Today’s highlight in history
In 1904, New York’s Times Square saw its first New Year’s Eve celebration, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance.
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, New Jersey.
In 1972, Major League baseball star Roberto Clemente, 38, was killed when a plane he chartered and was traveling on to bring relief supplies to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua crashed shortly after takeoff from Puerto Rico.
In 1974, private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.
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 1991, representatives of the government of El Salvador and rebels reached agreement at the United Nations on a peace accord to end 12 years of civil war.
In 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation. (He was succeeded by Vladimir Putin.)
In 1997, Michael Kennedy, the 39year-old son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado.
Ten years ago: A lone gunman dressed in black killed five people in Espoo, Finland, four of them at a crowded shopping mall, before returning home and taking his own life.
Five years ago: A stampede at Shanghai’s glitzy riverfront during New Year celebrations resulted in 36 deaths.
One year ago: House Democrats unveiled a package of bills that would re-open the federal government without approved funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico; Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News Channel that he was “ready, willing and able” to negotiate an end to the partial shutdown that had stretched into its 10th day.