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Today marks Friday, December 19, 2025, the 353rd day of the calendar year, leaving just 12 days until its conclusion.
Today in history:
On this day in 2008, President George W. Bush announced a $17.4 billion emergency financial package to rescue the U.S. auto industry from a crisis threatening the national economy.
Also on this date:
Back in 1777, amidst the American Revolutionary War, General George Washington guided his troops—over 12,000 strong—to set up their winter camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
In 1907, a tragic explosion at the Darr coal mine near Van Meter, Pennsylvania, claimed the lives of 239 workers.
A fire erupted on December 19, 1960, on the hangar deck of the nearly completed USS Constellation aircraft carrier at the New York Naval Shipyard, resulting in the deaths of 50 civilian workers.
The Apollo program’s era of manned lunar missions came to an end on this day in 1972, as Apollo 17 safely landed in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice. (He was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.)
In 2011, North Korea announced the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans marched by the thousands to mourn while state media proclaimed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as the nation’s new leader.
In 2016, a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State. (The suspected attacker was killed in a police shootout four days later.)
In 2023, a strong earthquake rocked a mountainous region of northwestern China, killing 131 people, reducing homes to rubble and leaving residents outside in below-freezing winter weather.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Tim Reid is 81.
- Singer Janie Fricke is 78.
- Actor Jennifer Beals is 62.
- Basketball Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis is 61.
- Olympic skiing gold medalist Alberto Tomba is 59.
- Actor Kristy Swanson is 56.
- Model Tyson Beckford is 55.
- Actor Alyssa Milano is 53.
- Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp is 53.
- Actor Jake Gyllenhaal (JIH’-lihn-hahl) is 45.
- Actor Annie Murphy is 39.
- Journalist Ronan Farrow is 38.
