TODAY IN HISTORY

On Dec. 5, 1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

In 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna; he was 35.

In 1901, filmmaker Walt Disney was born in Chicago.

In 1932, German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States.

In 1933, national prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.

In 1978, the American space probe Pioneer Venus 1, orbiting Venus, began beaming back its first information and picture of the planet.

In 1988, a federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted PTL founder Jim Bakker and former aide Richard Dortch on fraud and conspiracy charges. (Bakker was convicted of all counts; Dortch pleaded guilty to four counts and cooperated with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence.)

In 1989, East Germany’s former leaders, including ousted Communist Party chief Erich Honecker, were placed under house arrest.

In 1991, Richard Speck, who murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, died in prison a day short of his 50th birthday.

In 1992, Russian President

Boris Yeltsin narrowly kept the power to appoint Cabinet ministers, defeating a constitutional amendment that would have put his team of reformers under the control of Russia’s Congress.

In 1999, Cuban President Fidel Castro demanded that the United States return 5-yearold Elian Gonzalez, who was rescued at sea, to his father in Cuba within 72 hours.

In 2001, Afghan leaders signed a pact in Germany to create an interim government.

In 2013, Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid icon jailed for 27 years and South Africa’s first black president, died; he was 95.