World War II Dec 9, 1940: Brits launch offensive against Italians in North Africa

On this day, two British divisions, half of them composed of Indian troops, attack seven Italian divisions in Egypt. Overwhelmed, the Italian position in Egypt collapsed. Italy had declared war on Great Britain in June. At that time, Italian General Rodolfo Graziani had almost 10 times the number of men in Libya than the British forces in Egypt under General Archibald Wavell, which were commissioned to protect the North African approaches to the Suez Canal. A vast western desert stretched between the antagonists, who sat for months without confrontation. In the meantime, Italian forces had passed into Egypt—but Britain had also reinforced its own numbers. British cryptographers were also able to break the Italian military code, enabling British commanders to anticipate Italian troop movements, size, and points of vulnerability. British command decided to make a first strike. On December 7, armored car patrols surreptitiously set out to determine gaps in the minefield the Italians had laid. On December 9, Major General Richard Nugent O'Connor from Mersa Matruh in Egypt launched a westward offensive. Thirty thousand Brits warred against 80,000 Italians—but the British brought with them 275 tanks against the Italians' 120. As O'Connor cut through a gap in the chain of forts the Italians had established, the British 7th Armored Division swept along the western coast to cut off any hope of an Italian retreat. Within three days, 40,000 Italian prisoners were taken. The end of the Italian occupation of North Africa had begun.(History.com 2014)(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/brits-launch-offensive-against-italians-in-north-africa)

World War I Dec 9, 1917: Jerusalem surrenders to British troops

On the morning of this day in 1917, after Turkish troops move out of the region after only a single day s fighting, officials of the Holy City of Jerusalem offer the keys to the city to encroaching British troops. The British, led by General Edmund Allenby, who had arrived from the Western Front the previous June to take over the command in Egypt, entered the Holy City two days later under strict instructions from London on how not to appear disrespectful to the city, its people, or its traditions. Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot—in deliberate contrast to Kaiser Wilhelm s more flamboyant entrance on horseback in 1898—and no Allied flags were flown over the city, while Muslim troops from India were dispatched to guard the religious landmark the Dome of the Rock. In a proclamation declaring martial law that was read aloud to the city s people in English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and Greek, Allenby assured them that the occupying power would not inflict further harm on Jerusalem, its inhabitants, or its holy places. "Since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people, I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayerwill be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred." Church bells in Rome and London rang to celebrate the peaceful British arrival in Jerusalem. Allenby s success, after so much discouragement on the Western Front, elated and inspired Allied supporters everywhere.(history.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jerusalem-surrenders-to-british-troops)

Vietnam War Dec 9, 1971: Paris peace talks break down

For the first time since the Paris peace talks began in May 1968, both sides refuse to set another meeting date for continuation of the negotiations. The refusal to continue came during the 138th session of the peace talks. U.S. delegate William Porter angered the communist negotiators by asking for a postponement of the next scheduled session of the conference until December 30, to give Hanoi and the Viet Cong an opportunity to develop a "more constructive approach" at the talks. The U.S. side was displeased with the North Vietnamese, who repeatedly demanded that South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resign as a prerequisite for any meaningful discussions. Although both sides returned to the official talks in January 1972, the real negotiations were being conducted between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the lead North Vietnamese negotiator, in a private villa outside Paris. These secret talks did not result in a peace agreement until January 1973, after the massive 1972 North Vietnamese Easter Offensive had been blunted and Nixon had ordered the "Christmas bombing" of Hanoi and Haiphong to convince North Vietnam to rejoin the peace negotiations.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paris-peace-talks-break-down)

Vietnam War Dec 9, 1965: Newspaper reports on bombing over North Vietnam

An article in the New York Times asserts that the U.S. bombing campaign has neither destabilized North Vietnam's economy nor appreciably reduced the flow of its forces into South Vietnam. These observations were strikingly similar to an earlier Defense Intelligence Agency analysis, which concluded that "the idea that destroying, or threatening to destroy, North Vietnam's industry would pressure Hanoi into calling it quits seems, in retrospect, a colossal misjudgement." The first air strikes against North Vietnam were flown in the fall of 1964, in retaliation for two attacks on American warships in the Gulf of Tonkin (although the second reported attack has never been verified). Additional strikes, carried out under the name Operation Flaming Dart, were ordered in February 1965 in response to Viet Cong attacks on a U.S. Army barracks at Pleiku and a nearby helicopter base, which resulted in the deaths of nine Americans. When the Viet Cong attacked other U.S. facilities in South Vietnam, President Johnson initiated Operation Rolling Thunder in March 1965, an intensified air campaign against North Vietnam. He hoped that this campaign would relieve some of the pressure on South Vietnam, where the situation was rapidly deteriorating. Unfortunately, the bombing campaign did not have the desired results and Johnson had to commit U.S. ground troops to stabilize the situation.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/newspaper-reports-on-bombing-over-north-vietnam)

