This day in history — Dec. 30

Associated Press

Today’s highlight in history

On Dec. 30, 1922, Vladimir Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which lasted nearly seven decades before dissolving in December 1991.

On this date

In 1853, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.

In 1916, Grigory Rasputin, the so-called “Mad Monk” who wielded considerable influence with Czar Nicholas II, was killed by a group of Russian noblemen in St. Petersburg.

Sit-down strikers read newspapers at General Motors' Fisher Body plant in Flint, Mich., in 1937. Their sit-down strike, which lasted six weeks, began on Dec. 30, 1936.

In 1936, the United Auto Workers union staged its first “sit-down” strike at the General Motors Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Michigan. (The strike lasted until Feb. 11, 1937.)

In 1942, a near-riot of bobby-soxers greeted the opening of Frank Sinatra’s singing engagement at the Paramount Theater in New York’s Times Square.

In 1947, King Michael I of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged he was being forced off the throne by Communists.

In 1997, a deadly massacre in Algeria’s insurgency began in four mountain villages as armed men killed women and children in an attack that lasted from dusk until dawn the following morning; up to 412 deaths were reported.

A police officer stands on guard outside the gatehouse of George and Olivia Harrison's mansion in Henley, Oxfordshire, on Dec. 30, 1999. The former Beatle was hospitalized after being stabbed in the chest by an intruder who broke into the mansion

In 1999, former Beatle George Harrison fought off a knife-wielding intruder who’d broken into his mansion west of London and stabbed him in the chest. (The attacker was later acquitted of attempted murder by reason of insanity.)

Ten years ago: Three days after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, her 19-year-old son, Bilawal Zardari, was named symbolic leader of her Pakistan Peoples Party, while her husband took effective control.

Five years ago: Recalling the shooting rampage that killed 20 first-graders in Connecticut as the worst day of his presidency, President Barack Obama pledged on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to put his “full weight” behind legislation aimed at preventing gun violence.

One year ago: China announced it would shut down its ivory trade at the end of 2017 in a move designed to curb the mass slaughter of African elephants.

Associated Press

Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers shuts out the Minnesota Twins, 2-0, in Game 7 of the 1965 World Series.

QUOTE UNQUOTE

"Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win — if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth, and nice guys with no talent finish last."

Sandy Koufax,

Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, who turns 82 today