HISTORY AT A GLANCE
TODAY is Monday, December 4, the 338th day of 2017. There are 27 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1945 – By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations. (The UN had been established on October 24, 1945.) 1956 – The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time. 1967 – Vietnam War: U.S. and South Vietnamese forces
engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta. 1971 – The United Nations Security Council calls an emergency session to consider the deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan. 1971 – The Indian Navy attacks the Pakistan Navy and
Karachi. 1971 – “The Troubles”: The Ulster Volunteer Force bombs a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, killing 15 civilians and wounding 17. It was the city’s highest death toll from a single incident during the conflict. 1977 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire. 1977 – Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and
crashes in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing 100. 1980 – English rock group Led Zeppelin officially disbands, following the death of drummer John Bonham on September 25. 1982 – The People’s Republic of China adopts its current
constitution. 1984 – Hezbollah militants hijack a Kuwait Airlines plane,
killing four passengers. 1991 – Journalist Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut. He is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon. 1991 – Captain Mark Pyle pilots Clipper Goodwill, a Pan American World Airways Boeing 727-221ADV, to Miami International Airport, ending 64 years of Pan Am operations. 1992 – Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders
28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa. 1993 – A truce is concluded between the government of
Angola and UNITA rebels. 2005 – Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the government to allow universal and equal suffrage.