Dec 9, 1965: Reds trade Frank Robinson to Orioles

On this day in 1965, the Cincinnati Reds trade outfielder Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles, in exchange for the pitchers Milt Pappas and Jack Baldschun and the outfielder Dick Simpson. The trade is widely regarded as one of the worst in major league baseball history. In 1956, Robinson made his professional debut with the Reds, and was voted the National League Rookie of the Year. Of nine solid years with the team, his best was 1961, when Cincinnati won the National League pennant and Robinson won his first Most Valuable Player award. The Reds lost that World Series to the New York Yankees. After the 1965 season ended, General Manager Bill Dewitt made the decision to trade Robinson to the Orioles for Baltimore’s ace pitcher, Pappas, as well as Baldschun and Simpson. Responding to the outrage of many fans, Dewitt famously claimed that Robinson was "an old 30." Controversy over the decision clouded Pappas’ arrival in Cincinnati, and he ended up pitching for the Reds for just two-and-a-half seasons, leaving with a 30-9 record. Baldschun and Simpson both left after only two seasons, Baldschun with a 1-5 record and Simpson with batting averages of .238 and .259. In contrast, Robinson dazzled during his first season in Baltimore, winning the Triple Crown--most home runs (49), most runs batted in (122), and best batting average (.316)--and leading the Orioles to their first World Series win, an upset victory over Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Capturing the American League and World Series MVP that year, Robinson became the first player to win MVP honors in both the National and American Leagues. Robinson remained with the Orioles until 1971, winning another World Series in 1970--over the Reds. During his time in Baltimore, he became an outspoken advocate for African-American civil rights. After short-lived stints with the Dodgers and the California Angels, he landed in Cleveland in 1974. During his last seasons as a player, Robinson also managed the Indians, becoming the first African-American to manage a major league baseball team. He retired in 1976 with 586 career home runs, the fourth-highest total at that time. Robinson became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Baltimore Oriole in 1982. Both the Reds and the Orioles retired his number, 20. He managed the Indians and the San Francisco Giants before returning to Baltimore in 1988 to manage his old Orioles. He left after three seasons and worked for the MLB organization until in 2002 he was offered the chance to manage the Montreal Expos (later the Washington Nationals). By the time he left the Nationals at the end of the 2006 season, Robinson had compiled a 1,065-1,176 overall record as a manager.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/reds-trade-frank-robinson-to-orioles)

Dec 9, 1967: Johnson discusses daughters

On this day in 1967, CBS broadcasts an interview with President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, in which they spoke candidly about their daughters. The same day, their daughter Lynda Johnson was married at the White House. In the interview, recorded on December 8, Johnson, who was commonly thought of as a bold, tough-talking swaggering Texan, revealed his softer side and his tender feelings toward his wife and two daughters, Lynda and Luci. Calling his "three girls" the "great pluses" in his life, Johnson admitted that the White House would feel emptier now that both daughters would be married and gone. When asked if he had a "favorite" daughter, Johnson replied that he had never known any parents who had a "favorite" and that he loved each child equally, though he recognized their differences. While Lynda was ambitious, studious and intelligent, Luci was creative, "very gay and not concerned with being Phi Beta Kappa or leading the class or making the honor society," he said. He compared Luci to his mother who was "one of my very special favorites...she was creative, literary and [appreciated] nature." Lynda, he said, was more like his wife: conservative, prudent and business-oriented. "After all," he quipped, "Mrs. Johnson is the only one in our family that has ever met a payroll, you know." When asked for his assessment of his future son-in-law, Charles "Chuck" Robb, Johnson expressed admiration for the young man's deft handling of a press conference the week before regarding his and Lynda's impending marriage and said that he liked him "very much." Johnson was also asked how he felt about the fact that Robb, a Marine captain, would be heading off to the war in Vietnam soon after the wedding. Johnson stated that he was grateful and appreciative that any young man was willing to give his life to serve his country, but did not elaborate. The reporter then changed the subject. On the morning of December 9, Johnson gave away his daughter in a private ceremony held in the White House East Room. Chuck Robb served with distinction in the Vietnam War and returned home safely in 1972. He went on to serve as governor of Virginia (1982-1986) and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1989. In 2004, he chaired the Iraq Intelligence Commission appointed by President George Bush to investigate intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq. Lynda Johnson Robb is a contributing editor for Ladies Home Journal and advocates for children's literacy programs.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/johnson-discusses-daughters)

Dec 9, 1835: The Texan Army captures San Antonio

Inspired by the spirited leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texan Army takes possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico. Milam was born in 1788 in Frankfort, Kentucky. He became a citizen and soldier of Mexico in 1824, when newly independent Mexico was still under a republican constitution. Like many Americans who immigrated to the Mexican state of Texas, Milam found that the government both welcomed and feared the growing numbers of Americans, and treated them with uneven fairness. When Milam heard in 1835 that Santa Ana had overthrown the Mexican republic and established himself as dictator, Milam renounced his Mexican citizenship and joined the rag-tag army of the newly proclaimed independent Republic of Texas. After helping the Texas Army capture the city of Goliad, Milam went on a reconnaissance mission to the southwest but returned to join the army for its planned attack on San Antonio-only to learn that the generals were postponing the attack on San Antonio for the winter. Aware that Santa Ana's forces were racing toward Texas to suppress the rebellion, Milam worried that any hesitation would spell the end of the revolution. Milam made an impassioned call for volunteers, asking: "Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" Inspired by Milam's bold challenge, three hundred men did volunteer, and the Texas Army began its attack on San Antonio at dawn on December 5. By December 9, the defending forces of the Mexican army were badly beaten, and the commanding general surrendered the city. Milam, however, was not there to witness the results of his leadership--he was killed instantly by a sniper bullet on December 7. If Milam had survived, he might well have been among the doomed defenders of the Alamo that were wiped out by Santa Ana's troops the following March.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-texan-army-captures-san-antonio)

Dec 9, 1972: "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy tops the U.S. pop charts

