History of the Day for:
December 15
- 1791: The first law school in the U.S. was established at the University of Pennsylvania; The Bill of Rights went into effect following ratification by Virginia.
- 1792: The first life insurance policy was issued in the United States in Philadelphia.
- 1877: The phonograph patent was filed by Thomas Edison.
- 1890: Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, S.D., during a fracas with Indian police.
- 1938: Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington, D.C.
- 1939: Nylon yarn was sold to hosiery mills to make women's stockings, marking the first use of commercial yarn for apparel.
- 1939: The movie "Gone With the Wind" premiered in Atlanta.
- 1944: A single-engine plane carrying bandleader and U.S. Army Major Glenn Miller disappeared in thick fog over the English Channel while en route from Bedford, England, to Paris.
- 1948: A federal grand jury in New York indicted former State Department official Alger Hiss on perjury charges.
- 1952: Christine Jorgenson became the first person to undergo a sex-change operation.
- 1964: Canada's House of Commons approved dropping the Canadian "Red Ensign" flag in favor of a new design, which featured a big red maple leaf.
- 1966: Walt Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, Calif., at the age of 65.
- 1968: Grace Slick, performing with the Jefferson Airplane on the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," appeared in blackface and raised a black leather glove in the black power salute at the conclusion of "Crown of Creation." The incident was one of several which led to the show's cancellation the following season.
- 1969: The Plastic Ono Band, led by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, played their first and only concert at London's Lyceum Ballroom.
- 1973: The American Psychiatric Association reversed its long-standing position and declared that homosexuality is not a mental illness.
- 1973: The Pirates of Caribbean ride opened at Disneyland.
- 1982: Paul "Bear" Bryant, one of the winningest coaches in college football history, announced his retirement as head football coach at the University of Alabama. Bryant had 232 victories and only 46 losses while coaching the Crimson Tide.
- 1983: The last 80 U.S. combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew, just more than seven weeks after the invasion of the Caribbean island.
- 1993: John Williams made his final appearance as the conductor of the Boston Pops.
- 1994: Palau becomes a member of the UN.
- 1997: A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
- 1997: The Treaty of Bangkok is signed allowing the transformation of Southeast Asia into a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.
- 2000: the 3rd reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down due to foreign political pressure. the whole plant is now shut down, and the decommissioning process can begin completely.
- 2001: The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
- 2002: The Capital Center (formerly US Airways Arena) is demolished.
- 2005: Latvia amends its constitution to eliminate possibility of same-sex couples being entitled to marry.
- 2005: Argentina's president Néstor Kirchner announces the early repayment of its external debt to the IMF.
- 2005: Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.
- 2005: The 2005 Atlantic Power Outage began.
- 2006: First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.