ONTHISDATE
In1865, JamesH. Nason ofFranklin, Massachusetts, received apatent for“an improvedcoffee percolator.”
In1908, JackJohnson becamethe firstAfricanAmerican boxer towin theworld heavyweight championship as he defeated CanadianTommy Burns in Sydney, Australia. In1944, during the WorldWar II Battle of the Bulge, theembattledU.S. 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium, was relievedby units of the 4thArmored Division. Tennessee Williams’play “The GlassMenagerie”was first performedat the Civic Theatre in Chicago.
In1966, Kwanzaawasfirst celebrated.
In1972, the33rdpresident of the UnitedStates, Harry S. Truman, died inKansas City, Missouri, at age 88.
In1975, theSovietUnion inaugurated theworld’s first supersonic transport service with a flight of its Tupolev-144 airliner from MoscowtoAlma-Ata.
In1980, Iranian television footagewas broadcast in the UnitedStates, showing adozen of theAmerican hostages sendingmessages to their families.
In1985, FordMotorCo.
began selling itsTaurus and Sable sedans and station wagons.
In1990, Nancy Cruzan, the youngwomanin an irreversible vegetative state whosecase led to aU.S. SupremeCourtdecision on the right to die, died at a Missouri hospital.
In2000, Michael McDermott, an employee at an InternetfirminWakefield, Massachusetts, shot and killed seven co-workers. (McDermottwas later convictedoffirst-degree murderand sentenced to life in prison withoutparole.) Veteran stage and screen actorJasonRobards died in Bridgeport, Connecticut, at age 78.
In2004, more than 230,000 people, mostly in southern Asia, were killedby a 100-foot-high tsunami triggeredby a 9.1-magnitude earthquake beneath the IndianOcean.
In2006, formerPresident GeraldR. Forddied inRancho Mirage, California, at age 93.
Oneyearago: Mourners gathered to markthe 10th anniversaryof the Indian Ocean tsunami. Russia identifiedNATOas the nation’sNo. 1military threat undera newmilitarydoctrine signedbyPresident Vladimir Putin.JamesB. Edwards, South Carolina’sfirst Republicangovernorsince Reconstructionandlater energysecretaryfor twoyears in theReaganadministration, diedatage87.