Nothing in her professional credentials suggested the Australian pop singer Helen Reddy as a feminist icon prior to 1972. She'd made her way to the United States from her native Australia on her own to pursue stardom, and she'd paid her dues working on the periphery of the music business for a number of years before making a breakthrough. Yet when that breakthrough came, it was in the form of a 1971 cover version of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar—hardly a song about women's liberation. But a feminist icon is exactly what Helen Reddy would become the very next year, when the anthem-to-be "I Am Woman" charged up the pop charts, reaching the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1972. With lyrics that could have been lifted straight from the pages of the recently launched Ms. magazine, "I Am Woman" took the message of personal empowerment being espoused by the second-wave feminists of the early 1970s and put it out where it could do some real consciousness-raising—on the same AM airwaves that had been sending out very different messages about gender relations for many years. For a generation of American women raised on songs like "Johnny Angel," "It's My Party" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "I Am Woman" represented something almost entirely new in mainstream pop: A song about female identity that made virtually no reference to men. Helen Reddy wrote the lyrics to "I Am Woman" out of frustration. "I was looking for songs that reflected the positive sense of self that I felt I'd gained from the women's movement," she told Billboard magazine, "[but] I couldn't find any." True to the message of the hit song she would eventually write, "I realized that the song I was looking for didn't exist, and I was going to have to write it myself." Released as a single in the spring of 1972, "I Am Woman" initially sputtered in its attempt to gain a foothold on the pop charts. It had fallen completely off the charts by late that summer, in fact, before re-entering the Hot 100 in September and beginning a steady climb upward thanks to Reddy's frequent appearances on television that fall and to the volume of call-in radio requests those appearances generated—mainly from women. Helen Reddy would have two further #1 hits in the 1970s with "Delta Dawn" and "Angie Baby," but "I Am Woman"—the only hit song that Reddy penned herself—remains her signature achievement. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/quoti-am-womanquot-by-helen-reddy-tops-the-us-pop-charts)

Dec 9, 1854: "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson is published

On this day, The Examiner prints Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade," which commemorates the courage of 600 British soldiers charging a heavily defended position during the Battle of Balaklava, in the Crimea, just six weeks earlier. Tennyson had been named poet laureate in 1850 by Queen Victoria. Tennyson was born into a chaotic and disrupted home. His father, the eldest son of a wealthy landowner, was disinherited in favor of his younger brother. Forced to enter the church to support himself, the Reverend Dr. George Tennyson became a bitter alcoholic. However, he educated his sons in the classics, and Alfred Tennyson, the fourth of 12 children, went to Trinity College at Cambridge in 1827. The same year, he and his brother Charles published Poems by Two Brothers. At Cambridge, Tennyson befriended a circle of intellectual undergraduates who strongly encouraged his poetry. Chief among them was Arthur Hallam, who became Tennyson's closest friend and who later proposed to Tennyson's sister. In 1830, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical. The following year, his father died, and he was forced to leave Cambridge for financial reasons. Besieged by critical attacks and struggling with poverty, Tennyson nevertheless remained dedicated to his work and published several more volumes. The sudden death of Tennyson's dear friend Arthur Hallam in 1833 inspired several important works throughout Tennyson's later life, including the masterful In Memoriam of 1842. Later that year, he published a volume called Poems, containing some of his best works. The book boosted Tennyson's reputation, and in 1850 Queen Victoria named him poet laureate. At long last, Tennyson achieved financial stability and finally married his fiancée, Emily Sellwood, whom he had loved since 1836. Tennyson's massive frame and booming voice, together with his taste for solitude, made him an imposing character. He craved solitude and bought an isolated home where he could write in peace. In 1859, he published the first four books of his epic Idylls of the King. Eight more volumes would follow. He continued writing and publishing poems until his death in 1892.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade-by-alfred-lord-tennyson-is-published)

Dec 9, 1983: Pacino stars in Scarface

The actor Al Pacino stars as a Cuban refugee who becomes a Miami crime boss in Scarface, which opens in theaters on this day in 1983. In Scarface, Pacino played Tony Montana, who arrives in Florida from Cuba in 1980 and eventually becomes wealthy from his involvement in the booming cocaine business. Things fall apart when Tony becomes addicted to the drug and his world collapses in violence. Directed by Brian De Palma from a screenplay by Oliver Stone, Scarface co-starred Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Robert Loggia. The film was loosely based on a 1932 gangster film of the same name, directed by Howard Hawks and reportedly inspired in part by the real-life mobster Al “Scarface” Capone. Though De Palma’s Scarface received mixed reviews upon its initial release and was criticized for its violence, it proved to be a success at the box-office and went on to achieve pop-culture status. Tony Montana is just one of many notable roles in the career of Pacino, who was born on April 25, 1940, in New York City. He first gained notice for his portrayal as a young drug addict in 1971’s The Panic in Needle Park, which was produced by Dominick Dunne and written by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. Pacino’s next film (just the third of his career) was the director Francis Ford Coppola’s now-iconic crime-family drama The Godfather (1972), co-starring Marlon Brando, James Caan, Diane Keaton and Robert Duvall. Pacino received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as the conflicted crime boss Michael Corleone, a role he would reprise in the acclaimed sequels The Godfather: Part II (1974) and The Godfather: Part III (1990). Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Pacino turned in a number of acclaimed performances, garnering three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, for Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and …And Justice for All (1979). In the ensuing decades, the prolific actor continued to rack up an impressive list of credits in such films as the 1989 hit Sea of Love, opposite Ellen Barkin; Dick Tracy (1990), for which he earned yet another Best Actor Oscar nomination; and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), for which he received a nod for Best Supporting Actor. He took home his first Best Actor Oscar for his performance as a blind, retired Army officer in Scent of a Woman (1992). Among Pacino’s other memorable films are the 1970s-era gangster drama Carlito’s Way (1993); the New York mafia drama Donnie Brasco (1997); the Oscar-nominated The Insider (1999), with Russell Crowe; and director Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday (1999), in which Pacino played a pro football coach. In 2008, Pacino teamed up with another Italian-American screen legend, Robert De Niro, to play New York City police detectives in Righteous Kill.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pacino-stars-in-scarface)

