1662 - An act “prohibiting the entertainment of Indians without badges” was passed by the Assembly at James City, VA. Colonial badges were issued to “friendly Native Americans”, authorized in Virginia by the Act of 1661, which authorized “silver and plated plaques to be worn by the Indians when visiting the settlements”. One of these has a crude representation of a tobacco plant and scrolls, above which is “The King OF” on the obverse, while on the reverse is a similarly engraved plant and the word “Patomeck” with the “e” over lined. The surface edges were engraved to represent scrolls and foldings, while the medal was holed for suspension. It was also common in many Southern states to require slaves of all races and colors to wear “badges” or “medal tags” to donate their owner, plus giving the authority to be off the “premises.” There were also “slave hire badges,” worn by slaves hired out by their owners.
This site sells these pieces of history:
http://www.exonumia.com/slave.htm
here are 1834-Slave tags
http://prices4antiques.com/itemsummary/104768.htm
http://www.wakeforestcoins.com/slave%20badges/slave%20badges.htm
http://www.p4a.com/itemdetail/79637.htm
    1763 - Members of the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island witnessed the dedication of the Touro Synagogue, the first synagogue in what became the United States. Sephardic Jews in Jamaica, Surinam, London and Amsterdam sponsored the building of this first major center of Jewish culture in America. Designed in the Georgian style by English architect Peter Harrison, the synagogue was named for Isaac Touro, its first officiating rabbi. There were Jewish religious meetings in New York and Atlanta, Georgia, however this is considered the first building. It is considered an architectural masterpiece, and by the way, Touro Synagogue is the sole surviving synagogue built in colonial America.
(Lower half of: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec02.html )
    1777 - Lydia Barrington Darragh is known as “The Spy Who Saved George Washington”. History records she hid this evening in the linen closet and listened to the British leaders discussing a surprise attack against Washington's army. The next day, she walked several miles through the snow to the American army's location at Whitemarsh to alert Washington so that when the British launched its attack, Washington and his men were ready. This was considered one of the major turning points in the war as the American army, instead of forcing the British troops back to Philadelphia, would have faced almost total destruction.
http://www.ushistory.org/march/bio/lydia.htm
http://www2.whidbey.net/jerod/lydiadarragh.htm
http://www.lexidigital.com/bcdarwomen4.htm
    1812 - James Madison was re-elected President, defeating De Witt Clinton of New York, who had been endorsed by the Federalists and by Democratic-Republicans opposed to the war. Elbridge Gerry, Democratic-Republican of Massachusetts, was elected Vice President. The electoral vote was Madison, 128; Clinton, 89; and Gerry, 131, Charles Jared Ingersoll, Federalist of Pennsylvania, 86.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jm4.html
    1816 – The first savings bank in the US opened as the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society.
    1823 - President James Monroe, in his annual message to Congress, enunciated the doctrine that bears his name and that was long hailed as a statement of US Policy: “...In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part---we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemi-sphere as dangerous to our peace and safety.” George Washington in his farewell speech noted his policy and opinion, but obviously it was not followed as the United States continued its expansion into foreign territory owned by European countries, including Ohio, Florida, West of the Mississippi and Canada, which in part, contributed to the War of 1812 with Britain. By this year, the United States had claims on most of the territory except for that owned by Mexico and Russia, (not including islands such as Hawaii or other areas owned by Spain or lands still considered to be Indian territory) which we either traded or conquered.  Those areas are part of the South West, including California. The posturing of US, or for that fact, any foreign government official, often had little to do with “reality,” meaning the “expansion” or “acquisition.” Read your American history, not what they taught you in grammar or high school.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684818868/qid=1038511881/sr=2-1/
102-1682336-8966565?v=glance&s=books
    1831 - Birthday of Francis N. Peloubet (d. 1920), American Congregational clergyman. A promoter of the Sunday School, he penned 44 annual volumes of "Select Notes on the International Sunday School Lessons" between 1875 and his death in 1920. They were known afterward as "Peloubet's Notes."
