This Day in History: December 14, 2024

Adam Lanza, age 20, killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. The victims included 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7. Lanza killed himself while still inside the school.
1799

George Washington died at age 67.
1819

Alabama became the 22nd state in the United States.
1911

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole, beating an expedition led by Robert F. Scott.
1939

The Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations.
1967

DNA synthesized for the first time.
1981

Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights.
1985

Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
1989

Nobel Peace laureate Andrei D. Sakharov died in Moscow at age 68.
2012

Adam Lanza, age 20, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 26 people. The victims included 20 children between the ages of six and seven.

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December 14