On This Day

November 16, 2014

1776 - British troops captured Fort Washington during the American Revolution.

1864 - Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their "March to the Sea" during the U.S. Civil War.

1885 - Canadian rebel Louis Riel was executed for high treason.

1907 - Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th state.

1915 - Coca-Cola had its prototype for a countoured bottle patented. The bottle made its commercial debut the next year.

1933 - The United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations for the first time.

1952 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Lucy first held a football for Charlie Brown.

1957 - Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns) set an NFL season rushing record of 1163 yards after only eight games.

1966 - Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard was acquitted in his second trial of charges he had murdered his pregnant wife, Marilyn, in 1954.

1969 - The U.S. Army announced that several had been charged with massacre and the subsequent cover-up in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.

1973 - Skylab 3 carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, on an 84-day mission.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law.

1981 - A vaccine for hepatitis B was approved. The vaccine had been developed at Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research.

1982 - An agreement was announced on the 57th day of a strike by National Football League (NFL) players.

1985 - Colonel Oliver North was put in charge of the shipment of HAWK anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

1988 - Estonia's parliament declared that the Baltic republic "sovereign," but stopped short of complete independence.

1994 - Major League Soccer announced that it would start its inaugural season in 1996.

1997 - China released Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident from jail for medical reasons. He had been incarcerated for almost 18 years.

1998 - In Burlington, WIsconsin, five high school students, aged 15 to 16, were arrested in an alleged plot to kill a carefully selected group of teachers and students.

1998 - It was announced that Monica Lewinsky had signed a deal for the North American rights to a book about her affair with U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court said that union members could file discrimination lawsuits against employers even when labor contracts require arbitration.

1999 - Johnny Depp received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - Chrica Adams, the pregnant girlfriend of Rae Carruth, was shot four times in her car. She died a month later from her wounds. The baby survived. Carruth was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the murder.

2000 - Bill Clinton became the first serving U.S. president to visit Communist Vietnam.

2004 - A NASA unmanned "scramjet" (X-43A) reached a speed of nearly 10 times the speed of sound above the Pacific Ocean.

November 17, 2014

1558 - Elizabeth I ascended the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary Tudor.

1603 - Sir Walter Raleigh went on trial for treason.

1796 - Catherine the Great of Russia died at the age of 67.

1798 - Irish nationalist leader Wolfe Tone committed suicide while in jail awaiting execution.

1800 - The U.S. Congress held its first session in Washington, DC, in the partially completed Capitol building.

1869 - The Suez Canal opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas.

1880 - The first three British female graduates received their Bachelor of Arts degrees from London University.

1903 - Russia's Social Democrats officially split into two groups - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

1904 - The first underwater submarine journey was taken, from Southampton, England, to the Isle of Wight.

1913 - The steamship Louise became the first ship to travel through the Panama Canal.

1913 - In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm banned the armed forces from dancing the tango.

1922 - Siberia voted for union with the U.S.S.R.

1962 - Washington's Dulles International Airport was dedicated by U.S. President Kennedy.

1968 - NBC cut away from the final minutes of a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game to begin a TV special, "Heidi," on schedule. The Raiders came from behind to beat the Jets 43-32.

1970 - The Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1. The vehicle was released by Luna 17.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon told an Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, FL, "people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

1979 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto became the first woman leader of an Islamic country. She was elected in the first democratic elections in Pakistan in 11 years.

1990 - A mass grave was discovered by the bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand. The bodies were believed to be those of World War II prisoners of war.

1990 - The Soviet government agreed to change the country's constitution.

1997 - 62 people were killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt. The attackers were killed by police.

1997 - Mario Lemieux was voted into the NHL Hall of Fame.

2001 - "Toys "R" Us Times Square - The Center of the Toy Universe" opened in New York City.

2006 - Sony's PlayStation 3 went on sale in the United States.

2010 - Reasearchers trapped 38 antihydrogen atoms. It was the first time humans had trapped antimatter.

November 18, 2014

1477 - William Caxton produced "Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres," which was the first book to be printed in England.

1820 - Captain Nathaniel Palmer became the first American to sight the continent of Antarctica.

1865 - Samuel L. Clemens published "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" under the pen name "Mark Twain" in the New York "Saturday Press."

1883 - The U.S. and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.

1903 - The U.S. and Panama signed a treaty that granted the U.S. rights to build the Panama Canal.

1916 - Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force in World War I, called off the Battle of the Somme in France. The offensive began on July 1, 1916.

1928 - The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premiered in New York. It was Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie," starring Mickey Mouse.

Disney movies, music and books

1936 - Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.

1942 - "The Skin of Our Teeth," by Thornton Wilder opened on Broadway.

1951 - Chuck Connors (Los Angeles Angels) became the first player to oppose the major league draft. Connors later became the star of the television show "The Rifleman."

1959 - William Wyler's "Ben-Hur" premiered at Loew's Theater in New York City's Times Square.

1966 - U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.

1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. and Alan L. Bean landed on the lunar surface during the second manned mission to the moon.

1976 - The parliament of Spain approved a bill that established a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

1983 - Argentina announced its ability to produce enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons.

1985 - Joe Theismann (Washington Redskins) broke his leg after being hit by Lawrence Taylor (New York Giants). The injury ended Theismann's 12 year National Football League (NFL) career.

1987 - The U.S. Congress issued the Iran-Contra Affair report. The report said that President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides.

1987 - CBS Inc. announced it had agreed to sell its record division to Sony Corp. for about $2 billion.

1988 - U.S. President Reagan signed major legislation provided the death penalty for drug traffickers who kill.

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate in approving legislation aimed at protecting abortion facilities, staff and patients.

1993 - American Airlines flight attendants went on strike. They ended their strike only 4 days later.

1993 - Representatives from 21 South African political parties approved a new constitution.

1997 - First Union Corp. announced its purchase of CoreStates Financial Corp. for $16.1 billion. To date it was the largest banking deal in U.S. history.

2001 - Nintendo released the GameCube home video game console in the United States.

November 19, 2014

1794 - Britain's King George III signed the Jay Treaty. It resolved the issues left over from the Revolutionary War.

1850 - The first life insurance policy for a woman was issued. Carolyn Ingraham, 36 years old, bought the policy in Madison, NJ.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address as he dedicated a national cemetery at the site of the Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania.

1893 - The first newspaper color supplement was published in the Sunday New York World.

1895 - The "paper pencil" was patented by Frederick E. Blaisdell.

1919 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles with a vote of 55 in favor to 39 against. A two-thirds majority was needed for ratification.

1928 - "Time" magazine presented its cover in color for the first time. The subject was Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

1942 - During World War II, Russian forces launched their winter offensive against the Germans along the Don front.

1954 - Two automatic toll collectors were placed in service on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.

1959 - Ford Motor Co. announced it was ending the production of the unpopular Edsel.

1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean made man's second landing on the moon.

1970 - Hafiz al-Assad seized power in Syria.

1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to set foot in Israel on an official visit.

1979 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) signed a four-year contract for $4.5 million. At the time, Ryan was the highest paid player in major league baseball.

1981 - U.S. Steel agreed to pay $6.3 million for Marathon Oil.

1984 - Dwight Gooden, 20-year-old, of the New York Mets, became the youngest major-league pitcher to be named Rookie of the Year in the National League. (MLB)

1985 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met for the first time as they began their summit in Geneva.

1990 - NATO and the Warsaw Pact signed a treaty of nonaggression.

1993 - The U.S. Senate approved a sweeping $22.3 billion anti-crime measure.

1994 - The U.N. Security Council authorized NATO to bomb rebel Serb forces striking from neighboring Croatia.

1997 - In Carlisle, IA, septuplets were born to Bobbi McCaughey. It was only the second known case where all seven were born alive.

1998 - The impeachment inquiry of U.S. President Clinton began.

1998 - Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of the Artist Without Beard" sold at auction for more than $71 million.

1998 - Michelle Lee received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - In Istanbul, Turkey, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded a two-day summit after adopting a new arms accord. During the conference, Russia was criticized for its military campaign against Chechnya's separatist movement.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed the most comprehensive air security bill in U.S. history.

2002 - The oil tanker Prestige broke into two pieces and sank off northwest Spain. The tanker lost about 2 million gallons of fuel oil when it ruptured November 13th and was towed about 150 miles out to sea.

2002 - The U.S. government completed its takeover of security at 424 airports nationwide.

2003 - Eight competing designs for a memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center were unveiled. One design would be built at the site of the World Trade Center.

2007 - The Amazon Kindle was first released.

November 20, 2014

1789 - New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

1818 - Simon Bolivar formally declared Venezuela independent of Spain.

1873 - Budapest was formed when the rival cities of Buda and Pest were united to form the capital of Hungary.

1901 - The second Hay-Pauncefoot Treaty provided for construction of the Panama Canal by the U.S.

1910 - Francisco I. Madero led a revolution that broke out in Mexico.

1929 - The radio program "The Rise of the Goldbergs," later known as "The Goldbergs," made its debut on the NBC Blue Network.

1943 - During World War II, U.S. Marines began their landing on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands.

1945 - 24 Nazi leaders went before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.

1947 - Britain's Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh in Westminster Abbey.

1959 - Britain, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Sweden met to create the European Free Trade Association.

1962 - The Cuban Missile Crisis ended. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba and the U.S. ended its blockade of the island.