    1840 - William Henry Harrison was elected President, John Tyler of Virginia was elected Vice-President in a Whig landslide, defeating incumbent President Martin Van Buren, Democrat. In 1837, the panic began. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed. Thousands lost their lands. For about five years, the United States was wracked by the worst depression thus far in its history. Programs applied decades later to alleviate economic crisis eluded both Van Buren and his opponents. Van Buren's remedy--continuing Jackson's deflationary policies--only deepened and prolonged the depression. Declaring that the panic was due to recklessness in business and over expansion of credit, Van Buren devoted himself to maintaining the solvency of the National Government. He opposed not only the creation of a new Bank of the United States but also the placing of Government funds in state banks. He fought for the establishment of an independent treasury system to handle Government transactions. As for Federal aid to internal improvements, he cut off expenditures so completely that the Government even sold the tools it had used on public works. The electoral vote was Harrison 234, Martin Van Buren, 60. The popular vote was Harrison, 1,275,017; Van Buren, 1,128,702; James G. Birney, Liberty Party, candidate, 7059. Unfortunately William Henry Harrison, 68, caught cold at his inauguration on March 4, and died of pneumonia on April 4, 1841. For the first time, a Vice President succeed to the presidency. Tyler, although he had run on the Whig ticket, was not a Whig at heart. He had previously supported the Democrat, President Andrew Jackson in 1828 and 1832, and had major political disagreements with the northern, conservative wing of the Whig Party. His administration was characterized by bickering and frustration, as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster tried to control Tyler and shape the White Party to their own interests.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/mb8.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jt10.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/wh9.html
    1845 - In a State of the Union address, President James K. Polk proposed that the United States should aggressively expand into the West. The territorial expansion of the US from 1812 to 1860, from the end of the War of 1812 to the beginning of the Civil War, has been called the "age of manifest destiny". During this time, the United States expanded to the Pacific Ocean, largely defining the borders of the contiguous US as they are today.
    1859 - John Brown, Abolitionist leader who is remembered for his raid on the US arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA, was hanged for treason at Charles Town, WV. On October 16, he and 21 followers had seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry (now in West Virginia) to establish an abolitionist republic in the Appalachians and to fight slavery with fugitive slaves and abolitionist whites. Groups had been raiding “free states” in retaliation for hiding slaves or helping them to escape to Haiti or Canada permanently. He had moved to Kansas to help organize resistance to these Southern raids.  It is interesting to note the men who appeared upon the scenes of these opening hostilities at Harpers Ferry, as they became famous or celebrated characters in the great drama of the civil war. Among those who became Confederate generals were: S. Cooper, R. E. Lee, J. E. B. Stuart, John B. Floyd and Henry A. Wise; and among colonels, C. J. Faulkner and A. R. Boteler. In the committee of the United States Senate, appointed by resolution of December 14, 1859, to inquire into the facts attending this invasion, were Hons. Jefferson Davis and J. M. Mason, and this committee had before it as witnesses, Hons. W. H. Seward, J. R. Giddings, Henry Wilson and Andrew Hunter. John A. Andrews, of Massachusetts, secured funds to pay Brown's counsel. In the South, John Brown was thought of as a murderer and traitor who deserved the gallows, but in the North his gibbet was described as “the cross of a martyr.” In Concord, Mass., Henry David Thoreau wrote of Brown, “When a government puts forth its strength...to kill the liberators of the slave, what a merely brute...force it is seen to be.” Longfellow wound a prophetic note: “This will be a great day in our history, the date of a new revolution...As I write, they are now leading old John Brown to execution...This is sowing the wind to reap the whirlwind, which will soon come.”
