History On this date:

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 22, the 357th day of 2020. There are nine days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 22, 2001, Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers. ( Reid is serving a life sentence in federal prison.)

In 1858, opera composer Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy.

In 1894, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court- martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti- Semitism. ( Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.)

In 1940, author Nathanael West, 37, and his wife, Eileen Mckenney, 27, were killed in a car crash in El Centro, Calif. while en route to the funeral of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who had died the day before. In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U. S. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. Mcauliffe rejected a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply.

In 1968, Julie Nixon married David Eisenhower in a private ceremony in New York.

In 1984, New York City resident Bernhard Goetz ( bur- NAHRD’ gehts) shot and wounded four youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him.

In 1989, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu ( chow- SHES’- koo), the last of Eastern Europe’s hard- line Communist rulers, was toppled from power in a popular uprising. Playwright Samuel Beckett died in Paris at age 83.

In 1991, the body of Marine Lt. Col. Williamr. Higgins, an American hostage slain by his terrorist captors, was recovered after it had been dumped along a highway in Lebanon.

In 1992, a Libyan Boeing 727jetliner crashed after a midair collision with a MIG fighter, killing all 157 aboard the jetliner, and both crew members of the fighter jet.

In 2003, a federal judge ruled the Pentagon couldn’t enforce mandatory anthrax vaccinations for military personnel. In 2008, five Muslim immigrants accused of scheming to massacre

U. S. soldiers at Fort Dix were convicted of conspiracy in Camden, N. J. ( Four were later sentenced to life in prison; one received a 33- year sentence.)

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama signed a law allowing gays for the first time in history to serve openly in America’s military, repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The Senate ratified the New START treaty with Russia capping nuclear warheads for both nations and restarting onsite weapons inspections. Auburn’s Camnewton was named AP Player of the Year. “The Lone Ranger” announcer Fred Foy died in Woburn ( WOO’- burn), Massachusetts, at age 89. Five years ago: Migration experts said more than a million people who had been driven out of their countries by war, poverty and persecution entered Europe in 2015. Stanford running back Christian Mccaffrey was named The Associated Press college football player of the year. One year ago: Baba Ram Dass, a 1960s counterculture spiritual leader who experimented with LSD and traveled to India to find enlightenment, died at the age of 88. Afghanistan’s election commission said a preliminary vote count showed that incumbent President Ashraf Ghani had won reelection with 50.64% of the vote. ( Both Ghani and rival Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory; they announced a power- sharing arrangement in May 2020 in which Ghani would remain president.)

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Hector Elizondo is 84. Country singer Red Steagall is 82. Former World Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz is 77. Baseball Hall of Famer Steve Carlton is 76. Former ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer is 75. Rock singer- musician Rick Nielsen ( Cheap Trick) is 72. Rock singer- musician Michael Bacon is 72. Baseball All- Star Steve Garvey is

72. Golfer Jan Stephenson is 69. Actor Bernnadette Stanis is 67. Rapper Luther “Luke” Campbell is 60. Actor Ralph Fiennes ( rayf fynz) is 58. Actor Lauralee Bell is 52. Country singer Lori Mckenna is 52. Actor Dinameyer is 52. Sen. Ted Cruz, R- Texas, is 50. Actor Heather Donahue is

47. Actor Chris Carmack is 40. Actor Harry Ford is

38. Actor Greg Finley is

36. Actor Logan Huffman is 31. Rhythm- and- blues singer Jordin Sparks is 31. Pop singer Meghan Trainor is 27.

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 23, the 358th day of 2020. There are eight days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 23, 1954, the first successful human kidney transplant took place at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston as a surgical team removed a kidney from 23- year- old Ronald Herrick and implanted it in Herrick’s twin brother, Richard.

On this date:

In 1783, George Washington resigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

In 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored the civil rights of about 1,500people who had been jailed for opposing the ( First) World War. In 1941, during Worldwar II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.

In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.

In 1962, Cuba began releasing prisoners from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion under an agreement in which Cuba received more than $ 50million worth of food and medical supplies. In 1968, 82crew members of the U. S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11months after they had been captured.

In 1972, a 6.2- magnitude earthquake struck Nicaragua; the disaster claimed some 5,000lives.

In 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan ( ruh- TAN’) and Jeana ( JEE’- nuh) Yeager, completed the first non- stop, non- refueled round- the- world flight as it returned safely to Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1997, a federal jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, declining to find him guilty ofmurder. ( Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)

In 2001, Time magazine named New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani its Person of the Year for his steadfast response to the 9⁄ 11 terrorist attack. In 2003, a jury in Chesapeake, Va., sentenced teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty.

Ten years ago: Mail bombs blamed on anarchists exploded at the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome, seriously wounding two people. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners ruled that former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was a resident of the city and therefore eligible to run for mayor.

Five years ago: Protesters blocked access to a terminal and caused significant holiday traffic delays around Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport after staging a Black Lives Matter rally that also briefly shut down part of the Mall of America; the demonstrations were organized to draw attention to the recent police shooting of a Black man in Minneapolis. Peggy Say, 74, who spent nearly seven years on a tireless quest for the release of her brother, AP journalist Terry Anderson, and fellow hostages from kidnappers in Lebanon, died in Cookeville, Tennessee. One year ago: Boeing ousted CEO Dennis Muilenburg as the company remained engulfed in the crisis stemming from the crash of two of its 737 Max airliners. A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death for the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi royal family; the five were among 11people who were put on trial over the killing.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Ronnie Schell is 89. Former Emperor Akihito of Japan is 87. Actor Frederic Forrest is 84. Rock musician Jorma Kaukonen ( YOR’- mah KOW’- kahnen) is 80. Rock musician Ron Bushy is 79. Actorcomedian Harry Shearer is

77. U. S. Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark ( ret.) is 76. Actor Susan Lucci is 74. Singermusician Adrian Belew is

71. Rock musician Dave Murray ( Iron Maiden) is

64. Actor Joan Severance is 62. Singer Terry Weeks is 57. Rock singer Eddie Vedder ( Pearl Jam) is 56. The former first lady of France, Carla Bruni- Sarkozy, is 53. Rock musician Jamie Murphy is 45. Jazz musician Irvin Mayfield is

43. Actor Estella Warren is 42. Actor Elvy Yost is 33. Actor Anna Maria Perez de Tagle ( TAG’lee) is 30. Actor Spencer Daniels is 28. Actor Caleb Foote is 27.