TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1996

6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1799

Former President George Washington was eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

1893

Chinese leader Mao Zedong was born in Hunan province.

1917

During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation authorizing the government to take over operation of the nation’s railroads.

1944

During the World War II Battle of the Bulge, the embattled U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium, was relieved by units of the 4th Armored Division. Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” was first performed at the Civic Theatre in Chicago.

1947

Heavy snow blanketed the Northeast, burying New York City under 26.4inches of snow in 16 hours; the severe weather was blamed for some 80 deaths.

1980

Iranian television footage was broadcast in the United States, showing a dozen of the American hostages sending messages to their families.

1994

French commandos stormed a hijacked Air France jetliner on the ground in Marseille, killing four Algerian hijackers and freeing 170 hostages.

2000

Michael McDermott, an employee at an Internet firm in Wakefield, Massachusetts, shot and killed seven coworkers. Veteran stage and screen actor Jason Robards died in Bridgeport, Connecticut, at age 78.