Dec 9, 1992: Separation of Charles and Diana announced

British Prime Minister John Major announces the formal separation of Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana. Major explained that the royal couple were separating "amicably." The report came after several years of speculation by the tabloid press that the marriage was in peril, citing evidence that Diana and Charles spent vacations apart and official visits in separate rooms. On July 29, 1981, nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries tuned in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher. Married in a grand ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral in the presence of 2,650 guests, the couple's romance was, for the moment, the envy of the world. Their first child, Prince William, was born in 1982, and their second, Prince Henry, in 1984. Before long, however, the fairy tale couple grew apart, an experience that was particularly painful under the watchful eyes of the world's tabloid media. Diana and Charles separated in 1992, though they continued to carry out their royal duties. In August 1996, two months after Queen Elizabeth II urged the couple to divorce, the prince and princess reached a final agreement. In exchange for a generous settlement, and the right to retain her apartments at Kensington Palace and her title of "Princess of Wales," Diana agreed to relinquish the title of "Her Royal Highness" and any future claims to the British throne. In the year following the divorce, the popular princess seemed well on her way to achieving her dream of becoming "a queen in people's hearts," but on August 31, 1997, she was killed with her companion Dodi Fayed in a car accident in Paris. An investigation conducted by the French police concluded that the driver, who also died in the crash, was heavily intoxicated and caused the accident while trying to escape the paparazzi photographers who consistently tailed Diana during any public outing. Prince Charles married the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles, on April 9, 2005.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/separation-of-charles-and-diana-announced)

Dec 9, 1990: Walesa elected president of Poland

In Poland, Lech Walesa, founder of the Solidarity trade union, wins a landslide election victory, becoming the first directly elected Polish leader. Walesa, born in 1943, was an electrician at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk when he was fired for union agitation in 1976. When protests broke out in the Gdansk shipyard over an increase in food prices in August 1980, Walesa climbed the shipyard fence and joined the thousands of workers inside. He was elected leader of the strike committee, and three days later the strikers' demands were met. Walesa then helped coordinate other strikes in Gdansk and demanded that the Polish government allow the free formation of trade unions and the right to strike. On August 30, the government conceded to the strikers' demands, legalizing trade unionism and granting greater freedom of religious and political expression. Millions of Polish workers and farmers came together to form unions, and Solidarity was formed as a national federation of unions, with Walesa as its chairman. Under Walesa's charismatic leadership, the organization grew in size and political influence, soon becoming a major threat to the authority of the Polish government. On December 13, 1981, martial law was declared in Poland, Solidarity was outlawed, and Walesa and other labor leaders were arrested. In November 1982, overwhelming public outcry forced Walesa's release, but Solidarity remained illegal. In 1983, Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Fearing involuntary exile, he declined to travel to Norway to accept the award. Walesa continued as leader of the now-underground Solidarity movement, and he was subjected to continual monitoring and harassment by the Communist authorities. In 1988, deteriorating economic conditions led to a new wave of labor strikes across Poland, and the government was forced to negotiate with Walesa. In April 1989, Solidarity was again legalized, and its members were allowed to enter a limited number of candidates in upcoming elections. By September, a Solidarity-led government coalition was in place, with Walesa's colleague Tadeusz Mazowiecki as premier. In 1990, Poland's first direct presidential election was held, and Walesa won by a landslide. President Walesa successfully implemented free-market reforms, but unfortunately he was a far more effective labor leader than president. In 1995, he was narrowly defeated in his reelection by former communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, head of the Democratic Left Alliance.( History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/walesa-elected-president-of-poland)

