This Day in History: Dec. 9

On this day, Dec. 9 …
 
1965: “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the first animated TV special featuring characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, premieres on CBS.
 
Also on this day:

• 1608: English poet John Milton is born in London.
• 1935: The Downtown Athletic Club of New York honors college football player Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago with the DAC Trophy, which would later become known as the Heisman Trophy.
• 1958: The anti-communist John Birch Society is formed in Indianapolis.
• 1962: The Petrified Forest in Arizona is designated a national park.
• 1975: President Gerald R. Ford signs a $2.3 billion seasonal loan-authorization that officials of New York City and State say will prevent a city default.
• 1984: The five-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claims the lives of two Americans ends as Iranian security men seize control of the plane, which is parked at Tehran airport.
• 1987: The first Palestinian intefadeh, or uprising, begins as riots break out in Gaza and spread to the West Bank, triggering a strong Israeli response.
• 1990: Solidarity founder Lech Walesa wins Poland’s presidential runoff by a landslide.
• 1992: Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana announce their separation. (The couple’s divorce would become final in Aug. 1996.)
• 2000: The U-S Supreme Court orders a temporary halt in the Florida vote count on which Al Gore pins his best hopes of winning the White House.
• 2008: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is arrested after prosecutors say he is caught on wiretaps scheming to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for cash or a plum job for himself in the new administration. (Blagojevich would be convicted of wide-ranging corruption in 2011 and sentenced to 14 years in prison.)
• 2008: NBC announces that “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno would be moving to prime time.