Today in history

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

composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany.

the World War II Battle of the Bulge began as German forces launched a surprise counterattack against Allied forces in Belgium.

President Harry Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight “Communist imperialism.”

Cardinal Francis Spellman, of New York, personally denounced the yet-to-be released movie “Baby Doll,” saying Roman Catholics would be committing a sin if they saw it.

134 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York.

Harland Sanders, founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, died in Shelbyville, Ky.; he was 90.

reputed organizedcrime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York restaurant.

Ronald Pelton, a former National Security Agency employee convicted of selling defense secrets to the Soviet Union, was sentenced by a judge in Baltimore to life in prison.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected president of Haiti in the country’s first democratic elections.

the U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.

President Bill Clinton and congressional Republicans traded accusations as their budget impasse led to a second shutdown of the federal government.

Israel and Syria ended two days of inconclusive peace talks in Washington and agreed to resume early in the new year.