1962 - Mickey Mantle was named the American League Most Valuable Player for the third time.

1967 - The Census Clock at the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, went past 200 million.

1969 - The Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase out of the substance.

1970 - The majority in U.N. General Assembly voted to give China a seat, but two-thirds majority required for admission was not met.

1977 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's parliament.

1983 - An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial ABC-TV movie "The Day After." The movie depicted the outbreak of nuclear war.

1986 - Dr. Halfdan Maher, the director of the World Health Organization, announced the first coordinated global effort to fight the disease AIDS.

1987 - Police investigating the fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station, said that arson was unlikely to be the cause of the event that took 31 lives.

1988 - Egypt and China announced that they would recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestine National Council.

1989 - Over 200,000 people rallied peacefully in Prague, Czechoslovakia, demanding democratic reforms.

1990 - Saddam Hussein ordered another 250,000 Iraqi troops into the country of Kuwait.

1990 - The space shuttle Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, FL, after completing a secret military mission.

1992 - A fire seriously damaged the northwest side of Windsor Castle in England.

1993 - The U.S. Senate passed the Brady Bill and legislation implementing NAFTA.

1994 - The Angolan government and rebels signed a treaty in Zambia to end 19 years of war.

1995 - Princess Diana admitted being unfaithful to Prince Charles in an interview that was broadcast on BBC Television.

1998 - Afghanistan's Taliban militia offered Osama bin Laden safe haven. Osama bin Laden had been accused of orchestrating two U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and later terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

1998 - Forty-six states agreed to a $206 billion settlement of health claims against the tobacco industry. The industry also agreed to give up billboard advertising of cigarettes.

2001 - The U.S. Justice Department headquarters building was renamed the Robert F. Kennedy building by President George W. Bush. The event was held on what would have been Kennedy's 76th birthday.

November 21, 2014

1620 - The Mayflower reached Provincetown, MA. The ship discharged the Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA, on December 26, 1620.

1694 - French author and philosopher Jean Francois Voltaire was born. At age 65 he spent only three days writing "Candide."

1783 - The first successful flight was made in a hot air balloon. The pilots, Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, flew for 25 minutes and 5½ miles over Paris.

1789 - North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1871 - M.F. Galethe patented the cigar lighter.

1877 - Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph.

1922 - Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve as a member of the U.S. Senate.

1929 - Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali had his first art exhibit.

1934 - The New York Yankees purchased the contract of Joe DiMaggio from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League.

1942 - The Alaska Highway across Canada was formally opened.

1953 - British Natural History Museum authorities announced that "Piltdown Man" was a hoax.

1962 - U.S. President Kennedy terminated the quarantine measures against Cuba.

1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, arrived in San Antonio, TX. They were beginning an ill-fated, two-day tour of Texas that would end in Dallas.

1973 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.

1979 - The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was attacked by a mob that set the building afire and killed two Americans.

1980 - An estimated 83 million viewers tuned in to find out "who shot J.R." on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas. Kristin was the character that fired the gun. (Texas)

1980 - 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

1982 - The National Football League (NFL) resumed its season following a 57-day player's strike.

1985 - Former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard was arrested after being accused of spying for Israel. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

1986 - U.S. Attorney General Meese was asked to conduct an inquiry of the Iran arms sales.

1987 - An eight-day siege began at a detention center in Oakdale, LA, as Cuban detainees seized the facility and took hostages.

1989 - The proceedings of Britain's House of Commons were televised live for the first time.

1992 - U.S. Senator Bob Packwood, issued an apology but refused to discuss allegations that he'd made unwelcome sexual advances toward 10 women in past years.

1993 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted against making the District of Columbia the 51st state.

1994 - NATO warplanes bombed an air base in Serb-held Croatia that was being used by Serb planes to raid the Bosnian "safe area" of Bihac.

1995 - France detonated its fourth underground nuclear blast at a test site in the South Pacific.

1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 5,000-mark (5,023.55) for the first time.

1999 - China announced that it had test-launched an unmanned space capsule that was designed for manned spaceflight.

2000 - The Florida Supreme Court granted Al Gore's request to keep the presidential recounts going.

2001 - Microsoft Corp. proposed giving $1 billion in computers, software, training and cash to more than 12,500 of the poorest schools in the U.S. The offer was intended as part of a deal to settle most of the company's private antitrust lawsuits.

2002 - NATO invited Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.

2013 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 16,000 for the first time.

November 27, 2014

1684 - Japan's shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa was born.

1701 - Anders Celsius was born in Sweden. He was the inventor of the Celsius thermometer.

1779 - The College of Pennsylvania became the University of Pennsylvania. It was the first legally recognized university in America.

1839 - The American Statistical Association was founded in Boston.

1889 - Curtis P. Brady was issued the first permit to drive an automobile through Central Park in New York City.

1901 - The Army War College was established in Washington, DC.

1910 - New York's Pennsylvania Station opened.

1939 - The play "Key Largo," by Maxwell Anderson, opened in New York.

1951 - Hosea Richardson became the first black horse racing jockey to be licensed in Florida.

1963 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress.

1970 - Pope Paul VI, visiting the Philippines, was attacked at the Manila airport by a Bolivian painter disguised as a priest.

1973 - The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Gerald R. Ford as vice president after the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew.

1978 - San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay-rights activist, were shot to death inside City Hall by Dan White, a former supervisor.

1980 - Dave Williams (Chicago Bears) became the first player in NFL history to return a kick for touchdown in overtime.

1983 - 183 people were killed when a Colombian Avianca Airlines Boeing 747 crashed near Barajas airport in Madrid.

1985 - The British House of Commons approved the Anglo-Irish accord giving Dublin a consulting role in the governing of British-ruled Northern Ireland.

1987 - French hostages Jean-Louis Normandin and Roger Auque were set free by their pro-Iranian captors in West Beirut, Lebanon.

1989 - 107 people were killed when a bomb destroyed a Colombian jetliner minutes after the plane had taken off from Bogota's international airport. Police blamed the incident on drug traffickers.

1991 - The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that led the way for the establishment of a UN peacekeeping operation in Yugoslavia.

1992 - In Venezuela, rebel forces tried but failed to overthrow President Carlos Andres Perez for the second time in ten months.

November 28, 2014

1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait. The strait was named after him. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east.

1582 - William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were married.

1757 - English poet, painter and engraver William Blake was born. Two of his best known works are "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience."

1919 - American-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of the British Parliament.

1922 - Capt. Cyril Turner of the Royal Air Force gave the first public exhibition of skywriting. He spelled out, "Hello USA. Call Vanderbilt 7200" over New York's Times Square.

1925 - The Grand Ole Opry made its radio debut on station WSM.

1942 - 491 people died in a fire that destroyed the Coconut Grove in Boston.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to map out strategy concerning World War II.

1953 - New York City began 11 days without newspapers due to a strike of photoengravers.

1958 - The African nation of Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community.

1963 - U.S. President Johnson announced that Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy in honor of his assassinated predecessor. The name was changed back to Cape Canaveral in 1973 by a vote of residents.

1964 - The U.S. launched the space probe Mariner IV from Cape Kennedy on a course set for Mars.

1977 - Larry Bird was introduced as "College Basketball's Secret Weapon" with a cover story in Sports Illustrated. (NBA)

1978 - The Iranian government banned religious marches.

1979 - An Air New Zealand DC-10 flying to the South Pole crashed in Antarctica killing all 257 people aboard.

1983 - The space shuttle Columbia took off with the STS-9 Spacelab in its cargo bay.

1985 - The Irish Senate approved the Anglo-Irish accord concerning Northern Ireland.

1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean. All 159 people aboard were killed.

1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci arrived in New York after escaping her homeland through Hungary.

1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister of Britain.

1992 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina, 137 tons of food and supplies were to be delivered to the isolated town of Srebrenica.

1992 - In King William's Town, South Africa, black militant gunmen attacked a country club killing four people and injuring 20.

1993 - The play "Mixed Emotions" closed after 48 performances.

1994 - Jeffrey Dahmer, a convicted serial killer, was clubbed to death in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate.

1994 - Norwegian voters rejected European Union membership.

1995 - U.S. President Clinton signed a $6 billion road bill that ended the federal 55 mph speed limit.

2010 - WikiLeaks released to the public more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. About 100,000 were marked "secret" or "confidential."

November 30, 2014

1700 - 8,000 Swedish troops under King Charles XII defeated an army of at least 50,000 Russians at the Battle of Narva. King Charles XII died on this day.

1782 - The United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.

1803 - Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France.

1804 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase went on trial accused of political bias. He was later acquitted by the U.S. Senate.

1838 - Three days after the French occupation of Vera Cruz Mexico declared war on France.

1853 - During the Crimean War, the Russian fleet attacked and destroyed the Turkish fleet at the battle of Sinope.

1858 - John Landis Mason received a patent for the first pepper shaker with a screw-on cap.

1875 - A.J. Ehrichson patented the oat-crushing machine.

1897 - Thomas Edison's own motion picture projector had its first commercial exhibition.

1936 - London's famed Crystal Palace was destroyed in a fire. The structure had been constructed for the International Exhibition of 1851.

1939 - The Russo-Finnish War began when 20 divisions of Soviet troops invaded Finland.

