TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, DEC. 31, the 365th and final day of 2017.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light by illuminating some 40 bulbs at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J.
In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, the British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery was killed.
In 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife, Lucy, celebrated their silver anniversary a day after the actual date by repeating their wedding vows during a reception in the White House.
In 1904, New York’s Times Square saw its first New Year’s Eve celebration, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance.
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
In 1969, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was shot to death with his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Pa., home by hit men acting at the orders of UMWA president Tony Boyle.
In 1985, singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year’s Eve performance in Dallas.
In 1986, 97 people were killed when fire broke out in the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Three hotel workers later pleaded guilty in connection with the blaze.
In 1987, Robert Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s first executive president.
In 1997, Michael Kennedy, the 39-yearold son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: TV producer George Schlatter is 88. Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins is 80. Actor Tim Considine (TV: “My Three Sons”) is 77. Rock musician Andy Summers is 75. Actor Sir Ben Kingsley is 74. Producerdirector Taylor Hackford is 73. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg is
71. Actor Joe Dallesandro is 69. Rock musician Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith) is
66. Actor James Remar is 64. Actress Bebe Neuwirth is 59. Actor Val Kilmer and singer Paul Westerberg are 58. Rock musician Scott Ian (Anthrax) is 54. Actress Gong Li and author Nicholas Sparks are 52. Actor Lance Reddick is 48. Rock musician Bob Bryar is 38. Actor/singer Erich Bergen is 32. DJ/vocalist Drew Taggart (The Chainsmokers) is 28. Olympic gold medal gymnast Gabby Douglas is 22.