Historical Events on December 11

  • 1792: The National Convention places King Louis XVI of France on trial for treason.
  • 1815: The predecessor of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance is created on this day.
  • 1816: Indiana becomes the 19thS state to enter the Union.
  • 1917: British General Edmund Allenby heads into Jerusalem and places the city under martial law.
  • 1925: The Feast of Christ the King is introduced by Quas primas – the Roman Catholic papal encyclical.
  • 1934: Co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous – William Wilson – enters treatment.
  • 1941: After the United States declares war on Japan after the Pearl Harbor attack, Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.
  • 1941: Poland declares war on Japan during WWII.
  • 1941: During the Battle of Wake Island, the Imperial Japanese Navy loses its surface vessels.
  • 1946: UNICEF is established.
  • 2001: China joins the WTO (World Trade Organization).
  • 2008: Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged for his $50-billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

Famous Birthdays on December 11

  • American lawyer and politician, George Mason is born in 1725.
  • Hawaiian King Kamehameha V of Hawaii is born in 1830.
  • German microbiologist, doctor and Nobel Prize laureate, Robert Koch is born in 1843.
  • American astronomer Annie Jump Cannon is born in 1863.
  • Russian novelist and Nobel Prize laureate, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is born in 1918.
  • American actress Marie Windsor is born in 1919.
  • English actress Liz Smith is born in 1921.
  • American actress and dancer, Betsy Blair is born in 1923.
  • American singer-songwriter Big Mama Thornton is born in 1926.
  • Spanish actress Chus Lampreave is born in 1930.
  • Puerto-Rican American actress, singer and dancer, Rita Moreno is born in 1931.
  • American author and poet, Keith Waldrop is born in 1932.
  • American novelist and poet, Jim Harrison is born in 1937.
  • English actress Anna Carteret is born in 1942.
  • American lieutenant and politician, John Kerry is born in 1943.
  • American actress Lynda Day George is born in 1944.
  • American actress Hailee Steinfeld is born in 1996.