On Jan. 2, 1492, Spaniards seized the city of Granada from the Moors. It had been the last Arab stronghold in Spain.
In 1788 Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the Constitution.
In 1893 the post office issued the first commemorative stamps, depicting events in the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
In 1899 Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
In 1905 Russian forces at Port Arthur in Manchuria surrendered to the Japanese, ending the last big military engagement of the Russo-Japanese War.
In 1921 religious services were broadcast for the first time when station KDKA in Pittsburgh transmitted the Sunday service from the city’s Calvary Episcopal Church.
In 1929 the U.S. and Canada agreed on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.
In 1935 Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. He would be found guilty and executed.
In 1942 Manila was captured by Japanese forces in World War II.
In 1943, after a campaign that began in early November, American and Allied forces seized the New Guinea island of Buna from the Japanese.
In 1960 Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1965 the New York Jets signed University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath for a reported $400,000.
In 1974 a crowd barrier collapsed at a soccer match in Glasgow, Scotland, and 66 people were trampled to death. Also in 1974 President Richard Nixon signed a bill requiring states to limit highway speeds to a maximum of 55 m.p.h. because of the energy crisis. In 1995, the federal speed limits were abolished.
In 1976 the Soviet Union hardened its stand on emigration despite the 1975 Helsinki agreement to permit free movement of people and ideas in Europe.
In 1983 the musical “Annie” closed after 2,377 Broadway performances.
In 1984 W. Wilson Goode was sworn in as Philadelphia’s first African-American mayor.
In 1990 the Dow Jones industrial average reached a record high, ending the day above 2800 for the first time, at 2810.15.
In 1991 Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as the first African-American female mayor of Washington.
In 1996 former Interior Secretary James Watt pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of attempting to sway a grand jury investigating 1980s influence-peddling at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (He was later fined and sentenced to five years’ probation.)
In 1997 rain and melting snow swamped much of the West, trapping visitors in Yosemite National Park, closing casinos in Reno and forcing 50,000 Californians to flee their homes.
In 1999 a blizzard dumped 17 inches of snow on the Chicago area, the largest recorded snowfall for one day. (The next day, 4 more inches fell, making the storm the second most prolific in Chicago records; five deaths were blamed on the storm.)
In 2001 President-elect George W. Bush tapped Democrat Norman Mineta to be his transportation secretary, Spencer Abraham to be energy secretary and Linda Chavez to be secretary of labor. (Chavez later withdrew after it was disclosed she had given money and shelter to an illegal immigrant who once did chores around Chavez’s house.) Also in 2001 Ships made the first legal and direct crossing between China and Taiwan in more than half a century. Also in 2001 former U.S. Atty. Gen. and Secretary of State William Rogers died; he was 87.
