1958 – Retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H. W. Welch, Jr., established the John Birch Society, a right-wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceived to be the extensive infiltration of communism into U.S. society.
1974 – White House aide John Ehrlichman testified at the Watergate trial that U.S. President Richard Nixon was responsible for a cover up.
1990 – Solidarity founder Lech Walesa was elected president of Poland.
2000 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida presidential vote count.
2008 – Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is arrested on federal charges, including an attempt to sell the US Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
