On Dec. 11, 1719, the first recorded sighting of the...

December 11, 1985

On Dec. 11, 1719, the first recorded sighting of the Aurora Borealis took place in New England.

In 1816, Indiana became the 19th state in the Union. On the same date, Britain restored the Indonesian island of Java to the Netherlands.

In 1872, Lt. Gov. Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback of Louisiana became acting governor, the first black American to do so.

In 1882, Fiorello LaGuardia, the future mayor of New York, was born.

In 1901, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in receiving and sending radio signals across the Atlantic.

In 1921, ``Terrible Tommy`` O`Connor, convicted of killing a police detective, escaped from Cook County Jail four days before he was to be hanged. He never was heard of again.

In 1928, police in Buenos Aires, Argentina, thwarted an attempt on the life of President Herbert Hoover.

In 1936, George VI became King of England on the abdication of Edward VIII.

In 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, and Congress passed a resolution that a state of war existed between the the U.S. and Germany and the U.S. and Italy.

In 1946, John D. Rockefeller Jr. offered to donate a six-block piece of Manhattan Island as a site for the United Nations headquarters.

In 1961, two U.S. helicopter companies arrived in Saigon by aircraft carrier, the first direct American military support for South Vietnam`s battle against communist guerillas.

In 1972, Apollo 17 landed on the Moon. The astronauts were Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt.

In 1973, the Supreme Court broadened the power of law enforcement officers to search people without warrants.

In 1984, a nativity scene was displayed near the White House as part of the federal government`s offical Christmas display for the first time since a federal appeals court ruled it illegal in 1973.