Dec. 9 (UPI) -- On this date in history:
In 1907, the first Christmas Seals to raise money to fight tuberculosis went on sale in the post office in Wilmington, Del.
In 1955, two weeks of bloody student uprisings against President Fulgencio Batista appeared to follow the pattern of the student riots that deposed Cuban Dictator Gerardo Machado. Batista would remain in power four more years before losing power to Fidel Castro.
In 1962, Petrified Forest National Monument was established as a national park in Arizona.
In 1974, White House aide John Ehrlichman's Watergate trial began in which he testified that U.S. President Richard Nixon was responsible for a coverup.
UPI File Photo
In 1987, the First Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinians protested and rioted after an Israeli Defense Forces truck struck a civilian vehicle, killing four Palestinians.
In 1990, Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential vote.
In 1992, British Prime Minister John Major announced the formal separation of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
In 1992, some 1,700 U.S. Marines landed in Somalia to secure the airfield, port and U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu and restore order to the conflict- and famine-stricken country.
In 2002, United Airlines, which said it was losing $22 million a day, filed for bankruptcy.
File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI
In 2008, federal agents arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges in a scheme involving the sale of Illinois' open Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
In 2014, a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report said the CIA's interrogation of terror suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was more brutal than it told the White House or public. The so-called "CIA torture report" called CIA tactics "deeply flawed."
In 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that the country's forces completely liberated the nation from the Islamic State militant group.
In 2019, the volcano on New Zealand's Whakaari Island -- also known as White Island -- erupted, killing 22 people and injuring another 25.
In 2023, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels earned the most prestigious individual honor in college football, the 89th Heisman Trophy. A few months later, the Washington Commanders drafted him with the No. 2 overall pick.
File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Read More UPI Archives: John Brennan defends CIA, admits some techniques 'abhorrent' UPI Archives: U.S. denounced globally after torture report