http://infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0809136.html
http://www.civilwarhome.com/johnbrown.htm
    1864 - Confederate General Archibald Gracie, Jr., is killed in the trenches at Petersburg, Virginia, when an artillery shell explodes near him. Gracie was born in New York in 1832. He was educated in Germany before he attended West Point, from which he graduated in 1854. Although his family lived in the North, his father owned a business in Mobile, Alabama, and Gracie moved there upon his resignation from the army in 1856. Gracie soon became an ardent supporter of the southern cause, and he was active in the Alabama state militia. In early 1861, before Alabama seceded from the Union, Gracie was ordered by the governor to seize the federal arsenal at Mount Vernon. Gracie's command protected Richmond in the summer of 1864, and his leadership at Drewry's Bluff was instrumental in holding Union General Benjamin Butler's force at bay near the Confederate capital. Gracie fought during the siege of Petersburg for the rest of the year, and he was recommended for promotion to major general. Unfortunately, he was killed before the rank was confirmed. Most of Gracie's family remained in the North, and his relatives arranged for transfer of his body to Union lines. He was buried in New York City.
    1867 - English writer Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States, at Tremont Temple in Boston. Dickens was a hit with the American public, who anxiously awaited each installment of his serialized novels. The line for his first reading in New York was more than a mile long.
    1873 - The Reformed Episcopal Church was organized in New York City when 8 clergymen and 20 laymen broke from the Protestant Episcopal Church over a debate regarding proper church ritual.
    1887 – The International League disbanded.  Syracuse, Toronto, Hamilton, and Buffalo split off to form the International Association, while Newark, Jersey City, Wilkes-Barre and Scranton became the nucleus of the Central League.  At the present time, Syracuse, Buffalo and Scranton still have minor league teams, while Toronto is now the American League East Blue Jays.  Historically significant is Jersey City, the site of Jackie Robinson’s first professional game.
    1890 - Birthday of pianist/band leader Fate Marable (d. 1947), Paducah, KY.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/fatem.html
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/m/M299.HTM
http://www.redhotjazz.com/fate.html
http://mnmn.essortment.com/louisarmstrong_rsvy.htm
    1891 - Birthday of Dr. Charles Wesley, African-American educator/historian.  He was the fourth African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. An ordained minister, Wesley’s distinguished career included 40 years of leadership with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1976, he served as Director of the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, now known as the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
http://www.dpw-archives.org/chw.html
    1895 - Birthday of organist Jesse Crawford (d. 1962), Woodland, CA.
http://www.ohscatalog.org/ohscatalog/jescrawearye.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0911572112/inktomi-bkasin-20/
002-5410374-3716044
    1901 - American King Camp Gillette designed the first razor with disposable blades. Up until this time men shaved with a straight edge razor that they sharpened on a leather strap.  To sell the product, Gillette founded the American Safety Razor Company on September 28, 1901, changing the company's name to Gillette Safety razor Company in July, 1902. Gillette obtained a trademark registration for his portrait and signature on the packaging. Production began in 1903, when he sold a total of 51 razors and 168 blades.  The Gillette brand is now owned by Proctor & Gamble, the result of their 2005 acquisition of The Gillette Company.
    1905 - Birthday of Moses Asch (d. 1986), founder of Folkways Records, Warsaw, Poland. 
http://www.folklife.si.edu/CFCH/coll.htm#asch
http://www.folkways.si.edu/
    1906 - Birthday of TV pioneer Peter Goldmark (d. 1977), born Budapest, Hungary. As an engineer at Columbia Broadcasting Systems Laboratory, he devised a color television system and later the LP (long playing) record album, which transformed the recording industry. Goldmark's color television, first demonstrated in 1940 and approved for commercial use after World War II, used a rotating, three-color disk to project color images. Although all-electronic color television quickly replaced Goldmark's mechanical system, closed-circuit television manufacturers continued to use Goldmark's design. In 1948, Goldmark developed the LP, which could carry as much music as six 78-rpm records. Later, as vice president of CBS, Goldmark developed a system that allowed the U.S. Lunar Orbiter to transmit photographs from the Moon to the Earth.
