Volume 13 , Issue 51

On This Day In History (December 19)

On 19 December 1984, Britain and china signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on 1 July 1997. Go to article

On 19 December 1906, Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet statesman who was the leader of the Soviet Union for 18 years, was born. Following his death on Nov. 10, 1982, his obituary appeared in The Times. Go to obituary.

On This Date - 19 December

• 1732 - Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."
• 1776 - Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay, writing: "These are the times that try men's souls."
• 1777 - Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.
• 1843 - Charles Dickens' Yuletide tale, "A Christmas Carol," was first published in Britain.
• 1907 - A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa., killed 239 workers.
• 1946 - War broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French.
• 1972 - Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
• 1974 - Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as vice president, replacing Gerald R. Ford, who became president when Richard M. Nixon resigned.

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