1940 - Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married.

1949 - Chinese Communists captured Chungking.

1954 - In Sylacauga, AL, Elizabeth Hodges was injured when a meteorite crashed through the roof of her house. The rock weighed 8½-pounds.

1956 - CBS replayed the program "Douglas Edward and the News" three hours after it was received on the West Coast. It was the world's first broadcast via videotape.

1962 - U Thant of Burma was elected secretary-general of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.

1966 - The former British colony of Barbados became independent.

1971 - ABC-TV aired "Brian's Song." The movie was about Chicago Bears' Brian Picolo and his friendship with Gale Sayers.

1981 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union opened negotiations in Geneva that were aimed at reducing nuclear weapons in Europe.

1982 - The motion picture "Ghandi" had its world premiere in New Delhi.

1986 - "Time" magazine published an interview with U.S. President Reagan. In the article, Reagan described fired national security staffer Oliver North as a "national hero."

1988 - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. took over RJR Nabisco Inc. with a bid of $24.53 billion.

1989 - PLO leader Yasser Arafat was refused a visa to enter the United States in order to address the U.N. General Assebly in New York City.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the Brady Bill. The bill required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers.

1995 - President Clinton became the first U.S. chief executive to visit Northern Ireland.

1998 - The Deutsche Bank AG announced that it would acquire Bankers Trust Corp. for $10.1 billion creating the world's largest financial institution.

2001 - For the first time in it's history, McDonald's teamed up with a retail partner on its Happy Meal promotions. Toys R Us provided plush figures from it's Animal Alley.

2004 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Carl Larsson painting "Boenskoerd" ("Bean Harvest") was sold at auction for $730,000. The work had been in a private collection for more than a century. The Larsson work "Vid Kattegatt" ("By Kattegatt") sold for $640,000 at the same auction.

December 1, 2014

1835 - Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.

1909 - The Pennsylvania Trust Company, of Carlisle, PA, became the first bank in the in the U.S. to offer a Christmas Club account.

1913 - Ford Motor Co. began using a new movable assembly line that ushered in the era of mass production.

1913 - The first drive-in automobile service station opened, in Pittsburgh, PA.

1919 - Lady Astor was sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament.

1925 - The Locarno Pact finalized the treaties between World War I protagonists.

1934 - Sergei M. Kirov, a collaborator of Joseph Stalin, was assassinated at the Leningrad party headquarters.

1941 - In the U.S., the Civil Air Patrol was created. In April 1943 the Civil Air Patrol was placed under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces.

1942 - In the U.S., nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect.

1943 - In Teheran, leaders of the United States, the USSR and the United Kingdom met to reaffirm the goal set on October 30, 1943. The previous meeting called for an early establishment of an international organization to maintain peace and security.

1952 - In Denmark, it was announced that the first successful sex-change operation had been performed.

1955 - Rosa Parks, a black seamstress in Montgomery, AL, refused to give up her seat to a white man. Mrs. Parks was arrested marking a milestone in the civil rights movement in the U.S.

1959 - 12 countries, including the U.S. and USSR, signed a treaty that set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, which would be free from military activity.

1965 - An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began.

1969 - The U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

1984 - A remote-controlled Boeing 720 jetliner was deliberately crashed into California's Mojave Desert to test an anti-flame fuel additive. The test proved to be disappointing.

1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagansaid he would welcome an investigation of the Iran-Contra affair if it were recommended by the Justice Department.

1987 - NASA announced four companies had been given contracts to help build a space station. The companies were Boeing Aerospace, G. E.'s Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas Aeronautics, and Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.

1989 - Dissidents in the Philippine military launched an unsuccessful coup against Corazon Aquino's government.

1989 - East Germany's Parliament abolished the Communist Party's constitutional guarantee of supremacy.

1990 - Iraq accepted a U.S. offer to talk about resolving the Persian Gulf crisis.

1990 - British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel finally met under the English Channel.

1991 - Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.

1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin survived an impeachment attempt by hard-liners at the opening of the Russian Congress.

1994 - The U.S. Senate gave final congressional approval to the 124-nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

1998 - Exxon announced that it was buying Mobil for $73.7 billion creating the largest company in the world to date.

December 2, 2014

1804 - Napoleon was crowned emperor of France at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

1816 - The first savings bank in the U.S., the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business.

1823 - U.S. President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

1901 - Gillette patented the KC Gillette Razor. It was first razor to feature a permanent handle and disposable double-edge razor blades.

1917 - During World War I, hostilities were suspended on the eastern front.

1927 - The Ford Motor Company unveiled the Model A automobile. It was the successor to the Model T.

1939 - New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago landed at 12:01 a.m.

1942 - A self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated by Dr. Enrico Fermi and his staff at the University of Chicago.

1943 - "Carmen Jones" opened on Broadway.

1954 - The U.S. Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy for what it called "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." The censure was related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military and civilian society.

1961 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared in a nationally broadcast speech that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that he was going to lead Cuba to communism.

1969 - The Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people flew from Seattle, WA, to New York City, NY. Most of the passengers were reporters and photographers.

1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency began operating under its first director, William Ruckelshaus.

1980 - The Central Committee of Poland’s Communist Party announced major Politburo changes. The changes were apparently aimed at coping with labor unrest.

1982 - Doctors at the University of Utah implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Barney Clark. He lived 112 days with the device. The operation was the first of its kind.

1985 - A Philippine civilian court acquitted armed forces chief Gen. Fabian C. Ver of charges related to the 1983 shooting death of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino. 25 other defendants were also acquitted.

1988 - Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan.

1989 - V.P. Singh was sworn in as prime minister of India.

1990 - Chancellor Hekmut Kohl's coalition won the first free all-German elections since 1932.

1990 - The Midwest section of the U.S. prepared for a massive earthquake predicted by Iben Browning. Nothing happened.

1992 - Germany's lower house of parliament voted in favor of the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.

1993 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

1993 - The space shuttle Endeavor blasted off on a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

1994 - The U.S. government agreed not to seek a recall of allegedly fire-prone General Motors pickup trucks. Instead a deal was made with GM under which the company would spend more than $51 million on safety and research.

1995 - NASA launched a U.S.-European observatory on a $1 billion dollar mission intended to study the sun.

1997 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of telephone fund-raising by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. It was concluded that they had not violated election laws.

1998 - Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates donated $100 million to help immunize children in developing countries.

1999 - The British government transferred political power over the province of Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

2001 - Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The filing came five days after Dynegy walked away from a $8.4 billion buyout. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

2010 - NASA announced the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form.

December 3, 2014

1818 - Illinois was admitted as the 21st state of the union.

1828 - Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States.

1833 - Oberlin College in Ohio opened as the first truly coeducational school of higher education in the United States.

1835 - In Rhode Island, the Manufacturer Mutual Fire Insurance Company issued the first fire insurance policy.

1910 - The neon lamp was displayed for the first time at the Paris Motor Show. The lamp was developed by French physicist Georges Claude.

1917 - The Quebec Bridge opened for traffic after almost 20 years of planning and construction. The bridge suffered partial collapses in 1907 (August 29) and 1916 (September 11).

1931 - Alka Seltzer was sold for the first time.

1947 - The Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theater.

1948 - The "Pumpkin Papers" came to public light. The House Un-American Activities Committee announced that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm.

1950 - Paul Harvey began his national radio broadcast.

1950 - Tom Fears (Los Angeles Rams) caught an NFL-record 18 passes against the Green Bay Packers. Terrell Owens (San Francisco 49ers) broke the record with 20 catches for 283 yards and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears on December 17, 2000.

1967 - In Cape Town, South Africa, a team of surgeons headed by Dr. Christian Barnard, performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky. Washkansky only lived 18 days.

1967 - The famed luxury train, "20th Century Limited," completed its final run from New York to Chicago.

1968 - The rules committee of Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that in 1969 the pitcher's mound would be lowered from 15 to 10 inches. This was done in order to "get more batting action."

1973 - Pioneer 10 sent back the first close-up images of Jupiter. The first outer-planetary probe had been launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, on March 2, 1972.

1982 - Doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center removed the respirator of Barney Clark. The retired dentist had become the world's first recipient of a permanent artificial heart only one day before.

1983 - 3-foot-high concrete barriers were installed at two White House entrances.

1984 - In Bhopal, India, more than 2,000 people were killed after a cloud of poisonous gas escaped from a pesticide plant. The plant was operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary.

1987 - U.S. President Reagan said there was a good chance of progress toward a treaty on long-range weapons with Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

1992 - The UN Security Council unanimously approved a U.S.-led military mission to help starving Somalians.

1992 - The Greek tanker "Aegean Sea" ran aground at La Coruna, Spain and spilled 21.5 million gallons of crude oil.

1993 - Britain's Princess Diana announced she would be limiting her public appearances because she was tired of the media's intrusions into her life.

1993 - Angola's government and its rebel enemies agreed to a cease-fire in their 18-year war.

1994 - Rebel Serbs in Bosnia failed to keep a pledge to release hundreds of UN peacekeepers.

1995 - Former South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan was arrested for his role in a 1979 coup.

1997 - Pierce Brosnan received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1997 - In Ottawa, Canada, more than 120 countries were represented to sign a treaty prohibiting the use and production of anti-personnel land mines. The United States, China and Russia did not sign the treaty.