    1908 - The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America was founded in Philadelphia. In 1950, this ecumenical organization was replaced by the National Council of Churches.
    1914 - Birthday of arranger/composer Eddie Sauter (d. 1981), Brooklyn, NY.
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/s/S25.HTM
http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=product&id=1927179025
&clink=dmmu.artist&a=b
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000507YK/avsearch-df1-9-20/
002-5410374-3716044
    1916 - Birthday of tenor saxophone player Charlie Ventura (d. 1992), Philadelphia.
http://www.gkrp.net/charliebio.html 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005ARFW/avsearch-df1-9-20/
002-5410374-3716044
    1917 - Birthday of American singer Sylvia Syms (d. 1992), born Sylvia Blagman, Brooklyn. She was called the “world's greatest saloon singer” by Frank Sinatra and recorded 15 albums.
http://artists.spun.com/sylvia_syms
http://music.zodchiy.com/S/Sylvia_Syms.html
    1918 – Birthday of Milton DeLugg (d. 2015), Los Angeles.  A musician, composer and arranger, he was also a bandleader of Milton DeLugg and His Orchestra and The Tonight Show Orchestra.  Played on “Abe Burrows' Almanac”, “The Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show”, “Dagmar's Canteen”, “Doodles Weaver”, “The Newlywed Game”, “The Gong Show”, “Judge for Yourself”, “Your Hit Parade”, “Broadway Open House”; songwriter: “Orange Colored Sky”.  In 1958, he produced “Rave On” for Buddy Holly.
http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Delugg,%20Milton
http://www.spaceagepop.com/delugg.htm http://www.tvparty.com/lostmahoney.html
    1923 - Opera soprano Maria Callas (d. 1977) was born in New York City. Her appearances in public had to be protected by guards. She was swarmed by fans and the press: the new sleek Callas was too photogenic with her strongly defined facial features and huge eyes. Her open affair with one of the world's richest men, Greek shipping giant Aristotle Onassis, fanned the flames of the tabloids even higher keeping her personal life in headlines.... including the humiliating end of the affair as her former lover declined to marry her, then wooed and married Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of President John Kennedy. Her last operatic performance was in 1965 in a career that had been marked by retirement from the high society life with Onassis before returning to the States, and quarrels with the managers of LaScala and the Metropolitan, and cancellations of performances. She died September 17, 1977 at the age of 53, after becoming a recluse. http://www.callas.it/framehome-e.html
    1927 - The first Ford Model A was unveiled in New York City's Waldorf Hotel and in 35 other cities around the U.S., Canada and Europe. The car was priced affordably: the Phaeton sold for $395.00 and the Tudor Sedan for $495.00. The lag between cars available and orders on hand had mounted to 800,000 by the spring of 1928. Ford made almost two million Model A cars in 1929 alone.  Model A production ended in March, 1932, after 4,858,644 had been made in all body styles.
http://www.mafca.com/
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/exchange-glance/Y02Y2585701Y3188484/
002-5410374-3716044
    1930 – As the Great Depression took hold of the US a year after the crash in 1929, President Herbert Hoover proposed a $150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
    1931 - Birthday of pianist Wynton Kelly (d. 1971), Brooklyn, of Jamaican parents.
These are the best: 
http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/kelly_w_cat.html
http://members.aol.com/jazz2312/profiles.html/kelly.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=music-artist&field-artist=
Kelly%2C%20Wynton/002-5410374-3716044
    1932 - "The Adventures of Charlie Chan" was first heard on the NBC Blue radio network. The Chinese detective became even more popular on the movie screen in the 1930s and 1940s.
