December 11

359 – Honoratus, first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office.
1620 – 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1792 – France’s King Louis XVI went on trial, accused of treason
1844 – First dental use of nitrous oxide, in Hartford, Connecticut
1866 – First yacht race across Atlantic Ocean
1913 – “Mona Lisa,” stolen from Louvre Museum in 1911, recovered
1919 – Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise, Ala
1941 – Germany and Italy declare war on US
1951 – Joe DiMaggio announces his baseball retirement
1961 – Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel
1961 – JFK provides US military helicopters and crews to South Vietnam
1967 – SST prototype “Concorde” first shown in France
1972 – Astronauts Cernan and Harrison become 11th & 12th men on the Moon
1978 – 6 masked men bound 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at  Kennedy Airport and made off with $5.8 M in cash & jewelry
1985 – Computer store owner in Sacramento California killed by package bomb
1994 – Russian troops enter Chechnya
2001 – The People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
2008 – Bernard Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in $50 billion Ponzi scheme.