30 December History
- 1460 - The Duke of York is defeated and killed by Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield.
- 1803 - The United States takes possession of the Louisiana area from France at New Orleans with a simple ceremony, the simultaneous lowering and raising of the national flags.
- 1861 - Banks in the United States suspend the practice of redeeming paper money for metal currency, a practice that would continue until 1879.
- 1862 - The draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is finished and circulated among President Abraham Lincoln's cabinet for comment.
- 1905 - Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho is killed by an assassin's bomb.
- 1922 - Soviet Russia is renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
- 1932 - The Soviet Union bars food handouts for housewives under 36 years of age. They must now work to eat.
- 1947 - Romania's King Michael is forced to abdicate by Soviet-backed Communists. Communists now control all of Eastern Europe.
- 1965 - Ferdinand E. Marcos is sworn in as the Philippine Republic's sixth president.
- 1972 - After two weeks of heavy bombing raids on North Vietnam, President Nixon halts the air offensive and agrees to resume peace negotiations with Hanoi representative Le Duc Tho.
- 1976 - Governor Carey of New York pardons seven inmates, closing the book on the Attica uprising.
- 2006 - Saddam Hussein, former Iraq dictator, is executed by hanging for crimes committed against his own people during his rule.
30 December Birthdays
- 1865 - Rudyard Kipling, British author (Jungle Book, Soldiers Three).
- 1867 - Simon Guggenheim, philanthropist and U.S. senator for Colorado.
- 1884 - Tojo Hideki, Japanese Prime Minister during World War II.
- 1928 - Bo Diddley, blues composer and singer.
- 1935 - Sandy Koufax, Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher with the L.A. Dodgers.