On Dec. 29, 1800, Charles Goodyear, inventor of the process that made possible the commercial use of rubber, was born in New Haven, Conn.
In 1813 the British burned Buffalo during the War of 1812.
In 1845 Texas was admitted as the 28th state.
In 1851 the first American Young Men’s Christian Association was organized, in Boston.
In 1890 the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota, with about 300 Sioux Indians killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.
In 1913 the first movie serial, “The Adventures of Kathlyn,” premiered in Chicago.
In 1934 Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
In 1940 during World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.
In 1975 a bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people.
In 1989 playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia by the country’s Federal Assembly, becoming the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.
In 1994 U.S. officials confirmed the release of U.S. Army helicopter pilot Bobby Hall from North Korean custody.
In 1996 an accord was signed in Guatemala ending 36 years of civil conflict.
In 1998 Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia.
