeable existence is one of idleness, and that is not, unfortunately, always compatible with continuing to exist at all." — Rose Macaulay, English poet and essayist (1881-1958).
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