Dec 9, 1987: Intifada begins on Gaza Strip

In the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, the first riots of the Palestinian intifada, or "shaking off" in Arabic, begin one day after an Israeli truck crashed into a station wagon carrying Palestinian workers in the Jabalya refugee district of Gaza, killing four and wounding 10. Gaza Palestinians saw the incident as a deliberate act of retaliation against the killing of a Jew in Gaza several days before, and on December 9 they took to the streets in protest, burning tires and throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli police and troops. At Jabalya, an Israeli army patrol car fired on Palestinian attackers, killing a 17-year-old and wounding 16 others. The next day, crack Israeli paratroopers were sent into Gaza to quell the violence, and riots spread to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. December 9 marked the formal beginning of the intifada, but demonstrations, small-scale riots, and violence directed against Israelis had been steadily escalating for months. The year 1987 marked the 20-year anniversary of the Israeli conquest of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the formerly Egyptian- and Jordanian-controlled lands that the Palestinians called home. After the Six Day War of 1967, Israel set up military administrations in the occupied territories and permanently annexed East Jerusalem in the West Bank. With the support of the Israeli government, Israeli settlers moved into the occupied territories, seizing Arab land. By December 1987, 2,200 armed Jewish settlers occupied 40 percent of the Gaza Strip, while 650,000 impoverished Palestinians were crowded into the other 60 percent, making the Palestinian portion of the tiny Gaza Strip one of the most densely populated areas on earth. In December 1987, despair by the Palestinians over their plight exploded in the intifada. The grassroots uprising soon came under the control of Palestinian leaders who formed the Unified National Command of the Uprising, which had ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Although images of young refugee-camp Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli troops dominated television reports of the intifada, the movement was widespread across Palestinian society. Affluent Palestinians and women's groups joined militant groups in strikes, boycotts, and other sophisticated tactics in their effort to win Palestinian self-rule. In July 1988, Jordan's King Hussein renounced all administrative responsibility for the West Bank, thereby strengthening the Palestinian influence there. In November 1988, the PLO voted to proclaim the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Meanwhile, the intifada raged on, and by its first anniversary more than 300 Palestinians had been killed, more than 11,000 had been wounded, and many more were arrested. In the final weeks of 1988, PLO leader Yasser Arafat surprised the world by denouncing terrorism, recognizing the State of Israel's right to exist, and authorizing the beginning of "land-for-peace" negotiations with Israel. In 1992, Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin became Israeli prime minister and vowed to move quickly on the peace process. He froze new Israeli settlements in the occupied territory, and the intifada was called off after five years. In 1993, secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Oslo, Norway, resulted in the signing of the historic Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements in Washington, D.C., on September 13. The accord called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho and the establishment of a Palestinian government that would eventually be granted authority over much of the West Bank. Despite attempts by extremists on both sides to sabotage the peace process with violence, the Israelis completed their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Jericho in May 1994. In July, Arafat entered Jericho amid much Palestinian jubilation and set up his government--the Palestinian Authority. In 1994, Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts at reconciliation. In 1995, Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist at a peace rally in Tel Aviv, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process stalled under his successors: Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ehud Barak. In September 2000, the worst violence since the end of the intifada erupted between Israelis and Palestinians after rightist Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, a religious site in Jerusalem of great importance to both Jews and Muslims, the latter of whom control it. Seeking a strong leader to suppress the bloodshed, Israelis elected Sharon prime minister in February 2001. After suffering a stroke, he was replaced by his deputy, Ehud Olmert, in April 2006. A permanent cease-fire and return to the peace process remain elusive.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/intifada-begins-on-gaza-strip)

Dec 9, 1958: John Birch Society founded

In Indianapolis, retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., establishes the John Birch Society, a right-wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceives to be the extensive infiltration of communism into American society. Welch named the society in honor of John Birch, considered by many to be the first American casualty in the struggle against communism. In 1945, Birch, a Baptist missionary and U.S. Army intelligence specialist, was killed by Chinese communists in the northern province of Anhwei. The John Birch Society, initially founded with only 11 members, had by the early 1960s grown to a membership of nearly 100,000 Americans and received annual private contributions of several million dollars. The society revived the spirit of McCarthyism, claiming in unsubstantiated accusations that a vast communist conspiracy existed within the U.S. government. Among others, the organization implicated President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. However, after the debacle of Senator Joseph McCarthy's public hearings in the early 1950s, America became more wary of radical anti-communism, and few of the society's sensational charges were taken seriously by mainstream American society. The John Birch Society remains active today, and its members seek "to expose a semi-secret international cabal whose members sit in the highest places of influence and power worldwide."(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-birch-society-founded)

Dec 9, 2003: Cold spell leads to tragedy in Iran

Unseasonably low temperatures in Tehran, Iran, lead to the deaths of at least 40 people on this day in 2003. Rarely do such large groups die at the same time. In general, death from freezing occurs when the body's core temperature reaches 77 degrees Fahrenheit, a fact discovered by Nazi doctors during experiments on prisoners at the notorious Dachau concentration camp during World War II. In 1994, however, a two-year-old child in Canada survived a body temperature of just 57 degrees suffered when she wandered away from her Saskatchewan home. When core body temperature goes down to 97 degrees, neck and shoulder muscles tighten and extremities begin to ache. When it gets to 95 degrees, mild hypothermia sets in and involuntary trembling and shivering occurs as the body tries to generate its own heat. Two degrees lower and amnesia and short-term memory loss is common. When body temperature reaches 88, shivering is no longer possible and people experience general numbness. In some cases, a phenomenon known as "paradoxical undressing" occurs, in which a person about to freeze to death actually rips off their clothes. The effects of hypothermia can also be delayed--in one instance, Danish fishermen stuck in the North Sea for 90 minutes were able to walk on the deck of a rescue ship before falling down and dying. One notorious incident of hypothermia occurred at the Four Inns Walk in England in 1964. The race involved 240 racers (all in excellent condition) hiking 43 miles over the English moors. Although the temperature never fell below freezing, the wind and rain caused three people to freeze to death and put another four in critical condition. Researchers later determined that a key factor in the deaths was that the victims had failed to take in enough calories during the hike. The 2003 freeze in Tehran was unusual in that so many people died in a single night. The previous year in Moscow, between 5 and 10 people froze to death every day during the winter for a total of more than 300 in the city alone.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cold-spell-leads-to-tragedy-in-iran)

