On Dec. 14, 1542, King James V died and his 6-day-old daughter, Mary Stuart, ascended to the throne of Scotland.
In 1799 George Washington died in his Mt. Vernon, Va., home at the age of 67.
In 1819 Alabama became the 22d state.
In 1911 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole.
In 1939 the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations for aggression against Finland.
In 1946 the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish the UN headquarters in New York.
In 1962 the U.S. space probe Mariner 2 approached Venus and transmitted information about the planet`s atmosphere and temperature.
In 1973 Secretary of State Henry Kissinger urged Saudi Arabia`s King Faisal to end the Arab oil embargo against the United States.
In 1975 six South Moluccan terrorists surrendered to police after holding 23 people hostage for 12 days on a train near the Dutch town of Beilen.
In 1980 Beatle fans gathered in cities around the world for memorial services for John Lennon, slain in New York six days earlier.
In 1985 former New York Yankee Roger Maris, who broke Babe Ruth`s single- season home run record by hitting 61 in 1961, died in Houston at age 51.
In 1986 the experimental aircraft Voyager, with pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California on the first nonstop, nonrefueled flight around the world; the trip took nine days.