Today In History

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 11, the 345th day of 2018. There are 20 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1972: Apollo 17’s lunar module landed on the moon with astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt aboard; they became the last two men to date to step onto the lunar surface.

ON THIS DATE

› 1792: France’s King Louis XVI went before the Convention to face charges of treason. (Louis was convicted, and executed the following month.)

› 1816: Indiana became the 19th state.

› 1910: French inventor Georges Claude publicly displayed his first neon lamp, consisting of two 38-foot-long tubes, at the Paris Expo.

› 1941: Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind.

› 1961: A U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon — the first direct American military support for South Vietnam’s battle against Communist guerrillas.

› 1980: President Jimmy Carter signed legislation creating a $1.6 billion environmental “superfund” to pay for cleaning up chemical spills and toxic waste dumps. “Magnum P.I.,” starring Tom Selleck, premiered on CBS.

› 1997: More than 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth’s greenhouse gases.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor Jean-Louis Trintignant is 88. Actress Rita Moreno is 87. Pop singer David Gates (Bread) is

78. Actress Donna Mills is 78. Singer Brenda Lee is 74. Actress Lynda Day George is 74. Music producer Tony Brown is 72. Actress Teri Garr is 74. Movie director Susan Seidelman is 67. Actress Bess Armstrong is 65. Singer Jermaine Jackson is 64. Rock musician Mike Mesaros (The Smithereens) is 61. Rock musician Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue) is 60. Rock musician Darryl Jones (The Rolling Stones) is 57. Actor Ben Browder is 56. Singer-musician Justin Currie (Del Amitri) is 54. Rock musician David Schools (Hard Working Americans, Gov’t Mule, Widespread Panic) is 54. Actress-comedian Mo’Nique is 51. Actor Max Martini is 49. Rapper-actor Mos Def is

45. Actor Rider Strong is

39. Actress Xosha Roquemore is 34. Actress Karla Souza is 32. Actress Hailee Steinfeld is 22.