On this day :

1911 Amundsen reaches South Pole, 1777 Thomas Conway is named inspector general, 1909 Indy Brickyard is completed, 1863 Lincoln pardons his sisterinlaw, 1980 CIA issues warning about Soviet arms sales to Third World nations, 1874 An unsatisfactory end to a kidnapping, 2012 Gunman kills students and adults at Newtown Connecticut elementary school, 1967 Blizzard ravages Navajo reservation, 1799 George Washington dies, 1900 The birth of quantum theory, 2005 King Kong remake debuts, 1640 Aphra Behn is baptized, 1977 Saturday Night Fever gets its world premiere and launches a musical juggernaut, 1799 George Washington dies at Mount Vernon, 1799 First US President George Washington dies, 1946 Stan Smith is born, 1961 Kennedy announces intent to increase aid to South Vietnam, 1964 Operation Barrel Roll begins, 1918 New king renounces Finnish throne, 1939 USSR expelled from the League of Nations,