December 31, 1981 (Thursday)
- Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led a coup d'état for the second time in Ghana, removing President Hilla Limann. Rawlings went on the air on Ghanaian radio at 11:00 am to announce that the Provisional National Defence Council would lead the nation until order could be restored.
- Cable News Network 2, later called CNN Headline News and now HLN, first appeared on American cable television.
- Born: Francisco Garcia, first Dominican Republic NBA player, in Santo Domingo
- Died: J.W. Milam, 61, who had murdered teenage African-American Emmett Till in 1955, was acquitted of kidnapping and murder by an all-White jury, then boasted about it in an article for Look Magazine.
Read more about this topic: December 1981
Famous quotes containing the word december:
“Work—work—work,
In the dull December light,
And work—work—work,
When the weather is warm and bright—
While underneath the eaves
The brooding swallows cling
As if to show me their sunny backs
And twit me with the spring.”
—Thomas Hood (1799–1845)