Bolivian labour leader Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, resigned under pressure after monitors claimed that the election—for his fourth term in office—had irregularities, a claim later challenged. 2019.
After 15 years of negotiations, China‘s membership in the World Trade Organization was approved, and the following day Taiwan‘s membership was approved. 2001.
The American comedy Home Alone, written by John Hughes and starring Macaulay Culkin, had its world premiere; a huge hit, it spawned a number of sequels and became a TV staple during the Christmas holidays. 1990.
Soviet statesman and Communist Party leader Leonid Brezhnev died in Moscow after presiding as the leader of the Soviet Union for more than 18 years. 1982.
The Hope diamond, one of the largest blue diamonds known, was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., becoming one of its most-popular attractions. 1958.
Turkish forces defeated the Hungarians in the Battle of Varna, securing Turkey‘s control over Constantinople (Istanbul) and assuring the Ottoman conquest in the Balkans. 1444.
The multiracial Fusionist (Republican and Populist) city government of Wilmington, North Carolina, was violently overthrown, and as many as 60 Black Americans were killed in a premeditated murder spree that was the culmination of an organized months-long statewide campaign by white supremacists. 1898.
Józef Piłsudski, Polish revolutionary and first chief of state of the newly reconstituted Poland, arrived in Warsaw to declare Poland an independent state.1918.