1997 - South Korea received $55 billion from the International Monetary Fund to bailout its economy.

1999 - Tori Murden became the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone. It took her 81 days to reach the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe from the Canary Islands.

1999 - The World Trade Organization (WTO) concluded a four-day meeting in Seattle, WA, without setting an agenda for a new round of trade talks. The meeting was met with fierce protests by various groups.

1999 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) lost radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander as it entered Mars' atmosphere. The spacecraft was unmanned.

2010 - The Boeing X-37 returned to Earth on successfully after its first orbital mission. It launched on April 22, 2010.

December 4, 2014

1783 - Gen. George Washington said farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.

1791 - Britain's Observer newspaper was first published.

1812 - Peter Gaillard patented the power mower.

1867 - The National Grange of Husbandry was founded.

1875 - William Marcy Tweed, the "Boss" of New York City's Tammany Hall political organization, escaped from jail and fled from the U.S.

1918 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson set sail for France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference. Wilson became the first chief executive to travel to Europe while in office.

1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration. The program had been created in order to provide jobs during the Great Depression.

1942 - U.S. bombers attacked the Italian mainland for the first time during World War II.

1943 - Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis announced that any club was free to employ black players.

1945 - The U.S. Senate approved American participation in the United Nations.

1965 - The U.S. launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Comdr. James A. Lovell on board.

1973 - Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter.

1977 - Jean-Bedel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Empire, crowned himself emperor in a ceremony believed to have cost more than $100 million. He was deposed 2 years later.

1978 - Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco's first woman mayor when she was named to replace George Moscone, who had been murdered.

1979 - For the second time, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to urge Iran to free American hostages that had been taken on November 4.

1980 - The bodies of four American nuns slain in El Salvador two days earlier were unearthed. Five national guardsmen were later convicted of the murders.

1983 - U.S. jet fighters struck Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon in retaliation for attacks directed at American reconnaissance planes. Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman Jr. was shot down and captured by Syria.

1984 - A five-day hijack drama began as four men seized a Kuwaiti airliner en route to Pakistan and forced it to land in Tehran. Two American passengers were killed by the hijackers.

1986 - Both U.S. houses of Congress moved to establish special committees to conduct their own investigations of the Iran-Contra affair.

1987 - Cuban inmates at a federal prison in Atlanta freed their 89 hostages, peacefully ending an 11-day uprising.

1988 - The government of Argentina announced that hundreds of heavily armed soldiers had ended a four-day military revolt.

1990 - Iraq promised to release 3,300 Soviet citizens it was holding.

1991 - Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was released after nearly seven years in captivity in Lebanon.

1991 - Pan American World Airways ceased operations.

1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush ordered American troops to lead a mercy mission to Somalia.

1993 - The Angolan government and its UNITA guerrilla foes formally adopted terms for a truce. The conflict was killing an estimated 1,000 people per day.

1994 - Bosnian Serbs released 53 out of about 400 UN peacekeepers they were holding as insurance against further NATO airstrikes.

1997 - The play revival "The Diary of Anne Frank" opened.

1997 - The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors for one year for choking and threatening to kill his coach, P.J. Carlesimo.

2000 - O.J. Simpson was involved in an incident with another motorist in Miami, FL. Simpson was accused of scratching the other motorists face while pulling off the man's glasses.

2001 - O.J. Simpson's home in Florida was raided by the FBI in an ongoing two year international investigation into drug trafficking, satellite service pilfering and money laundering. Some satellite equipment was taken from Simpson's home and no drugs were found.

December 5, 2014

1492 - Christopher Columbus discovered Hispaniola (now Haiti).

1560 - Charles IX succeeded as King of France on the death of Francis II.

1766 - James Christie, founder of the famous auctioneers, held his first sale in London.

1776 - In Williamsburg, VA, at the College of William and Mary the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized.

1782 - The first native U.S. president, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook, NY.

1797 - Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in Paris to command forces for the invasion of England.

1812 - Napoleon Bonaparte left his army as they were retreating from Russia.

1839 - General George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, OH.

1848 - U.S. President Polk triggered the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming the fact that gold had been discovered in California.

1876 - The Stillson wrench was patented by D.C. Stillson. The device was the first practical pipe wrench.

1901 - Movie producer Walt Disney was born in Chicago. He created his first Mickey Mouse cartoon at the age of 27.

1904 - The Russian fleet was destroyed by the Japanese at Port Arthur, during the Russo-Japanese War.

1908 - At the University of Pittsburgh, numerals were first used on football uniforms worn by college football players.

1913 - Britain outlawed the sending of arms to Ireland.

1932 - German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa making it possible for him to travel to the U.S.

1933 - Prohibition came to an end when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

1934 - Fighting broke out between Italian and Ethiopian troops on the Somalian border.

1934 - The Soviet Union executed 66 people charged with plotting against Joseph Stalin's government.

1935 - In Montebello, CA, the first commercial hydrophonics operation was established.

1936 - The Soviet Union adopted a new Constitution under a Supreme Council.

1944 - During World War II, Allied troops took Ravenna, Italy.

1945 - The so-called "Lost Squadron" disappeared. The five U.S. Navy Avenger bombers carrying 14 Navy flyers began a training mission at the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station. They were never heard from again.

1951 - The first push button-controlled garage opened in Washington, DC.

1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO.

1956 - British and French forces began a withdrawal from Egypt during the Suez War.

1958 - Britain's first motorway, the Preston by-pass, was opened by Prime Minister Macmillan.

1961 - United Nations forces launched an attack in Katanga, the Congo, near Elizabethville.

1962 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to cooperate in the peaceful uses of outer space.

1971 - The Soviet Union, at United Nations Security Council, vetoed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in hostilities between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

1976 - Jacques Chirac re-founded the Gaullist party as the RPR (Rassemblement pour la République).

1977 - Egypt broke diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen due to peaceful relations with Israel.

1978 - The American space probe Pioneer Venus I, orbiting Venus, began beaming back its first information and picture of the planet.

1979 - Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church due to her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

1983 - In west Beirut, Lebanon, more than a dozen people were killed when a car bomb shattered a nine-story apartment building.

1983 - The video arcade game "NFL Football" was unveiled in Chicago. It was the first video arcade game to be licensed by the National Football League.

1984 - Iran's official news agency quoted the hijackers of a Kuwaiti jetliner parked at Tehran airport as saying they would blow up the plane unless Kuwait released 14 imprisoned extremists.

1985 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 1,500 for the first time.

1986 - The Soviet Union said it would continue to abide by the SALT II treaty limits on nuclear weapons. This was despite the decision by the U.S. to exceed them.

1988 - Jim Bakker and former aide Richard Dortch were indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina on fraud and conspiracy charges.

1989 - Israeli soldiers killed five heavily armed Arab guerrillas who crossed the border from Egypt. The guerrillas were allegedly going to launch a terrorist attack commemorating the anniversary of the Palestinian uprising.

1989 - East Germany's former leaders were placed under house arrest.

1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin kept the power to appoint Cabinet ministers, defeating a constitutional amendment that would have put his team of reformers under the control of Russia's Congress.

1998 - James P. Hoffa became the head of the Teamsters union, 23 years after his father was the head. His father disappeared and was presumed dead.

2001 - In Germany, Afghan leaders signed a pact to create a temporary administration for post-Taliban Afghanistan. Two women were included in the cabinet structure. Hamid Karzai and his Cabinet were planned to take over power in Afghanistan on December 22.

December 6, 2014

1492 - Columbus discovered Hispaniola (now Haiti) and the Dominican Republic.

1774 - Austria became the first nation to introduce a state education system.

1790 - The U.S. Congress moved from New York to Philadelphia.

1865 - The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment abolished slavery in the U.S.

1876 - The city of Anaheim was incorporated for a second time.

1877 - Thomas Edison demonstrated the first gramophone, with a recording of himself reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb.

1883 - "Ladies' Home Journal" was published for the first time.

1884 - The construction of the Washington Monument was completed by Army engineers. The project took 34 years.

1889 - Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans. He was the first and only president of the Confederate States of America.

1907 - In Monongah, WV, 361 people were killed in America's worst mine disaster.

1917 - More than 1,600 people died when two munitions ships collided in the harbor at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1917 - Finland proclaimed independence from Russia.

1921 - The Catholic Irish Free State was created as a self-governing dominion of Britain when an Anglo-Irish treaty was signed.

1923 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge became the first president to give a presidential address that was broadcast on radio.

1926 - In Italy, Benito Mussolini introduced a tax on bachelors.

1947 - Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by U.S. President Truman.

1957 - AFL-CIO members voted to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Teamsters were readmitted in 1987.

1957 - America's first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed when the satellite blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, FL.

1960 - Gene Autry and Bob Reynolds were granted the Los Angeles Angels baseball franchise by the American League.

1973 - Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the vice-president of the United States after vice-president Spiro Agnew resigned.

1982 - 11 soldiers and 6 civilians were killed when a bomb exploded in a pub in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland. The Irish National Liberation Army was responsible for planting the bomb.

1983 - In Jerusalem, a bomb planted on a bus exploded killing six Israelis and wounding 44.

1985 - Congressional negotiators reached an agreement on a deficit-cutting proposal that later became the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law.

1989 - The worst mass shooting in Canadian history occurred when a man gunned down 14 women at the University of Montreal's school of engineering. The man then killed himself.

