On December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas lit up TV screens for the first time. Charles Schulz defied skeptical executives, insisting on children’s voices, Vince Guaraldi’s jazz riffs, no laugh track, and even a gospel reading. Half the country tuned in, proving that sincerity — and a scraggly little tree — could outshine commercial glitz. The Peanuts Christmas special became one of America’s most beloved traditions.

Judge Reid and party leaving Valdez for Fairbanks by horse drawn sled, Alaska, December 9, 1908

Image via Wikimeda Commons, public domain in the US.

First Sergeant Azor Ruggles Mills of Co. E, 39th Iowa Infantry Regiment in uniform with rifle and bayonet

Handwritten note on the back says:
“Yours truly, A.R. Mills, Dec. 9th, A.D., 1862”

A.R. Mills was wounded at the Battle of Allatoona in Georgia two years later.

Image via LOC, no known restrictions

Born December 9, 1843 Joel Chandler Harris had a long career as a journalist in Atlanta but is best remembered for the “Uncle Remus” folklore tales he listened to and carefully recorded. Scholar James Weldon Johnson called books by Harris “The greatest body of folklore America has produced.”

Image via Wikimeda Commons, public domain in the US.

Hattie Caraway in 1914

The first woman elected to U.S. Senate

She took office on December 9, 1931

via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

WWII Veteran Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch Demsky on December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, New York) served as a communications and gunnery officer aboard the USS PC-1139, where he was injured in a 1943 depth charge explosion. Discharged in 1944, he soon launched a legendary Hollywood career, starring in Spartacus and Paths of Glory, and later receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Image of Kirk Douglas c. 1950 via Alamy

“Pickets cooking their rations. Reserve picket fort near Fredericksburg”

– December 9, 1862

https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=G92F256_014B&t=w&download=1&suffix=510d47e0-c8fc-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.002

Image: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-c8fc-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Public Domain

Washington, D.C., Dec. 9. Appearing hale and hardy, General John J. Pershing was a caller on President Roosevelt today.

December 9, 1937

via Library of Congress, no known restrictions

On December 9, 1964 John Coltrane recorded his album “A Love Supreme” in one session in New Jersey.

Image of Coltrane in the early 1960s via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The Battle of Great Bridge, the first significant land battle in Virginia during the Revolutionary War, was fought on December 9, 1775.

Led by Colonel William Woodford, no Americans were killed. Later during the war Woodford was placed on a British prison ship and died of illness near New York.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright, public domain in the US.

A portrait of American operatic soprano Emma Abbott who was born on December 9, 1850 in Chicago, Illinois.

In the late 1870s she became the first woman to establish an opera company in the United States.

Image: Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. “Emma Abbott (1850-1891)” New York Public Library Digital Collections.
No known restrictions

When Thomas Jefferson was the second Governor of Virginia he signed a proclamation that established December 9, 1779 as a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to Almighty God.

A photo of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner that was taken on December 9, 1951.
The couple were married the month prior.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On December 9, 1943, the USS Bowfin steamed back into Fremantle after its second Pacific patrol. Commander Walter T. Griffith was awarded the Navy Cross on the pier, as his officers stood proudly beside him. Nicknamed the ‘Pearl Harbor Avenger,’ Bowfin had struck hard at Japanese shipping — and this portrait captured a moment of honor in America’s undersea campaign.

First Lady Barbara Bush holds an ornament as she stands near the Christmas tree in the Blue Room of The White House

December 9, 1991

Image from The White House via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

American actress Margaret Hamilton was born on December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Most famous for her roles as The Wicked Witch of the West and Almira Gulch in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, Hamilton was also a teacher.

Here she is in the 1937 romantic comedy film “When’s Your Birthday?” with actor Joe E. Brown.

Image via Alamy

On December 9, 1835, Texian revolutionaries gained control of San Antonio and the Alamo after forcing Mexican General Cos to surrender. They held the mission until March of the following year, when Santa Anna’s army returned — setting the stage for one of history’s most legendary last stands