Dec 9, 1950: Harry Gold sent to prison for his role in atomic espionage

Harry Gold--who had confessed to serving as a courier between Klaus Fuchs, a British scientist who stole top-secret information on the atomic bomb, and Soviet agents--is sentenced to 30 years in jail for his crime. Gold's arrest and confession led to the arrest of David Greenglass, who then implicated his brother-in-law and sister, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Gold's arrest was part of a massive FBI investigation into Soviet espionage, particularly the theft of atomic secrets. Gold, a 39-year-old research chemist, made the acquaintance of British atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs during the latter's trips to the United States during World War II. Fuchs worked at the Los Alamos laboratory on the Manhattan Project, the top secret U.S. program to develop an atomic weapon. David Greenglass was also employed at Los Alamos. In February 1950, Fuchs was arrested in Great Britain and charged with passing atomic secrets on to the Soviets. He was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in a British prison. Fuchs then accused Gold of having been the go-between with Soviet agents. Gold was picked up a short time later and eventually confessed to his part. He explained that, at the time, he did not believe that he was helping an enemy, but was instead assisting a wartime ally of the United States. Further questioning of Gold led him to implicate David Greenglass. Greenglass then informed on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, claiming that both of them actively spied for the Soviet Union during World War II and after. The Rosenbergs were later convicted and executed for espionage. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/harry-gold-sent-to-prison-for-his-role-in-atomic-espionage)

Civil War Dec 9, 1861: Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War created

On this day in 1861, Congress creates the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War in an effort to monitor both military progress and President Abraham Lincoln's administration. The War Committee, as it was called, was established in the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia, in October 1861 and was designed to provide a check over the executive branch's management of the war. The committee was stacked with Radical Republicans and staunch abolitionists, however, and was often biased in its approach to investigations of the Union war effort. Among other things, the War Committee investigated fraud in government war contracts, the treatment of Union prisoners held in the South, alleged atrocities committed by Confederate troops against Union soldiers, and the massacre of Native Americans at Sand Creek, Colorado in November 1864. Most of the committee's energies were directed towards investigating Union defeats, particularly those of the Army of the Potomac. Many members were bitterly critical of generals like George McClellan and George Meade, Democrats who they believed were "soft" on slavery. The War Committee was often at odds with the Lincoln administration's handling of the war effort, and had particular problems with the administration's military decisions. At the beginning of the war, the committee was critical because the administration did not have the eradication of slavery as one of its goals. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, the committee still found fault with many of the administration's decisions. For instance, the group did not want any Democratic generals in the army. Members of the committee often leaked testimony to the press and contributed to the jealousy and distrust among Union generals. Although the committee did help to uncover fraud in war contracts, the lack of military expertise by its members often simply complicated the Northern war effort. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/joint-committee-on-the-conduct-of-the-war-created)

Dec 9, 1921: GM engineers discover that leaded gas reduces "knock" in auto engines

On this day, a young engineer at General Motors named Thomas Midgeley Jr. discovers that when he adds a compound called tetraethyl lead (TEL) to gasoline, he eliminates the unpleasant noises (known as "knock" or "pinging") that internal-combustion engines make when they run. Midgeley could scarcely have imagined the consequences of his discovery: For more than five decades, oil companies would saturate the gasoline they sold with lead--a deadly poison. In 1911, a scientist named Charles Kettering, Midgeley's boss at GM, invented an electric ignition system for internal-combustion cars that made their old-fashioned hand-cranked starters obsolete. Now, driving a gas-fueled auto was no trouble at all. Unfortunately, as more and more people bought GM cars, more and more people noticed a problem: When they heated up, their engines made an alarming racket, banging and clattering as though their metal parts were loose under the hood. The problem, Kettering and Midgeley eventually figured out, was that ordinary gasoline was much too explosive for spark-ignited car engines: that is, what we now call its octane (a measure of its resistance to detonation) was too low. To raise the fuel's octane level and make it less prone to detonation and knocking, Midgeley wrote later, he mixed it with almost anything he could think of, from "melted butter and camphor to ethyl acetate and aluminum chloride...[but] most of these had no more effect than spitting in the Great Lakes." He found a couple of additives that did work, however, and lead was just one of them. Iodine worked, but producing it was much too complicated. Ethyl alcohol also worked, and it was cheap--however, anyone with an ordinary still could make it, which meant that GM could not patent it or profit from it. Thus, from a corporate point of view, lead was the best anti-knock additive there was. In February 1923, a Dayton filling station sold the first tankful of leaded gasoline. A few GM engineers witnessed this big moment, but Midgeley did not, because he was in bed with severe lead poisoning. He recovered; however, in April 1924, lead poisoning killed two of his unluckier colleagues, and in October, five workers at a Standard Oil lead plant died too, after what one reporter called "wrenching fits of violent insanity." (Almost 40 of the plant's workers suffered severe neurological symptoms like hallucinations and seizures.) Still, for decades auto and oil companies denied that lead posed any health risks. Finally, in the 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency required that carmakers phase out lead-compatible engines in the cars they sold in the United States. Today, leaded gasoline is still in use in some parts of Eastern Europe, South America and the Middle East.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gm-engineers-discover-that-leaded-gas-reduces-knock-in-auto-engines)