1989 - Egon Krenz resigned as leader of East Germany.

1990 - Iraq announced that it would release all its 2,000 foreign hostages.

1990 - U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle was enshrined in the Little League Museum's Hall of Excellence.

1992 - Germany's primary political parties agreed to tighten postwar asylum laws.

1992 - In India, thousands of Hindu extremists destroyed a mosque. The following two months of Hindu-Muslim rioting resulted in at least 2,000 people being killed.

1993 - Former priest James R. Porter was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison. Porter had admitted molesting 28 children in the 1960s.

1994 - Orange County, CA, filed for bankruptcy protection due to investment losses of about $2 billion. The county is one of the richest in the U.S. and became to largest municipality to file for bankruptcy.

1997 - A Russian Antonov 124 military transport crashed into a residential area in Irkutsk, Russia, shortly after takeoff. 70 people were killed.

1998 - In Venezuela, former Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez was elected president. He had staged a bloody coup attempt against the government six years earlier.

1998 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour connected the first two building blocks of the international space station in the shuttle cargo bay.

2002 - Winona Ryder was sentenced to 36 months of probation and 480 hours of community service stemming from her conviction for shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue. She was also ordered to pay $10,000 in fines and restitution.

2002 - Officials released the detailed plans for a $4.7 million memorial commemorating Princess Diana. The large oval fountain was planned to be constructed in London's Hyde Park.

December 7, 2014

1431 - In Paris, Henry VI of England was crowned King of France.

1732 - The original Covent Garden Theatre Royal (now the Royal Opera House) was opened.

1787 - Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. constitution becoming the first of the United States.

1796 - John Adams was elected to be the second president of the United States.

1836 - Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States.

1889 - The first of 554 performances of "The Gondoliers" took place.

1907 - At London's National Sporting Club, Eugene Corri became the first referee to officiate from inside a boxing ring.

1925 - Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 150-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 25 and 2/5 seconds. He went on to play "Tarzan" in several movies.

1926 - The gas operated refrigerator was patented by The Electrolux Servel Corporation.

1941 - Pearl Harbor, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese warplanes. The attack resulted in the U.S. entering into World War II.

1946 - A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta killed 119 people. It was America's worst hotel fire disaster. The hotel founder, W. Frank Winecoff, was also killed in the fire.

1971 - Libya announced the nationalization of British Petroleum's assets.

1972 - Apollo 17 was launched at Cape Canaveral. It was the last U.S. moon mission.

1972 - Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant. The man was then shot and killed by her bodyguards.

1974 - President Makarios returned to Cyprus after five months in exile.

1980 - General Antonio Ramlho Eanes was reelected president of Portugal. His right-wing opposition was thrown into disarray by the death of Premier Francisco Sa Carneiro in a plane crash.

1982 - Charlie Brooks Junior, a convicted murderer, became the first prisoner in the U.S. to be executed by injection, at a prison in Huntsville, TX.

1983 - Madrid, Spain, an Aviaco DC-9 collided on a runway with an Iberia Air Lines Boeing 727 that was accelerating for takeoff. The collision resulted in the death of all 42 people aboard the DC-9 and 51 on the Iberia jet.

1987 - Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev set foot on American soil for the first time. He had come to the U.S. for a Washington summit with U.S. President Reagan.

1987 - 43 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on a fellow passenger and the two pilots aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner.

1988 - An estimated 25,000 people were killed when a major earthquake hit northern Armenia in the Soviet Union. The quake measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale.

1988 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev announced the reduction of the number of Soviet military troops by half a million.

1989 - East Germany's Communist Party agreed to cooperate with the plan for free elections and a revised constitution.

1992 - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Mississippi abortion law which, required women to get counseling and then wait 24 hours before terminating their pregnancies.

1993 - Six people were killed and 17 were injured when a gunman opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train.

1993 - Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary revealed that the U.S. government had conducted more than 200 nuclear weapons tests in secret at its Nevada test site.

1993 - Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders suggested that the U.S. government study the impact of drug legalization.

1995 - A probe sent from the Galileo spacecraft entered into Jupiter's atmosphere. The probe sent back data to the mothership before it was presumably destroyed.

1996 - The space shuttle Columbia returned from the longest-ever shuttle flight of 17 days, 15 hours and 54 minutes.

1998 - The U.N. evacuated 14 peacekeepers that were trapped by fighting between army and rebel forces in central Angola.

1998 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of President Clinton over 1996 campaign financing.

1999 - A U.S. federal grand jury indicted a former convict in the 1995 disappearance of atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

2002 - In Amsterdam, Netherlands, two Van Gogh paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum. The two works were "View of the Sea st Scheveningen" and "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen." On July 26, 2004, two men were convicted for the crime and were sentenced to at least four years in prison each.

2002 - In Mymensingh, Bangladesh, four movies theaters were bombed within 30 minutes of each other. At least 15 people were killed and over 200 were injured.

2003 - A 12-inch by 26-inch painting of a river landscape and sailing vessel by Martin Johnson Heade was sold at auction for $1 million. The painting was found in the attic of a suburban Boston home where it had been stored for more than 60 years.

December 8, 2014

1765 - Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, MA. Whitney invented the cotton gin and developed the concept of mass-production of interchangeable parts.

1776 - George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The theory holds that Mary, mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment she was conceived.

1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South.

1863 - Tom King of England defeated American John Heenan and became the first world heavyweight champion.

1886 - At a convention of union leaders in Columbus, OH, the American Federation of Labor was founded.

1941 - The United States entered World War II when it declared war against Japan. The act came one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain and Canada also declared war on Japan.

1949 - The Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa due to Communists pressure.

1952 - On the show "I Love Lucy," a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time.

1953 - Los Angeles became the third largest city in the United States.

1962 - Workers of the International Typographical Union began striking and closed nine New York City newspapers. The strike lasted 114 days and ended April 1, 1963.

1980 - Zimbabwe’s manpower minister, Edgar Tekere, was found guilty in the killing of a white farmer. He was freed under a law that protected ministers acting to suppress terrorism.

1982 - Norman D. Mayer demanding an end to nuclear weapons held the Washington Monument hostage. He threatened to blow it up with explosives he claimed were inside a van. 10 hours later he was shot to death by police.

1984 - In Roanoke, Virginia, a jury found Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt innocent of libeling Reverend Jerry Falwell with a parody advertisement. However Falwell was awarded $200,000 for emotional distress.

1987 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty agreeing to destroy their nations' arsenals of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1987 - The "intefadeh" (Arabic for uprising) by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began.

1989 - Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia offered to surrender their control over the government and accept a minority role in a coalition Cabinet.

1991 - Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government to be dead. They forged a new alliance to be known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. The act was denounced by Russian President Gorbachev as unconstitutional.

1992 - Americans got to see live television coverage of U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. (Due to the time difference, it was December 9 in Somalia.)

1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1994 - Bosnian Serbs released dozens of hostage peacekeepers, but continued to detain about 300 others.

1994 - In Los Angeles, 12 alternate jurors were chosen for the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

1997 - The second largest bank was created with the announcement that Union Bank Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation would merge. The combined assets were more than $590 billion.

1997 - Jenny Shipley was sworn in as the first female prime minister of New Zealand.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police could not search a person or their cars after ticketing for a routine traffic violation.

1998 - The FBI opened its files on Frank Sinatra to the public. The file contained over 1,300 pages.

1998 - Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis Udobi's first of eight babies was born. The other seven were delivered 12 days later.

1998 - AT&T Corp. announced that it was buying IBM's data networking business for $5 billion cash.

1998 - The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history was played. Finland beat Sweden 6-0.

1999 - In Memphis, TN, a jury found that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been the victim of a vast murder conspiracy, not a lone assassin.

1999 - Russia and Belarus agreed in principle to form an economic and political confederation.

December 9, 2014

1594 - Gustavus II of Sweden was born.

1608 - English poet John Milton was born in London.

1625 - The Treaty of the Hague was signed by England and the Netherlands. The agreement was to subsidize Christian IV of Denmark in his campaign in Germany.

1783 - The first executions at Newgate Prison took place.

1793 - "The American Minerva" was published for the first time. It was the first daily newspaper in New York City and was founded by Noah Webster.

1803 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. With the amendment Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President.

1848 - American author and creator of "Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit," Joel Chandler Harris was born.

1854 - Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England.

1879 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Ore Milling Company.

1884 - Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the ball-bearing roller skate.

1892 - In London, "Widowers' Houses," George Bernard Shaw's first play, opened at the Royalty Theater.

1907 - Christmas Seals went on sale for the first time, in the Wilmington, DE, post office.

1926 - The United States Golf Association legalized the use of steel-shafted golf clubs.

1914 - The Edison Phonograph Works was destroyed by fire.

1917 - Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by Viscount Allenby.

1940 - During World War II, British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa.

1940 - The Longines Watch Company signed for the first FM radio advertising contract with experimental station W2XOR in New York City.

1941 - China declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

1942 - The Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane" was first performed by the Kirov Ballet.

1955 - Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Carl Olson and regained his world middleweight boxing title.

1958 - In Indianapolis, IN, Robert H.W. Welch Jr. and 11 other men met to form the anti-Communist John Birch Society.

1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation unveiled a new computer, known as "Univac 1107."

