Today in History: A Charlie Brown Christmas Debuts

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025 — the 343rd day of the year, with 22 days remaining.

On this day in history:

- 1965: A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first animated television special featuring Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts characters, premiered on CBS.

Other notable events that occurred on Dec. 9:

- 1979: Scientists declared the global eradication of smallpox, a disease that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century.

- 1990: Solidarity founder Lech Wałęsa won Poland’s first free presidential election since 1926.

- 1992: The first U.S. Marines made a predawn beach landing in Somalia to support Operation Restore Hope; they arrived amid heavy media coverage.

- 2006: Space shuttle Discovery launched on a mission to add to and rewire the International Space Station.

- 2013: Scientists announced that NASA’s Curiosity rover had found evidence of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars.

- 2019: The Whakaari/White Island volcano off New Zealand’s coast erupted, killing 22 visitors and guides and injuring many others; most of the 47 people on the island were U.S. and Australian cruise ship passengers.

- 2021: A cargo truck carrying migrants crashed in southern Mexico, killing at least 53 people and injuring dozens more.

Today’s birthdays:

- Judi Dench, actor — 91

- Beau Bridges, actor — 84

- Tom Kite, World Golf Hall of Famer — 76

- John Malkovich, actor — 72

- Donny Osmond, singer — 68

- Felicity Huffman, actor — 63

- Empress Masako of Japan — 62

- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) — 59

- Jakob Dylan, rock singer-musician (The Wallflowers) — 56

- Simon Helberg, actor — 45

- McKayla Maroney, Olympic gymnastics gold medalist — 30

- Nico Parker, actor — 21