1. On December 30, 1813, the British navy launched an attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812. The battle inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner," which became the national anthem of the United States in 1931.

2. December 30, 1853, marks the birth of John Merryman, a Maryland militia officer who was famously arrested by Union troops during the Civil War. The case, known as Ex parte Merryman, was a landmark in the history of civil liberties in the United States.

3. In 1944, on December 30, the Liberty ship SS John Morgan exploded while docked in Baltimore, killing 17 people and injuring more than 80. The explosion was caused by a fire that broke out in the ship's cargo of ammunition and explosives.

4. December 30, 1978, saw the opening of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The museum houses many famous aircraft and spacecraft, including the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Enola Gay.

5. On December 30, 1993, the famous football player and coach Vince Lombardi was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Lombardi, who grew up in Brooklyn and attended Fordham University in the Bronx, won five NFL championships as head coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s.