On this day: December 20
POSTED: 10:21 PM PST Dec 19, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Dec 19, 2012
The Louisiana Purchase is completed, South Carolina secedes from the U.S., Edison demonstrates his incandescent light, Elvis gets drafted, and the U.S. invades Panama, all on this day.
1995: American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 40 miles north of Cali, Colombia, killing 160. The crash was the first U.S.-owned 757 accident and the highest death toll of any accident in Colombia. The Colombian Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics investigated the accident and determined it was caused by navigational errors by the flight crew.