(I have them all: http://www.mgm.com/chan/ )
DVD: http://members.tripod.com/classic-movies/ )
    1932 - Bing Crosby and Bob Hope appeared together for the first time onstage in a show at the Paramount Theater, where “The Mask of Fu Manchu” opened. The duo would become two of Hollywood's best-paid actors thanks to their comic rapport
    1935 - Birthday of pianist Ronnie Matthews, Brooklyn, NY 
http://www.jazzpianists.com/RonnieMathews/
http://www.hitadesign.com/posters/jazz/jazzposters23.html
    1939 – LaGuardia Airport opened in NYC. 
    1940 - Billy Eckstine records “Jelly, Jell” with Earl Hines' Band.
    1941 – On the day the US ceased it surveillance of the Japanese consulate, Admiral Yamamoto sent the Japanese fleet to Pearl Harbor.
    1942 - The first nuclear chain reaction was engineered by scientists lead by Enrico Fermi at University of Chicago’s Stagg Field.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec02.html
    1943 – Birthday of William Wegman, Holyoke, MA.  Photographer: photographs, videotapes, paintings and drawings exhibited in museums and galleries internationally; film and video works for “Saturday Night Live”, “Sesame Street” and “Nickelodeon”; works for children: “Cinderella”, “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Mother Goose”, “Alphabet Soup”; “The Hardy Boys in Hardy Gold” [screened at 1996 Sundance Film Festival].
    1947 - Top Hits 
“Near You” - The Francis Craig Orchestra (vocal: Bob Lamm) 
“You Do” - Dinah Shore 
“And Mimi” - Art Lund 
“I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)” - Eddy Arnold
    1950 - A late season tornado killed four persons in Madison County and Bond County, east of St Louis, MO. Three tornadoes touched down in Illinois that afternoon, compared to just half a dozen tornadoes in the month of December in 115 years of records up until that time. Thunderstorms also produced hail which caused more than four million dollars damage in the St Louis area; it was the most damaging hailstorm of record for Missouri.
    1950 - "The Thing" by Phil Harris topped the charts and stayed there for 5 weeks.
    1952 - Keeping his campaign promise, President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived in Korea to promote a settlement to end hostilities in that war-ravaged country.
    1952 - George Jorgensen, a former G.I. who had gone to Denmark in 1950, prepared to return to the U.S. this day -- as Christine Jorgensen. She/he had undergone 2,000 hormone injections and six operations performed by sex change surgeons.
    1952 - Commissioner Ford Frick has no plans to take action against Jackie Robinson. Two days earlier, Robinson had called the Yankees a racist organization for its failure to promote a black to the parent club.
    1954 - The U.S. Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Senator Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct unbecoming a senator. The condemnation, which was equivalent to a censure, related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military, and civilian society. In the early months of 1954, McCarthy, who had already lost the support of much of his party because of his controversial tactics, finally overreached himself when he accused several U.S. Army officers of communist subversion. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower pushed for an investigation of McCarthy's charges, and the televised hearings exposed the senator as a reckless and excessive tyrant who never produced proper documentation for any of his claims. A climax of the hearings came on June 9, when Joseph N. Welch, special attorney for the army, responded to a McCarthy attack on a member of his law firm by facing the senator and tearfully declaring, "Until this moment, senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency?" The crowded hearing room burst into spontaneous applause. On December 2, after a heated debate, the Senate voted to condemn McCarthy for conduct "contrary to senatorial traditions." By the time of his death from alcoholism in 1957, the influence of Senator Joseph McCarthy in Congress was negligible.
    1955 - Top Hits 
“Sixteen Tons” - Tennessee Ernie Ford 
“I Hear You Knocking” - Gale Storm 
“Memories are Made of This” - Dean Martin 
“Love, Love, Love” - Webb Pierce
    1956 - The Granma, a yacht purchased by a straw buyer, reached Cuba’s shores after leaving Mexico on November 25. Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Che Guevara, and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembarked to begin planning the Cuban Revolution.  Since 1976, the yacht has been on permanent display in a glass enclosure at the Granma Memorial adjacent to the Museum of the Revolution in Havana. Cuba celebrates 2 December as the "Day of the Cuban Armed Forces”.