American Revolution Dec 9, 1775: Patriots gain control of Virginia

The Virginia and North Carolina militias defeat 800 slaves and 200 redcoats serving John Murray, earl of Dunmore and governor of Virginia, at Great Bridge outside Norfolk, ending British royal control of Virginia. The Tory survivors retreated first to Norfolk then to Dunmore's ship, the Otter, where the majority died of smallpox. Governor Dunmore had removed to the Tory stronghold of Norfolk after Patriots drove him from the capitol, Williamsburg, in June 1775. On November 7, 1775, he offered emancipation to any slave of a Patriot master willing to join his forces. By November 30, Dunmore's ranks had swelled and he was convinced of his ability to regain control of the colony. George Washington feared Dunmore was correct and wrote to the Continental Congress from New England, warning them that they needed to see to it that Dunmore was instantly crushed. When Dunmore's forces won a resounding victory at Kemp's Landing, it looked like Dunmore's troops, dubbed the Ethiopian Regiment, would ensure continued British rule in Virginia, despite a backlash against him among slaveholders on both sides of the conflict who were angry over the precedent Dunmore's move might be setting. Dunmore was determined to defend Great Bridge, building a stockade, dismantling the main bridge and defending the smaller bridges with cannon. Having taken these precautions, Dunmore then squandered his efforts by underestimating the strength of the Patriot militias. His decision to offer emancipation had incited at least 150 men from across the Carolinas to march north to help drive Dunmore from the state. By contrast, the overconfident Dunmore sent only a few sailors and sixty townsmen from Norfolk to meet them. They got within 15 feet of the Patriots before being shot dead. Within thirty minutes, 150 Loyalists fell. There was only one Patriot fatality. Three hundred of the 800 Black Loyalists survived their enlistment in the Ethiopian Regiment only to confront smallpox on the Otter.(history.com 2014)(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/patriots-gain-control-of-virginia)

Dec 9, 1992: U.S Marines storm Mogadishu, Somalia

On this day in 1992, 1,800 United States Marines arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia, to spearhead a multinational force aimed at restoring order in the conflict-ridden country. Following centuries of colonial rule by countries including Portugal, Britain and Italy, Mogadishu became the capital of an independent Somalia in 1960. Less than 10 years later, a military group led by Major General Muhammad Siad Barre seized power and declared Somalia a socialist state. A drought in the mid-1970s combined with an unsuccessful rebellion by ethnic Somalis in a neighboring province of Ethiopia to deprive many of food and shelter. By 1981, close to 2 million of the country's inhabitants were homeless. Though a peace accord was signed with Ethiopia in 1988, fighting increased between rival clans within Somalia, and in January 1991 Barre was forced to flee the capital. Over the next 23 months, Somalia's civil war killed some 50,000 people; another 300,000 died of starvation as United Nations peacekeeping forces struggled in vain to restore order and provide relief amid the chaos of war. In early December 1992, outgoing U.S. President George H.W. Bush sent the contingent of Marines to Mogadishu as part of a mission dubbed Operation Restore Hope. Backed by the U.S. troops, international aid workers were soon able to restore food distribution and other humanitarian aid operations. Sporadic violence continued, including the murder of 24 U.N. soldiers from Pakistan in 1993. As a result, the U.N. authorized the arrest of General Mohammed Farah Aidid, leader of one of the rebel clans. On October 3, 1993, during an attempt to make the arrest, rebels shot down two of the U.S. Army's Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 American soldiers. As horrified TV viewers watched images of the bloodshed—-including footage of Aidid's supporters dragging the body of one dead soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, cheering—-President Bill Clinton immediately gave the order for all American soldiers to withdraw from Somalia by March 31, 1994. Other Western nations followed suit. When the last U.N. peacekeepers left in 1995, ending a mission that had cost more than $2 billion, Mogadishu still lacked a functioning government. A ceasefire accord signed in Kenya in 2002 failed to put a stop to the violence, and though a new parliament was convened in 2004, rival factions in various regions of Somalia continue to struggle for control of the troubled nation.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-marines-storm-mogadishu-somalia)

Dec 9, 1981: Policeman Daniel Faulkner found dead

Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner is found dead on the street with Mumia Abu-Jamal, a well-known activist and freelance journalist, lying severely wounded nearby. In 1982, Abu-Jamal was tried for and convicted of Faulkner's murder, but because of the murky circumstances surrounding the incident and a trial that many believe was unfair, activists have since protested Abu-Jamal's imprisonment. Reportedly, Abu-Jamal, a journalist who had been fired by National Public Radio for his outspokenness, was driving a cab at around 4 a.m., when he saw his brother engaged in an altercation with Faulkner on the street. Evidence used in the trial suggested that Abu-Jamal intervened with a gun and then exchanged shots with Faulkner. From the beginning, many felt Abu-Jamal's trial was unfair. Despite the fact that he was critically wounded, the trial began just six months after the shooting, on June 17, 1982. It lasted until July 3, but Abu-Jamal was so weak that he couldn't attend much of it. The prosecution used its peremptory challenges to limit the jury to two blacks, with 10 white members, and some observers felt that Judge Albert Sabo was biased against the defendant. Abu-Jamal asked to represent himself and was nominally allowed to do so, though he was forced to retain a court-appointed attorney as "back-up counsel" and was excluded from the voir dire because the court claimed his questions to the jurors were intimidating. When the trial ended, Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death for first-degree murder. Many believed that although there was a possibility that Abu-Jamal was involved in Faulkner's death, the sentence was overly harsh. While in prison, Abu-Jamal has written several books and made many radio appearances advocating an end to racism. He has also lobbied for a new trial. Pressure to release Abu-Jamal from his impending execution has become stronger over time, despite the fact that some people firmly maintain he is guilty. The New Jersey governor, several police organizations and Faulkner's widow protested a January 1999 "Free Mumia" benefit concert featuring Rage Against the Machine in New Jersey. (www.history.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/policeman-daniel-faulkner-found-dead?catId=4)

