TODAY INHISTORY
Today isTuesday, Dec. 8.
TODAY'SHIGHLIGHT
OnDec. 8, 1941, the United States enteredWorldWar II as Congressdeclaredwar against ImperialJapan, a day after the attackonPearl Harbor.
ONTHISDATE
In 1863, President AbrahamLincoln issued his ProclamationofAmnesty andReconstruction forthe South.
In1886, theAmerican FederationofLaborwas foundedinColumbus, Ohio. In 1949, the Chinese Nationalist government movedfromthe Chinese mainland toFormosa as the Communists pressed their attacks.
In 1972, a UnitedAirlines Boeing 737 crashedwhile attempting toland at Chicago-MidwayAirport, killing43ofthe 61 peopleon board, aswell as twopeople onthe ground; amongthe deadwereDorothyHunt, wife ofWatergate conspirator E. HowardHunt, U.S. Rep. GeorgeW. Collins, D-Ill., and CBSNews correspondent Michele Clark.
In1980, rock starandformer BeatleJohn Lennonwas shot todeath outside hisNewYork Cityapartment buildingbyan apparently derangedfan. In1987, PresidentRonald ReaganandSoviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treatyat theWhiteHouse calling fordestructionof intermediate-range nuclear missiles.
In 1991, AIDSpatient KimberlyBergalis, whohad contractedthe disease fromherdentist, died in Fort Pierce, Fla., at age 23.
In1998, struggling tostave offimpeachment, President Bill Clinton’sdefenders forcefully pleadedhis case before theHouseJudiciary Committee.TheSupreme Court ruled that police cannot searchpeopleand their cars aftermerely ticketingthemfor routine trafficviolations.
In2012, Pakistan’spresident visiteda British hospital where a 15-year-old schoolgirl, MalalaYousafzai, was being treatedafterbeing shot inthe headbyaTaliban gunmaninOctober.
In 2013, hundredsof thousandsof protesters pouredintothe streetsof the Ukrainian capitalofKyiv, toppling the statueof former Soviet leaderVladimirLenin andblocking keygovernment buildings inanescalating stand-offwith the president onthe futureofthe country. In2014, theU.S. and NATOceremoniallyended theircombat mission in Afghanistan, 13 years after theSept. 11 terror attacks sparkedtheir invasionofthe country totopple theTalibanled government.
Tenyears ago: President BarackObamarejected claims that hehadbetrayed Democratsby cutting a deal withRepublicans onBush-era taxcutsand imploredhisparty toback the compromise, arguing it could jump-start the economy. Fiveyearsago: China declareditsfirst ever red smogalert as poisonous air quality forcedthe government toclose schools, ordermotoristsoffthe road andshutdownfactories in andaroundBeijing. Oneyearago: Puppeteer Caroll Spinney, whovoiced andoperatedMuppets Big BirdandOscarthe Grouchon “SesameStreet”fornearly50 years, died at hisConnecticut homeat theageof 85.