From Historynet: Today in History December 30

1460          The Duke of Yorkis defeated and killed by Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield.

1803          The United States takes possession of the Louisiana area from France at New Orleans with a simple ceremony, the simultaneous lowering and raising of the national flags.

1861          Banks in the United States suspend the practice of redeeming paper money for metal currency, a practice that would continue until 1879.

1862          The draft of the Emancipation Proclamation is finished and circulated among President Abraham Lincoln's  cabinet for comment.

1905          Governor Frank Steunenberg  of Idaho is killed by an assassin's bomb.

1922          Soviet Russia is renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1932          The Soviet Union bars food handouts for housewives under 36 years of age. They must now work to eat.

1947          Romania's King Michael  is forced to abdicate by Soviet-backed Communists. Communists now control all of Eastern Europe.

1965          Ferdinand E. Marcos is sworn in as the Philippine Republic's sixth president.

1972          After two weeks of heavy bombing raids on North Vietnam, President Nixon halts the air offensive and agrees to resume peace negotiations with Hanoi representative Le Duc Tho.

1976          Governor Carey of New York pardons seven inmates, closing the book on the Attica uprising.

2006          Saddam Hussein, former Iraq dictator, is executed by hanging for crimes committed against his own people during his rule.