TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, DEC. 28, the 362nd day of 2015. There are three days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.
In 1612, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei observed the planet Neptune, but mistook it for a star. (Neptune wasn’t officially discovered until 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle.)
In 1832, John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down because of differences with President Andrew Jackson.
In 1846, Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.
In 1856, the 28th president of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, was born in Staunton, Virginia.
In 1895, the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, held the first public showing of their movies in Paris.
In 1937, composer Maurice Ravel died in Paris at age 62.
In 1944, the musical “On the Town,” with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, opened on Broadway.
In 1945, Author Theodore Dreiser, 74, died in Hollywood.
In 1961, the Tennessee Williams play “Night of the Iguana” opened on Broadway. Former first lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington at age 89.
In 1975, the “Hail Mary pass” entered the football lexicon as Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach tossed the ball to Drew Pearson for an improbable 50-yard touchdown with 24 seconds left to help the Cowboys come back to edge the Minnesota Vikings 17-14.
In 1989, Alexander Dubcek, the former Czechoslovak Communist leader who was deposed in a Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, was named president of the country’s parliament.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Comic book creator Stan Lee is 93. Former United Auto Workers union president Owen Bieber is 86. Actress Nichelle Nichols is 83. Actress Dame Maggie Smith is 81. Rock singer-musician Charles Neville is 77. Former Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D. and rock singer-musician Edgar Winter are 69. Funk musician Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste (The Meters) is 67. Actor Denzel Washington is 61. Country singer Joe Diffie and country musician Mike McGuire (Shenandoah) are 57. Actor Chad McQueen is 55. Country singer-musician Marty Roe (Diamond Rio) is 55. Actor Malcolm Gets is 51. Actor Mauricio Mendoza is 46. Actress Elaine Hendrix is 45. Comedian Seth Meyers is 42. Actors Brendan Hines and Joe Manganiello are 39. Actress Vanessa Ferlito is 38. Rhythmand-blues singer John Legend is 37. Actor Andre Holland is 36. Actress Sienna Miller is 34. Pop singer Kasey Sheridan (Dream) is 29. Actor Thomas Dekker is 28. Actress Mackenzie Rosman is 26. Pop singer David Archuleta is 25. Actor Miles Brown (TV: “black-ish”) is 11.