    1957 - "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke topped the charts and stayed there for 3 weeks. 
    1961 - In a nationally broadcast speech, Castro declared that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
    1962 - After a trip to Vietnam at the request of President Kennedy, Senate Majority Leader mike Mansfield became the first American official to comment adversely on the war's progress.
    1963 - Top Hits 
“I'm Leaving It Up to You” - Dale & Grace 
“Dominique” - The Singing Nun 
“Everybody” - Tommy Roe 
“Love's Gonna Live Here” - Buck Owens
    1967 - "Daydream Believer" by the Monkees topped the charts and stayed there for 4 weeks.
    1969 - Cindy Birdsong of the Supremes is kidnapped by the caretaker of her Hollywood apartment, who, while holding a knife to her throat, forces her to tie up her two visiting friends. He then forces her into a car and drives toward Long Beach, but the singer jumps from the car and escapes.  The kidnapper was arrested in Las Vegas four days later.
    1970 - A rare December tornado touched down in the Timpanogos Divide in Utah. It tracked across a 38 inch snow cover, spewing snow 1000 feet into the air.
    1970 – The EPA began operating but it would be decades before they aggravated anyone.
    1971 - Top Hits 
“Theme from Shaft” - Isaac Hayes 
“Baby I'm-A Want You” - Bread 
“Have You Seen Her” - Chi-Lites 
“Daddy Frank” (“The Guitar Man”) - Merle Haggard
    1972 - Motown's Temptations reached the #1 spot on the top 40 charts with "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". It was the fourth #1 hit for the Temptations, joining "My Girl" (1965), "I Can't Get Next to You" (1969) and "Just My Imagination" (1971).
    1974 - A big snowstorm over the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes came to an end. Detroit measured 19.5 inches, Toledo 15.9 inches, Cleveland 17.8 inches and Akron 24.3 inches
    1975 - Disco group Silver Convention earns a Gold record for "Fly, Robin, Fly", #1 on the Billboard Pop chart. 
    1977 - Joan S. Wallace is sworn in as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She is the first black woman to hold the post. The first woman appointed was Dorothy H. Jacobsen in 1964.
http://www.fiu.edu/~socialwk/wallace.htm
   1978 - "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond topped the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for 2 weeks.  A radio station engineer had spliced together Neil's version, from his 1997 album, with Barbra's rendition and got such good response, the station added it to their play list. When Neil got wind of it, he decided to re-record the song with Streisand herself, and within weeks of its release, the single went to number one in the US and number five in the UK.  Coincidentally, both attended high school at Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall in the mid 1950’s.
    1979 - Top Hits 
“No More Tears” (“Enough is Enough”) - Barbra Streisand/Donna Summer 
“Babe” - Styx 
“Please Don't Go” - K.C. & The Sunshine Band 
“Broken Hearted Me” - Anne Murray
   1980 – The following National Parks and Preserves were established in Alaska:  Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Katami, Kenai Fjords, Lake Clark, Wbuk Valley, Wrangell-Saint Elias.
    1980 - "Kenny Roger's Greatest Hits" is certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Kenny's latest single, "Lady" is currently #1 on the Billboard Pop chart. 
    1981 – Birthday of Britney Spears, Kentwood, LA.   Dance-pop singer: albums: “Baby… One More Time”, “Oops!…Did It Again”; TV performer: “The Mickey Mouse Club”, “Time Out with Britney Spears”, “Britney in Hawaii”.
    1982 - Barney C. Clark, 61, became the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart. The operation was performed at the University of Utah Medical Center at Salt Lake City. Near death at the time of the operations, Clark survived almost 112 days after the implantation. He died March 23, 1983.
