Today in History - December 30th
39: Titus 10th Roman Emperor, conqueror of Jerusalem born
274: Death of St. Felix, Pope
1803: The United States takes possession of the Louisiana area at New Orleans with a simple ceremony, the simultaneous lowering and raising of the national flags.
1853: The United States bought 45,000 square miles of land along the Gila River from Mexico for $10 million. The deal is known ao the Gadsden Purchase. The area is now southern Arizona and New Mexico.
1862: The draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is finished and circulated around Lincoln's cabinet for comment.
1911: Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.
1932: The USSR bars food handouts for housewives under 36 years of age. They must now work to eat.
1935: Sandy Koufax Dodger pitcher (Cy Young '63, '65, '66) born
1947: King Michael of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged he was being forced off the throne by Communists.
1972: After two weeks of heavy bombing raids on North Vietnam, President Nixon halts the air offensive and agrees to resume peace negotiations with Hanoi representative Le Duc Tho.
1990: Iraq's information minister (Latif Nussayif Jassim) said President Bush "must have been drunk" when he suggested Iraq might withdraw from Kuwait, and added "We will show the world America is a paper tiger."
1993: Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize one another.