On this day in ...
... 1978 (30 years ago today), (December 15 U.S. time), the United States and the Peoples Republic of China issued a Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and the US. Diplomatic relations would established the following year.
... 1969, by a vote of 343 to 185, members of the British House of Commons voted to abolish the death penalty for murder. The House of Lords would follow suit 2 days later.