1960 - The first episode of "Coronation Street" was screened on ITV.

1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia," by David Lean had its world premiere in London.

1965 - Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

1975 - U.S. President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default.

1978 - The first game of the Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL) was played between the Chicago Hustle and the Milwaukee Does.

1983 - NATO foreign ministers called on the Soviet Union to join in a "comprehensive political dialogue" to ease tensions in the world.

1984 - Iranian security men seized control of the plane ending a five-day hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner, which was parked at the Tehran airport.

1985 - In Argentina, five former military junta members received sentences in prison for their roles in the "dirty war" in which nearly 9,000 people had "disappeared."

1987 - West Bank Palestinians launched an intifada (uprising) against Israeli occupation.

1987 - In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli patrol attacked the Jabliya refugee camp.

1990 - Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election in the country's history.

1990 - Slobodan Milosovic was elected president in Serbia's first free elections in 50 years.

1990 - The first American hostages to be released by Iraq began arriving in the U.S.

1991 - European Community leaders agreed to begin using a single currency in 1999.

1992 - Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation.

1992 - Clair George, former CIA spy chief, was convicted of lying to the U.S. Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. U.S. President George H.W. Bush later pardoned George.

1992 - U.S. troops arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia, to oversee delivery of international food aid, in operation 'Restore Hope'.

1993 - The U.S. Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos that were marked for elimination under an arms control treaty.

1993 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope.

1993 - At Princeton University in New Jersey, scientists produced a controlled fusion reaction equivalent to 3 million watts.

1994 - Representatives of the Irish Republican Army and the British government opened peace talks in Northern Ireland.

1994 - U.S. President Clinton fired Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders after learning that she had told a conference that masturbation should be discussed in school as a part of human sexuality.

1996 - UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali approved a deal allowing Iraq to resume its exports of oil and easing the UN trade embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990.

1999 - The U.S. announced that it was expelling a Russian diplomat that had been caught gathering information with an eavesdropping device at the U.S. State Department.

2002 - United Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing $4 billion in the previos two years. It was the sixth largest bankruptcy filing.

2003 - In Australia, thieves broke into a home and stole two 300-year-old etchings by Rembrandt. The 4-by-4-inch etchings, a self-portait and a depiction of the artist's mother, were valued around $518,000.

December 10, 2014

1520 - Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict. The papacy demanded that he recant or face excommunication. Luther refused and was formally expelled from the church in January 1521.

1768 - The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in London by George III. Joshua Reynolds was its first president.

1817 - Mississippi was admitted to the Union as the 20th American state.

1830 - Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, MA. Only seven of her works were published while she was alive.

1845 - British civil engineer Robert Thompson patented the first pneumatic tires.

1851 - American librarian Melvil Dewey was born. He created the "Dewey Decimal Classification" system.

1869 - Women were granted the right to vote in the Wyoming Territory.

1898 - A treaty was signed in Paris that officially ended the Spanish-American War. Also, Cuba became independent of Spain.

1901 - The first Nobel prizes were awarded.

1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for helping mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.

1931 - Jane Addams became a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, she was the first American woman to do so.

1939 - The National Football League's attendance exeeded 1 million in a season for the first time.

1941 - Japan invaded the Philippines.

1941 - The Royal Naval battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft in the Battle of Malaya.

1948 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

1950 - Dr. Ralph J. Bunche was presented the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the first African-American to receive the award. Bunche was awarded the prize for his efforts in mediation between Israel and neighboring Arab states.

1953 - Hugh Hefner published the first "Playboy" magazine with an investment of $7,600.

1958 - The first domestic passenger jet flight took place in the U.S. when 111 passengers flew from New York to Miami on a National Airlines Boeing 707.

1962 - Frank Gifford (New York Giants) was on the cover of "Sports Illustrated."

1964 - In Oslo, Norway, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest person to receive the award.

1980 - South Carolina Representative John W. Jenretter resigned to avoid being expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives following his conviction on charges to the FBI's Abscam investigation.

1982 - The Law of the Sea Convention was signed by 118 countries in Montego Bay, Jamaica. 23 nations and the U.S. were excluded.

1983 - Raul Alfonsin was inaugurated as Argentina's first civilian president after nearly eight years of military rule.

1984 - South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.

1990 - The U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Norplant, a long-acting contraceptive implant.

1991 - The play Revival "The Crucible" opened.

1992 - Oregon Senator Bob Packwood apologized for what he called "unwelcome and offensive" actions toward women. However, he refused to resign.

1993 - The crew of the space shuttle Endeavor deployed the repaired Hubble Space Telescope into Earth's orbit.

1994 - Advertising executive Thomas Mosser of North Caldwell, NJ, was killed by a mail bomb that was blamed on the Unabomber.

1994 - Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize. They pledged to pursue their mission of healing the Middle East.

1995 - The first U.S. Marines arrived in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo to join NATO soldiers sent to enforce peace in the former Yugoslavia.

1996 - South Africa's President Mandela signed into law a new democratic constitution, completing the country's transition from white-minority rule to a non-racial democracy.

1998 - Six astronauts opened the doors to the new international space station 250 miles above the Earth's surface.

1998 - The Palestinian leadership scrapped constitutional clauses that rejected Israel's existence.

1999 - After three years under suspicion of being a spy for China, computer scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested. He was charged with removing secrets from the Los Alamos weapons lab. Lee later pled guilty to one count of downloading restricted data to tape and was freed. The other 58 counts were dropped.

2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld new restrictions on political advertising in the weeks before an election. The court did strike down two provisions of the new law that involved a ban on political contibutions from those too young to vote and a limitation on some party spending. (McConnell v. FEC, 02-1674)

2003 - The U.S. barred firms based in certain countries, opponents of the Iraq war, from bidding on Iraqi reconstruction projects. The ban did not prevent companies from winning subcontracts.

2007 - Cristina Fernandez was sworn in as Argentina's first elected female president.

December 14, 2014

1503 - Physician, astrologer and clairvoyant Nostradamus was born at St. Remy, Provence, France.

1798 - David Wilkinson of Rhode Island patented the nut and bolt machine.

1799 - The first president of the United States, George Washington, died at the age 67.

1819 - Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd state.

1896 - Gen. James H. Doolittle, who led the first air raid on Japan during World War II, was born.

1900 - Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory.

1903 - Orville Wright made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged in the attempt. Three days later, after repairs were made, the modern aviation age was born when the plane stayed aloft for 12 seconds and flew 102 feet.

1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole. He reached the destination 35 days ahead of Captain Robert F. Scott.

1918 - For the first time in Britain women (over 30) voted in a General Election.

1939 - The Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations.

1945 - Josef Kramer, known as "the beast of Belsen," and 10 others were executed in Hamelin for the crimes they committed at the Belsen and Auschwitz Nazi concentration camps.

1946 - The U.N. General Assembly voted to establish the United Nation's headquarters in New York City.

1959 - Archbishop Makarios was elected Cyprus' first president.

1962 - The U.S. space probe Mariner II approached Venus. It transmitted information about the planet's atmosphere and surface temperature.

1975 - Six South Moluccan terrorists surrendered to police after holding 23 people hostage for 12 days on a train near the Dutch town of Beilen.

1981 - Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in war in 1967.

1983 - The U.S. battleship New Jersey fired on Syrian positions in Lebanon for the first time after American F-14 reconnaissance flights were fired on.

1984 - Howard Cosell retired from the NFL's Monday Night Football.

1985 - Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she formally took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of OKlahoma.

1986 - The experimental aircraft Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from California on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world. The trip took nine days to complete.

1987 - Chrysler pled no contest to federal charges of selling several thousand vehicles as new when Chrysler employees had driven the vehicles with the odometer disconnected.

1988 - CBS won the exclusive rights to major league baseball's 1990-94 seasons for $1.1 billion.

1988 - The first transatlantic underwater fiber-optic cable went into service.

1990 - After 30 years in exile, ANC president Oliver Tambo returned to South Africa.

1993 - A judge in Colorado struck down the state's voter-approved Amendment Two prohibiting gay rights laws, calling it unconstitutional.

1993 - The United Mine Workers approved a five-year contract that ended a strike that had reached seven states and involved some of the nation's biggest coal operators.

1995 - The presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia signed the Dayton Accords to end fighting in Bosnia.

1995 - AIDS patient Jeff Getty received the first-ever bone-marrow transplant from a baboon.

1997 - Iran's newest president, Mohammad Khatami, called for a dialogue with the people of the United States. The preceding Iranian leaders had reviled the U.S. as "The Great Satan."

1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the fifth player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 700 career goals.

1997 - Cuban President Fidel Castro declared Christmas 1997 an official holiday to ensure the success of Pope John Paul II's upcoming visit to Cuba.

1998 - Hundreds of Palestinian leaders renounced a call for the destruction of Israel.

1999 - U.S. and German negotiators agreed to establish a $5.2 billion fund for Nazi-era slave and forced laborers.

1999 - Charles M. Schulz announced he was retiring the "Peanuts" comic strip. The last original "Peanuts" comic strip was published on February 13, 2000.

2000 - It was announced that American businessman Edmond Pope would be released from a Russian prison for humanitarian reasons. Pope had been sentenced to 20 years in prison after his conviction on espionage charges.

