Today in History
Today is Thursday, Dec. 8, the 343rd day of 2016. There are 23 days
left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Dec. 8, 1941, the
United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against
Imperial Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. On this date:
In 1765, Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, was born in
Westborough, Massachusetts. In 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the
Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary, the
mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own
conception. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued his Proclamation
of Amnesty and Reconstruction for the South. In 1914, "Watch Your
Step," the first musical revue to feature a score composed entirely by
Irving Berlin, opened in New York. In 1940, the Chicago Bears defeated
the Washington Redskins, 73-0, in the NFL Championship Game, which was
carried on network radio for the first time by the Mutual Broadcasting
System (the announcer was Red Barber). In 1949, the Chinese Nationalist
government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa as the Communists
pressed their attacks. In 1962, the first session of the Second Vatican
Council was formally adjourned. Typographers went on a 114-day strike
against four New York City newspapers. In 1972, a United Airlines
Boeing 737 crashed while attempting to land at Chicago-Midway Airport,
killing 43 of the 61 people on board, as well as two people on the
ground; among the dead were Dorothy Hunt, wife of Watergate conspirator
E. Howard Hunt, U.S. Rep. George W. Collins, D-Ill., and CBS News
correspondent Michele Clark. In 1980, rock star John Lennon was shot to
death outside his New York City apartment building by an apparently
deranged fan. In 1982, a man demanding an end to nuclear weapons held
the Washington Monument hostage, threatening to blow it up with
explosives he claimed were inside a van. (After a 10-hour standoff,
Norman D. Mayer was shot dead by police; it turned out there were no
explosives.) In 1987, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail
S. Gorbachev signed a treaty at the White House calling for destruction
of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. In 1991, Russia, Byelorussia
and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government dead, forging a new
alliance to be known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. AIDS
patient Kimberly Bergalis, who had contracted the disease from her
dentist, died in Fort Pierce, Florida, at age 23. Ten years ago: A
gunman went on a rampage inside a downtown Chicago law firm
specializing in intellectual property and patents, killing three people
before being shot dead by police. The House ethics committee concluded
that Republican lawmakers and aides had failed for a decade to protect
male pages from sexual overtures by former Florida Congressman Mark
Foley, but that they had broken no rules and should not be punished.
Former San Francisco Giants shortstop Jose Uribe, 47, was killed in a
car crash in his native Dominican Republic. Five years ago: Former MF
Global CEO Jon Corzine (KOHR'-zyn) was called before Congress to
explain the collapse of the securities firm just over a month earlier;
Corzine told the House Agriculture Committee he didn't know what
happened to an estimated $1.2 billion in missing clients' money. The
161-day NBA lockout ended when owners and players ratified the new
collective bargaining agreement. One year ago: China declared its first
ever red smog alert as poisonous air quality forced the government to
close schools, order motorists off the road and shut down factories in
and around Beijing. Today's Birthdays: Flutist James Galway is 77.
Singer Jerry Butler is 77. Pop musician Bobby Elliott (The Hollies) is
75. Actress Mary Woronov is 73. Actor John Rubinstein is 70. Rock
singer-musician Gregg Allman is 69. Reggae singer Toots Hibbert (Toots
and the Maytals) is 68. Actress Kim Basinger (BAY'-sing-ur) is 63. Rock
musician Warren Cuccurullo is 60. Rock musician Phil Collen (Def
Leppard) is 59. Country singer Marty Raybon is 57. World Bank President
Jim Yong Kim is 57. Political commentator Ann Coulter is 55. Rock
musician Marty Friedman is 54. Actor Wendell Pierce is 53. Actress Teri
Hatcher is 52. Actor David Harewood is 51. Rapper Bushwick Bill (The
Geto Boys) is 50. Singer Sinead (shih-NAYD') O'Connor is 50. Actor
Matthew Laborteaux is 50. Rock musician Ryan Newell (Sister Hazel) is
44. Actor Dominic Monaghan is 40. Actor Ian Somerhalder is 38. Rock
singer Ingrid Michaelson is 37. R&B singer Chrisette Michele is 34.
Actress Hannah Ware is 34. Country singer Sam Hunt is 32. Rock
singer-actress Kate Voegele (VOH'-gehl) is 30. Christian rock musician
Jen Ledger (Skillet) is 27. Actress Wallis Currie-Wood is 25. Actress
AnnaSophia Robb is 23. Thought for Today: "So long as governments set
the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will
occasionally kill theirs. Elbert Hubbard, American author (1856-1915).
