On this day, Dec. 4
1783 Gen. George Washington bade farewell to his Continental Army officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.
1942 During World War II, U.S. bombers struck the Italian mainland for the first time with a raid on Naples. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration, which had been created to provide jobs during the Depression.
1965 The United States launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Cmdr. James A. Lovell aboard on a two-week mission. (While Gemini 7 was in orbit, its sister ship, Gemini 6A, was launched on Dec. 15 on a one-day mission; the two spacecraft were able to rendezvous within a foot of each other.) 1978 San Francisco got its first female mayor as City Supervisor Dianne Feinstein was named to replace the assassinated George Moscone.
1986 Both houses of Congress moved to establish special committees to conduct their own investigations of the Iran-Contra affair.
1992 President George H.W. Bush ordered American troops to lead a mercy mission to Somalia, threatening military action against warlords and gangs who were blocking food for starving millions. 1995 The first NATO troops landed in the Balkans to begin setting up a peace mission that brought American soldiers into the middle of the Bosnian conflict.
2000 In a pair of legal setbacks for Al Gore, a Florida state judge refused to overturn George W. Bush’s certified victory in Florida and the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a ruling that had allowed manual recounts.
2016 A North Carolina man armed with a rifle fired several shots inside Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C., pizzeria, as he attempted to investigate an online conspiracy theory that prominent Democrats were harboring child sex slaves at the restaurant; no one was hurt, and the man surrendered to police. (He was later sentenced to four years in prison.)
Today’s Birthdays: Game show host Wink Martindale, 89. Pop singer Freddy Cannon, 86. Actor-producer Max Baer Jr., 85. Actor Gemma Jones, 80. Rock singer Southside Johnny Lyon, 74. Actor Jeff Bridges, 73. Rock musician Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd; the Rossington Collins Band), 71. Actor Patricia Wettig, 71. Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, 67. Country musician Brian Prout (Diamond Rio), 67. Rock musician Bob Griffin (formerly with The BoDeans), 63. Rock singer Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge), 60. Actor Marisa Tomei, 58. Actor Chelsea Noble, 58. Actor-comedian Fred Armisen, 56. Rapper Jay-Z, 53. Actor Kevin Sussman, 52. Actor-model Tyra Banks, 49. Country singer Lila McCann, 41. Actor Lindsay Felton, 38. Actor Orlando Brown, 35. Former Pirates pitcher Joe Musgrove, 30.