This day in history

Today is Friday, Dec. 8, the 342nd day of 2023. There are 23 days left in the year.

Birthdays: Flutist James Galway is 84. Singer Jerry Butler is

84. Pop musician Bobby Elliott (The Hollies) is 82.Actor Mary Woronov is 80. Actor John Rubinstein is 77. Actor Kim Basinger is 70. Political commentator Ann Coulter is 62. Rock musician Marty Friedman is 61. Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Mussina is 55. Rock musician Ryan Newell (Sister Hazel) is 51.Actor Dominic Monaghan is

47. Actor Ian Somerhalder is 45. Rock singer Ingrid Michaelson is 44. R&B singer Chrisette Michele is 41. Country singer Sam Hunt is 39. Christian rock musician Jen Ledger (Skillet) is 34. NHL defenseman Drew Doughty is 34. Actor AnnaSophia Robb is 30.

► In 1765, Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, was born in Westborough, Massachusetts.

► In 1886, the American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio.

► In 1941, the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Imperial Japan a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

► In 1949, the Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa as the Communists pressed their attacks.

► In 1980, rock star and former Beatle John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman.

► In 1987, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty at the White House calling for destruction of intermediaterange nuclear missiles.

► In 1991, AIDS patient Kimberly Bergalis, who had contracted the disease from her dentist, died in Fort Pierce, Florida, at age 23.

► In 2001, the US Capitol was reopened to tourists after a twomonth security shutdown.

► In 2008, in a startling about-face, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal he would confess to masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks; four other men also abandoned their defenses.

► In 2011, the 161-day NBA lockout ended when owners and players ratified the new collective bargaining agreement.

► In 2014, the US and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.

► In 2016, John Glenn, whose 1962 flight as the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the US Senate, died in Columbus, Ohio, at age 95.

ºIn 2020, the Supreme Court rejected Republicans’ lastgasp bid to reverse Pennsylvania’s certification of Presidentelect Joe Biden’s victory in the electoral battleground; the court refused to call into question the certification process in the state.

ºIn 2012, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy.

ºIn 2017, Japanese pitching and hitting star Shohei Ohtani announced that he would sign with the Los Angeles Angels.

ºLast year, Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner in a high-profile prisoner exchange with the US, which released Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.