2001 - European Union leaders agreed to dispatch 3,000-4,000 troops to join an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

2001 - The first commercial export, since 1963, of U.S. food to Cuba began. The 24,000 metric tons for corn were being sent to replenish what was lost when Hurricane Michelle struck on November 4.

2013 - The Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 3 became the first spacecraft to "soft"-land on the Moon since 1976. It was only the third robotic rover to land on the moon.

December 15, 2014

1654 - A meteorological office established in Tuscany began recording daily temperature readings.

1791 - In the U.S., the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, went into effect following ratification by the state of Virginia.

1815 - Jane Austen's "Emma" was published.

1840 - Napoleon Bonapart's remains were interred in Les Invalides in Paris, having been brought from St. Helena, where he died in exile.

1854 - In Philadelphia, the first street cleaning machine was put into use.

1877 - Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.

1890 - American Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, SD, during an incident with Indian police working for the U.S. government.

1925 - The third Madison Square Gardens opened.

1938 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.

1939 - "Gone With the Wind," produced by David O. Selznick based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, premiered at Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta. The movie starred Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into practice Bill of Rights Day.

1944 - A single-engine plane carrying U.S. Army Major Glenn Miller disappeared in thick fog over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

1944 - American forces invaded Mindoro Island in the Philippines.

1944 - Dr. R. Townley Paton and a small group of doctors laid the groundwork for the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration.

1961 - Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death in Jerusalem by an Israeli court. He had been tried on charges for organizing the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.

1961 - The U.N. General Assembly voted against a Soviet proposal to admit Communist China as a member.

1964 - Canada's House of Commons approved a newly designed flag thereby dropping the Canadian "Red Ensign" flag.

1965 - Two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, maneuvered within 10 feet of each other while in orbit around the Earth.

1966 - Walter Elias "Walt" Disney died in Los Angeles at the age of 65.

Disney movies, music and books

1970 - The Soviet probe Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land softly on the surface of Venus. The probe only survived the extreme heat and pressure for about 23 minutes and transmitted the first data received on Earth from the surface of another planet.

1973 - J. Paul Getty III was found in southern Italy after being held captive for five months, during which his right ear was cut off and sent to a newspaper in Rome.

1978 - U.S. President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.

1979 - The former shah of Iran, Muhammad Riza Pahlavi, left the United States for Panama. He had gone to the U.S. for medical treatment on October 22, 1979.

1979 - In a preliminary ruling, the International Court of Justice ordered Iran to release all hostages that had been taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.

1981 - The U.S. Congress passed $200 billion spending bill. At the time it was the largest in U.S. history.

1982 - Paul "Bear" Bryant announced his retirement as head football coach at the University of Alabama.

1982 - Gibraltar's frontier with Spain was opened to pedestrian use after 13 years.

1983 - The last 80 U.S. combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew. It was just over seven weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of the Caribbean island.

1989 - An uprising in Romania began as demonstrators gathered to prevent the arrest of the Reverend Laszlo Tokes, a dissident clergyman.

1992 - IBM announced it would eliminate 25-thousand employees in the coming year.

1992 - Bettino Craxi, the leader of Italy's Socialist Party, was informed that he was under investigation in a burgeoning corruption scandal in the northern city of Milan.

1992 - El Salvador's government and leftist guerrilla leaders formally declared the end of the country's 12-year civil war.

1993 - In Geneva, 117 countries completed the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The countries agreed on a reform package.

1993 - The prime ministers of Britain and the Republic of Ireland (John Major and Albert Reynolds respectively) made the "Downing Street Declaration," stating the basis for trying to achieve peace in Northern Ireland.

1995 - The U.N. Security Council authorized NATO to take over the peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.

1995 - French rail workers voted to end a three-week-old strike.

1996 - Boeing Co. announced plans to pay $13.3 billion to acquire rival aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas Corp.

1997 - The San Francisco 49ers retired Joe Montana's number 16 during halftime of a game against the Denver Broncos.

1999 - Syria reopened peace talks with Israel in Washington, DC, with the mediation of U.S. President Clinton.

2000 - The Chernobyl atomic power plant in Kiev, Ukraine, was shut down.

2000 - New York Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed to accept an $8 million book deal with Simon & Schuster. The book was to be about her eight years in the White House. The advance was the highest ever to be paid to a member of the U.S. Congress.

2001 - It was announced that Siena Heights University would begin offering a class called "Animated Philosophy and Religion." The two-credit class would cover how religion and philosophy are part of popular culture and is based on the television series "The Simpsons."

December 16, 2014

1653 - Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1773 - Nearly 350 chests of tea were dumped into Boston Harbor off of British ships by Colonial patriots. The patriots were disguised as Indians. The act was to protest taxation without representation and the monopoly the government granted to the East India Company.

1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.

1835 - In New York, 530 buildings were destroyed by fire.

1838 - The Zulu chief Dingaan was defeated by a small force of Boers at Blood River celebrated in South Africa as 'Dingaan's Day'.

1850 - The first immigrant ship, the Charlotte Jane, arrived at Lyttleton, New Zealand.

1901 - "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," by Beatrix Potter, was printed for the first time.

1903 - Women ushers were employed for the first time at the Majestic Theatre in New York City.

1905 - Sime Silverman published the first issue of "Variety".

1912 - The first postage stamp to depict an airplane was issued was a 20-cent parcel-post stamp.

1916 - Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.

1940 - French Premier Petain arrested Pierre Laval after learning of a plan for Laval to seize power and set up a new government with German support.

1944 - During World War II, the Battle of the Bulge began in Belgium. It was the final major German counteroffensive in the war.

1950 - U.S. President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism."

1951 - NBC-TV debuted "Dragnet" in a special preview on "Chesterfield Sound Off Time". The show began officially on January 3, 1952.

1960 - A United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City, killing 134 people.

1972 - The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season. The Dolphins went on to defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

1973 - O.J. Simpson broke Jim Brown’s single-season rushing record in the NFL. Brown had rushed for 1,863 yards, while Simpson attained 2,003 yards.

1981 - The U.S. Congress restored the $122 minimum monthly social security benefit for current recipients.

1984 - The play "Diamonds" opened in New York City.

1985 - Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.

1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a leftist priest, was elected president in Haiti's first democratic elections.

1991 - The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.

1993 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for negotiations on a comprehensive test ban.

1995 - Many U.S. government functions were again closed as a temporary finance provision expired and the budget dispute between President Clinton and Republicans in Congress continued.

1995 - NATO launched a military operation in support of the Bosnia peace agreement.

1996 - Britain's agriculture minister announced the slaughter of an additional 100,000 cows thought to be at risk of contracting BSE in an effort to persuade the EU to lift its ban on Britain.

1998 - The U.S. and Britain fired hundreds of missiles on Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors.

1998 - Eric Michelman filed the earliest patent for a scroll wheel for a computer mouse.

1999 - Sigourney Weaver received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - Torrential rains and mudslides in Venezuela left thousands of people dead and forced at least 120,000 to leave their homes.

2000 - Researchers announced that information from NASA's Galileo spacecraft indicated that Ganymede appeared to have a liquid saltwater ocean beneath a surface of solid ice. Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is the solar system's largest moon. The discovery is considered important since water is a key ingredient for life.

2000 - U.S. President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to be the first African-American secretary of state. Powell was sworn in January 20, 2001.

2001 - In Tora Bora, Afghanistan, tribal fighters announced that they had taken the last al-Quaida positions. More than 200 fighters were killed and 25 captured. They also announced that they had found no sign of Osama bin Laden.

2001 - Cuba received the first commercial food shipment from the United States in nearly 40 years. The shipment was sent to help Cuba after Hurrican Michelle hit Cuba on November 4, 2001.

2001 - A British newspaper, The Observer, reported that a notebook had been found at an al-Quaida training camp in southern Afghanistan. The notebook contained a "blue print" for an bomb attack on London's financial district.

2002 - Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The 1997 treaty was aimed a reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

2009 - Astronomers discovered GJ1214b. It was the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.

December 17, 2014

1777 - France recognized American independence.

1791 - A traffic regulation in New York City established the first street to go "One Way."

1830 - South American patriot Simon Bolivar died in Colombia.

1895 - George L. Brownell received a patent for his paper-twine machine.

1903 - The first successful gasoline-powered airplane flight took place near Kitty Hawk, NC. Orville and Wilbur Wright made the flight.

1925 - Col. William "Billy" Mitchell was convicted of insubordination at his court-martial.

1936 - The "The Rudy Vallee Show" debuted on NBC.

1939 - The German pocket battleship Graf Spee was scuttled by its crew, bringing the World War II Battle of the Rio de la Plata off Uruguay to an end.

1944 - The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast which ensured that Japanese-Americans were released from detention camps.

1953 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to approve RCA’s color television specifications.

1957 - The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

1959 - The film "On the Beach" premiered in New York City and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world.

1969 - The U.S. Air Force closed its Project "Blue Book" by concluding that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.

1969 - Television history was made when Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki Budinger were married on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

1973 - Thirty-one people were killed at Rome airport when Arab guerillas hijacked a German airliner.

1975 - Lynette Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of U.S. President Ford.

1976 - WTCG-TV, Atlanta, GA, changed its call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite. The station became the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S.

1978 - OPEC decided to raise oil prices by 14.5% by the end of 1979.

