Today in History: December 19, Bill Clinton is impeached

Today is Friday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2025. There are 12 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 19, 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice. (He was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.)

Also on this date:

In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington led his army of more than 12,000 soldiers to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.

In 1907, 239 workers died in an explosion at the Darr coal mine near Van Meter, Pennsylvania.

In 1960, fire broke out on the hangar deck of the nearly completed aircraft carrier USS Constellation at the New York Naval Shipyard, killing 50 civilian workers.

In 2008, citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered a $17.4 billion emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

In 2011, North Korea announced the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans marched by the thousands to mourn while state media proclaimed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as the nation's new leader.

In 2016, a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State. (The suspected attacker was killed in a police shootout four days later.)

In 2023, a strong earthquake rocked a mountainous region of northwestern China, killing 131 people, reducing homes to rubble and leaving residents outside in below-freezing winter weather.