TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, DEC. 14, the 348th day of 2018. There are 17 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 2012, a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then committed suicide; the 20-year-old had also fatally shot his mother at their home before carrying out the attack on the school.
In 1799, the first president of the United States, George Washington, died at his Mount Vernon, Va., home at age 67.
In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first men to reach the South Pole, beating a British expedition led by Robert F. Scott.
In 1962, the U.S. space probe Mariner 2 passed Venus, transmitting information about the planet.
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress was within its authority to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against racial discrimination by private businesses (in this case, a motel that refused to cater to blacks).
In 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan concluded their third and final moonwalk.
In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights, which it had seized from Syria in 1967.
In 1985, Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to lead a major American Indian tribe as she took office as principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
In 1986, the experimental aircraft Voyager took off from California on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world.
In 1988, President Reagan authorized the U.S. to enter into a “substantive dialogue” with the Palestine Liberation Organization after chairman Yasser Arafat said he was renouncing “all forms of terrorism.”
In 2005, President George W. Bush defended his decision to wage the Iraq war, even as he acknowledged that “much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.”
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Hal Williams is 84. Pop singer Joyce VincentWilson (Tony Orlando and Dawn) is 72. Actress Dee Wallace is 70. Rhythmand-blues singer Ronnie McNeir (The Four Tops) is 69. Rock singer-musician Mike Scott (The Waterboys) and singermusician Peter “Spider” Stacy (The Pogues) are 60. Actress Cynthia Gibb is 55. Actress-comedian Michaela Watkins is 47. Actress-comedian Miranda Hart is 46. Actress Tammy Blanchard is 42. Actress Sophie Monk is 39. Actress Vanessa Hudgens is 30. Rock/R&B singer Tori Kelly is 26.