Today is Saturday, Dec. 12, the 346th day of 2015. There are 19 days left in the year.
On this date:
In 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1870, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black lawmaker sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Oscar Straus to be secretary of Commerce and Labor; Straus became the first Jewish Cabinet member.
In 1911, Britain’s King George V announced during a visit to India that the capital would be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi.
In 1917, Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1925, the first motel – the Motel Inn – opened in San Luis Obispo, California.
In 1937, Japanese aircraft sank the U.S. gunboat Panay on China’s Yangtze River. (Japan apologized, and paid $2.2 million in reparations.)
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