On Dec. 21, 1620, Mayflower pilgrims went ashore at present-day Plymouth, Mass.
In 1804 British statesman Benjamin Disraeli was born.
In 1898 scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium.
In 1913 the first crossword puzzle was published, in the New York World.
In 1914 the first feature-length silent film comedy, “Tillie’s Punctured Romance,” was released.
In 1940 author F. Scott Fitzgerald, 44, died in Hollywood.
In 1942 the Supreme Court ruled that all states had to recognize Nevada divorces.
In 1945 Gen. George Patton, 60, died in Heidelberg, Germany, after a car crash.
In 1958 Charles de Gaulle was elected as the first president of the Fifth Republic of France.
In 1978 Des Plaines police arrested John Wayne Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys.
In 1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