1979 - Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, was fatally beaten after a police chase in Miami, FL. Four white police officers were later acquitted of charges stemming from McDuffie's death.

1986 - Wayne "Danke Schoen" Newton won a $19.2 million suit against NBC News. NBC had aired reports claiming a link between Newton and mob figures. The reports were proven to be false.

1986 - Davina Thompson became the world's first recipient of a heart, lungs, and liver transplant.

1986 - Eugene Hasefus was pardoned and then released by Nicaragua. He had been convicted of running guns to the Contras.

1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1992 - Israel deported over 400 Palestinians to Lebanese territory in an unprecedented mass expulsion of suspected militants.

1996 - Peruvian guerrillas took hundreds of people hostage at the Japanese embassy in Lima. The siege ended on April 22, 1997, with a commando raid that resulted in the deaths of all the rebels, two commandos and one hostage.

1996 - The Red Cross pulled all but a few of its western staff out of Chechnya after six foreign aid workers were killed by masked gunmen.

1997 - U.S. President Clinton signed the No Electronic Theft Act. The act removed protection from individuals who claimed that they took no direct financial gains from stealing copyrighted works and downloading them from the Internet.

1998 - U.S. House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston admitted he'd had extramarital affairs.

2000 - Terrell Owens (San Francisco 49ers) caught an NFL-record 20 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears. The previous record was held by Tom Fears (Los Angeles Rams) with 18 catches on December 3, 1950, against the Green Bay Packers. Owens also broke Jerry Rice's franchise record of 16 receptions set in 1994 against the Los Angeles Rams.

2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the Pentagon to have ready for use within two years a system for protecting American territory, troops and allies from ballistic missile attacks.

2002 - McDonald's Corp. warned that they would report its first quarterly loss in its 47-year history.

2002 - The insurance and finance company Conseco Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection. It was the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

2002 - Congo's government, opposition parties and rebels signed a peace agreement that ended four years of civil war.

2004 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years. The bill aimed to tighten borders and aviation security. It also created a federal counterterrorism center and a new intelligence director.

December 18, 2014

1787 - New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1796 - The "Monitor," of Baltimore, MD, was published as the first Sunday newspaper.

1862 - The first orthopedic hospital was organized in New York City. It was called the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled.

1865 - U.S. Secretary of State William Seward issued a statement verifying the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment abolished slavery with the declaration: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

1898 - A new automobile speed record was set at 39 mph (63 kph).

1903 - The Panama Canal Zone was acquired 'in perpetuity' by the U.S. for an annual rent.

1912 - The discovery of the Piltdown Man in East Sussex was announced. It was proved to be a hoax in 1953.

1915 - U.S. President Wilson, widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt at her Washington home.

1916 - During World War I, after 10 months of fighting the French defeated the Germans in the Battle of Verdun.

1917 - The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Senate and then officially proposed the states.

1935 - A $1 silver certificate was issued for the first time in the U.S.

1936 - Su-Lin, the first giant panda to come to the U.S. from China, arrived in San Francisco, CA. The bear was sold to the Brookfield Zoo for $8,750.

1940 - Adolf Hitler signed a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation "Barbarossa" was launched in June 1941.

1944 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the wartime relocation of Japanese-Americans, but also stated that undeniably loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry could not be detained.

1950 - NATO foreign ministers approved plans to defend Western Europe, including the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary.

1953 - WPTZ, in Philadelphia, PA, presented a Felso commercial, it was the first color telecast seen on a local station.

1956 - "To Tell the Truth" debuted on CBS-TV.

1956 - Japan was admitted to the United Nations.

1957 - The Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania went online. It was the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States. It was taken out of service in 1982.

1963 - Ron Clarke set a world record when he ran six miles in 28 minutes and 15.6 seconds.

1965 - Kenneth LeBel jumped 17 barrels on ice skates.

1969 - Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.

1970 - Divorce became legal in Italy.

1972 - The United States began the heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The attack ended 12 days later.

1973 - The IRA launched its Christmas bombing campaign in London.

1979 - The sound barrier was broken on land for the first time by Stanley Barrett when he drove at 739.6 mph.

1983 - Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) scored his 100th point in the 34th game of the season.

1984 - Christopher Guest and Jamie Lee Curtis were married.

1987 - Ivan F. Boesky was sentenced to three years in prison for plotting Wall Street's biggest insider-trading scandal. He only served about two years of the sentence.

1996 - Despite a U.N. truce, factional fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, broke out in which at least 300 fighters and civilians were killed.

1998 - The U.S. House of Representatives began the debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning U.S. President Bill Clinton. It was only the second time in U.S. history that process had begun.

1998 - Russia recalled its U.S. ambassador in protest of the U.S. attacks on Iraq.

1998 - South Carolina proceeded with the U.S.' 500th execution since capital punishment was restored.

1999 - After living atop an ancient redwood in Humboldt County, CA, for two years, environmental activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill came down, ending her anti-logging protest.

2001 - Mark Oliver Gebel, a Ringling Bros. Circus star, went on trial for animal abuse. The charges stemmed from an incident with an elephant that was marching too slowly into a circus performance on August 25, 2001. He was acquitted on December 21, 2001.

2001 - A fire damaged New York City's St. John Cathedral. The cathedral is the largest in the United States.

2001 - In Seattle, WA, Gary Leon Ridgeway pled innocent to the charge of murder for four of the Green River serial killings. He had been arrested on November 30, 2001.

2002 - Nine competing designs for the World Trade Center site were unveiled. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. expected to choose a design by January 31, 2003.

2003 - Adam Rich was arrested for driving onto a closed section of Interstate 10 and nearly struck a California Highway Patrol car.

2009 - General Motors announced that it would shut down its Saab brand.

2009 - A Paris court ruled that Google was breaking French law with its policy of digitizing books and fined the company a $14,300-a-day fine until it rids its search engine of the literary extracts.

2009 - James Cameron's movie "Avatar" was released in the United States. On January 26, the movie became the highest-grossing film worldwide.

December 19, 2014

1154 - Henry II became King of England.

1562 - The Battle of Dreux was fought between the Huguenots and the Catholics, beginning the French Wars of Religion.

1732 - Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."

1776 - Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay.

1777 - General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, PA, to camp for the winter.

1842 - Hawaii's independence was recognized by the U.S.

1843 - Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was first published in England.

1871 - Corrugated paper was patented by Albert L. Jones.

1887 - Jake Kilrain and Jim Smith fought in a bare knuckles fight which lasted 106 rounds and 2 hours and 30 minutes. The fight was ruled a draw and was halted due to darkness.

1903 - The Williamsburg Bridge opened in New York City. It opened as the largest suspension bridge on Earth and remained the largest until 1924. It was also the first major suspension bridge to use steel towers to support the main cable.

1907 - A coalmine explosion in Jacobs Creek, PA, killed 239 workers.

1917 - The first games of the new National Hockey League (NHL) were played. Five teams made up the league: Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers.

1918 - Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column in "The New York Globe".

1932 - The British Broadcasting Corp. began transmitting overseas with its "Empire Service" to Australia.

1957 - Meredith Wilson’s "The music Man" opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. It ran for 1,375 shows.

1957 - Air service between London and Moscow was inaugurated.

1959 - Penn State’s Nittany Lions beat Alabama, 7-0, in the first Liberty Bowl football game.

1959 - Walter Williams died in Houston, TX, at the age of 117. He was said to be the last surviving veteran of the U.S. Civil War.

1961 - "Judgment At Nuremberg" opened in New York City.

1972 - Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.

1973 - Johnny Carson started a fake toilet-paper scare on the "Tonight Show."

1978 - Indira Gandhi was expelled from the Lok Sabha for contempt and imprisoned.

1979 - ESPN televised its first NHL game. The teams were the Washington Capitals and the Hartford Whales.

1984 - Wayne Gretsky, 23, of the Edmonton Oilers, became only the 18th player in the National Hockey League (NHL) to score more than 1,000 points.

1984 - Ted Hughes was appointed England's poet laureate.

1984 - Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

1985 - Jan Stenerud announced his retirement from the NFL. The football kicker held the record for the most career field goals with 373.

1985 - ABC Sports announced that it was severing ties with Howard Cosell and released ‘The Mouth’ from all TV commitments. Cosell continued on ABC Radio for another five years.

1986 - The Soviet Union announced it had freed dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile, and pardoned his wife, Yelena Bonner.

1986 - Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh was appointed to investigate the Iran-Contra issue.

1989 - U.S. troops invaded Panama to overthrow the regime of General Noriega.

1990 - Bo Jackson (Los Angeles Raiders) became the first athlete to be chosen for All Star Games in two sports.

1996 - The school board of Oakland, CA, voted to recognize Black English, also known as "ebonics." The board later reversed its stance.

1997 - "Titanic" opened in American movie theaters.

1998 - U.S. President Bill Clinton was impeached on two charges of perjury and obstruction of justice by the U.S. House of Representatives.

1998 - A four-day bombing of Iraq by British and American forces ended.

2000 - The U.N. Security Council voted to impose sanctions on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unless they closed all terrorist training camps and surrender U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.

2003 - Images for the new design for the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site were released. The building slopes into a spire that reaches 1,776 feet.

2008 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed a $17.4 billion rescue package of loans for ailing auto makers General Motors and Chrysler.

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Raistlin

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