    1983 – Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was born in Chico, CA.  He took the Pack to the Super Bowl XLV championship with a 31-25 win over Pittsburgh.  Rodgers is the NFL's all-time career leader in passer rating during the regular season with a rating of 106.4 and third all-time in the postseason with a rating of 101.0 (among passers with at least 1,500 yards and 150 pass attempts, respectively).  He currently is the only quarterback to have a career passer rating of over 100.0 in the regular season as well as having the best touchdown-to-interception ratio in NFL history at 4.05 touchdowns per interception.
    1984 - Dan Marino connected for four touchdown passes and set an NFL record for TD passes in a season (40). Miami's Dolphins lost the game, however, to the Los Angeles Rams, 45-34. It marked the Dolphins' first home loss of the season following six wins.
    1985 - The highest-rated "Monday Night Football" telecast was seen this night on ABC-TV. The game drew an audience share of 46.0 and a rating of 29.6. The Miami Dolphins beat the Chicago Bears, 38-25. The Miami win snapped the Bears' 12-game winning streak. The Miami Dolphins scored on their first five possessions. The Bears thus finished the regular season with a 15-1 record, and the Dolphins preserved their unique status as the only NFL to go undefeated in an entire season, a feat they accomplished in 1972.  During the game, Bears head coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan fought for reasons still unknown.
    1985 - Organized crime bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti were gunned down as they exited Sparks Steak House in New York City, making John Gotti, the organizer of the hit, head of the notorious Gambino crime family, the most powerful Mafia operation in New York. In 1968, Gotti was convicted of hijacking a truck and was sentenced to three years in prison. But his real Mafia ascension began when he killed one of the Gambino family's enemies in May, 1973. Despite concerted efforts by New York law enforcement to crush the Gambino family operation, Gotti continued to climb up the ladder. Wearing flashy, expensive suits, Gotti became something of a local hero in his Howard Beach neighborhood for his connection to organized crime. His unparalleled success at escaping conviction at trial earned him the nickname "Teflon Don." He was even acquitted of racketeering charges in 1986, despite the fact that the prosecution presented thousands of taped conversations in which Gotti was acknowledged as the head of the crime family. Gotti's streak of luck with the law ended in 1992, when he was convicted of murder and racketeering and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  He died June 10, 2002 while serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.  Since being incarcerated in December of 1990, he spent twenty-three hours a day alone in a small cell and was not allowed any contact with the rest of the prison population.  When doctors diagnosed Gotti with throat cancer in September of 1998, he was brought to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.  Following surgery and thirty-six radiation treatments, he was transferred back to solitary lockup in Marion, Illinois.
http://www.geocities.com/carmine_scalia/books.html
    1991 – The Supreme Court ruled that the Shirelles, Gene Pitney and B.J. Thomas are owed $1.2 million in unpaid royalties.
    1992 - Two F1 tornadoes touched down near Santa Rosa, CA and Mount Lemmon, AZ was drenched with 2.95 inches of rain in 24 hours. 
    1993 – NASA launched the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
    1995 - R. Kelly's "R. Kelly" was the #1 album in the U.S for one week. The tracks: "Intro--The Sermon", "Hump Bounce", "Not Gonna Hold On", "You Remind Me of Something", "Step in My Room", "Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby", "Be Happy", "Down Low", "I Can't Sleep Baby", "Thank God It's Friday", "Love is on the Way", "Heaven If You Hear Me", "Religious Love", "Tempo Slow", "As I Look Into My Life" and "Trade in My Life".
    1995 - "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men topped the charts and stayed there for 16 weeks.
    1997 - "Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute" double album was released. The collection included songs from Sinead O'Connor, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Queen, George Michael, U2, Paul McCartney, REM, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and many others.
    2001 – Enron, once the 7th largest in the Fortune 500, filed for bankruptcy.
    2008 - In a ceremony at the home of Consul General of Japan, former Dodger skipper Tommy Lasorda is honored for his contributions to Japanese baseball. The Hall of Famer receives the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette medal on behalf of the emperor for his work with players and teams in this Asian nation since 1965.