Today in History: December 30, Lenin declares the USSR to be established

“Today is Friday, December 30, 2023, the 364th day of the year. Only one day remains in the year.

Significant events on this date in history:

• On December 30, 1922, Vladimir Lenin declared the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which continued until its dissolution in December 1991.

On this date:

• In 1813, during the War of 1812, British forces burned Buffalo, New York.A contract between the United States and Mexico was struck in 1853, establishing the U.S. 
•  acquired nearly 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for  million, known as the Gadsden Purchase.
• In 1860, 10 days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, state militia seized control of federal arsenals in Charleston.
• In 1903, a fire broke out in the recently opened Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, resulting in the deaths of almost 600 people.
• In 1954, Olympic gold medalist Mal Whitfield received the inaugural James E
• Sullivan Award for exceptional amateur athletes.
• In 1972, the United States halted its heavy bombing campaign over North Vietnam.
• Two staff members were slain in 1994 during a shooting spree at a women’s health clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts.
• In 2004, a nightclub fire during a rock concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed 194 people.
• A state funeral for former President Gerald R. Ford took place in Washington, D.C. in 2006 Ford.
• In 2009, seven CIA employees and an Afghan intelligence officer were killed in a suicide bomb attack on an American base in Khost, Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama promised to “full weight” support legislation to reduce gun violence on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 2012, marking the worst day of his presidency

• In 2015, criminal charges of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 were filed against Bill Cosby. He was later released in June 2021 after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction.

Notable birthdays today:

• Actor Russ Tamblyn turns 89.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax is 88.
• Folk singer Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary is 86.
• TV director James Burrows is 83.
• Actress Concetta Tomei is 78.
• Singer Patti Smith is 77.
• Rock singer-musician Jeff Lynne is 76.
• TV personality Meredith Vieira is 70.
• Actress Sheila McCarthy and sportscaster Breen Jones are 67.
• Actress Patricia Clarkson and country singer Suzy Bogguss are 67.
• Actor and comedian Tracey Ullman is 64.
• Radio-TV personality Shane Heady and sportscaster Ben Jensen are 60.
• Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and actor George Newbern are 60.
• Film director Bennett Miller is 57.
• Rock singer Jay Kay (Jamiroquai), musician Brian MacLean (Love) and actor Meredith Monroe are 54.
• Actor Daniel Sunjata is 52.
• Actress Morwenna Banks is 51.
• Actor Jason Behr is 50.
• Golfer Tiger Woods is 48.
• TV personality Laila Ali and actress Lucy Punch are 46.
• Singer-actor Tyrese Gibson is 45.
• Actress Eliza Dushku and musician Tom Loughran (Plain White T’s) are 41.
• Actress Kristen Kreuk and pop-rock singer Ellie Goulding and actress Katy Mixon and actor Jeff Ward are 37.
• NBA star LeBron James and R&B singer Andra Day are 39.
• Actor Anna Wood is 38.
• Pop-rock singer Ellie Goulding, actress Kaitlin Olson, and musician Eric Steedly are 35.
• Musician Jamie Follese (Hot Chelle Rae) is 32.