December 11

December 11 is the 346th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1789 to 2006 — a span of 217 years. The entry that anchors it: World War II, 1941.

The revolutionary generation left its own mark on the date. In 1789, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the oldest public universities in the United States and the only one to award degrees in the 18th century, was chartered.

The antebellum decades brought the date closer to the country’s central argument. In 1815, the U.S. Senate creates a select committee on finance and a uniform national currency, predecessor of the United States Senate Committee on Finance. A year later, in 1816, Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state. Then, in 1862, American Civil War — the Battle of Fredericksburg begins as the Army of the Potomac under Union General Ambrose Burnside crosses the Rappahannock River to clash with the Army of Northern Virginia led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The early twentieth century brought industry, air travel and war to the date. In 1941, World War II — Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans' declaration of war on the Empire of Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on them.

After 1945 the date reflects a country operating at global scale. In 1972, Apollo 17, the last Apollo mission, landed on the Moon. Eight years on, in 1980, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (also known as Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.

The most recent entries fall within living memory. In 2006, the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran, by then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on December 11: George Mason (1725), American lawyer and politician; Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn (1854), American baseball pitcher; Annie Jump Cannon (1863), American astronomer and academic; Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882), American lawyer and politician, 99th Mayor of New York City; and Walter Knott (1889), American farmer and businessman, founded Knott's Berry Farm.

December 11 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Oliver Winchester (1880), American businessman, founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company; Charles Townsend (1906), American fencer, engineer, and academic; Myron Grimshaw (1936), American baseball player; and Jim Bottomley (1959), American baseball player and manager.

The date carries formal observance as well — Indiana Day (United States). The record for December 11 runs 217 years deep across 8 entries. Read in sequence, the date stops being a coincidence and starts being a through-line.