World War II Dec 8, 1941: The United States declares war on Japan

On this day, as America's Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan. Leaning heavily on the arm of his son James, a Marine captain, FDR walked haltingly into the House of Representatives at noon to request a declaration of war from the House and address the nation via radio. "Yesterday," the president proclaimed, "December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory." Roosevelt's 10-minute speech, ending with an oath-"So help us God"—was greeted in the House by thunderous applause and stamping of feet. Within one hour, the president had his declaration of war, with only one dissenting vote, from a pacifist in the House. FDR signed the declaration at 4:10 p.m., wearing a black armband to symbolize mourning for those lost at Pearl Harbor. On both coasts, civilian defense groups were mobilized. In New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia ordered the rounding up of Japanese nationals, who were transported to Ellis Island and held in custody indefinitely. In California, antiaircraft batteries were set up on Long Beach and the Hollywood Hills. Reports on supposed spy activity on the part of Japanese Americans began pouring into Washington, even as Japanese Americans paid for space in newspapers to declare unreservedly their loyalty to the United States. The groundwork was being laid for the tragic internment of Japanese Americans, thought a necessary caution at the time but regretted years later as a hysterical and bigoted response.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-united-states-declares-war-on-japan)

World War I Dec 8, 1914: The Battle of the Falkland Islands

A month after German naval forces led by Admiral Maximilian von Spee inflicted the Royal Navy's first defeat in a century by sinking two British cruisers with all hands off the southern coast of Chile, Spee's squadron attempts to raid the Falkland Islands, located in the southern Atlantic Ocean, only to be thwarted by the British navy. Under the command of Admiral Doveton Sturdee, the British seamen sought vengeance on behalf of their defeated fellows. Spee could have given the Falklands a wide berth, but he brought his fleet close to British squadrons anchored in Cape Pembroke in the Falkland Islands, confident he could outdistance the slow British Dreadnoughts, or big battleships, he saw in the port. Instead, the German light cruisers, damaged by the long voyage and heavy use, soon found themselves pursued by two swift battle cruisers, Inflexible and Invincible, designed by Britain's famous First Sea Lord, Jackie Fisher, to combine speed and maneuverability with heavy hitting power. Inflexible opened fire on the German ships from 16,500 yards, careful to stay outside the range of the German guns. Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst was sunk first, with the admiral aboard; his two sons, on the Gneisenau and NÜrnberg, also went down with their ships. All told, Germany lost four warships and more than 2,000 sailors in the Falkland Islands, compared with only 10 British deaths. Historians have referred to the Battle of the Falkland Islands as the most decisive naval battle of World War I. It gave the Allies a huge, much-needed surge of confidence on the seas, especially important because other areas of the war—the Western Front, Gallipoli—were not proceeding as hoped. The battle also represents one of the last important instances of old-style naval warfare, between ships and sailors and their guns alone, without the aid or interference of airplanes, submarines, or underwater minefields.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-the-falkland-islands)

Vietnam War Dec 8, 1969: Nixon declares Vietnam War is ending

At a news conference, President Richard Nixon says that the Vietnam War is coming to a "conclusion as a result of the plan that we have instituted." Nixon had announced at a conference in Midway in June that the United States would be following a new program he termed "Vietnamization." Under the provisions of this program, South Vietnamese forces would be built up so they could assume more responsibility for the war. As the South Vietnamese forces became more capable, U.S. forces would be withdrawn from combat and returned to the United States. In his speech, Nixon pointed out that he had already ordered the withdrawal of 60,000 U.S. troops. Concurrently, he had issued orders to provide the South Vietnamese with more modern equipment and weapons and increased the advisory effort, all as part of the "Vietnamization" program. As Nixon was holding his press conference, troops from the U.S. 25th Infantry Division (less the Second Brigade) began departing from Vietnam. Nixon's pronouncements that the war was ending proved premature. In April 1970, he expanded the war by ordering U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to attack communist sanctuaries in Cambodia. The resulting outcry across the United States led to a number of antiwar demonstrations—it was at one of these demonstrations that the National Guard shot four protesters at Kent State. Although Nixon did continue to decrease American troop strength in South Vietnam, the fighting continued. In 1972, the North Vietnamese launched a massive invasion of South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese forces reeled under the attack, but eventually prevailed with the help of U.S. airpower. After extensive negotiations and the bombing of North Vietnam in December 1972, the Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973. Under the provisions of the Accords, U.S. forces were completely withdrawn. Unfortunately, this did not end the war for the Vietnamese and the fighting continued until April 1975 when Saigon fell to the communists.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-declares-vietnam-war-is-ending)

Vietnam War Dec 8, 1966: North Vietnam rejects Johnson's prisoner exchange proposal

The International Red Cross announces in Geneva that North Vietnam has rejected a proposal by President Johnson for a resolution of the prisoner of war situation. He had proposed a joint discussion of fair treatment and possible exchange of war captives held by both sides. The International Red Cross submitted the proposal to North Vietnamese officials in July after Johnson first broached the plan on July 20 at a news conference. No solution was reached on the issue until the Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973. By the terms of the accords, all U.S. prisoners were to be released by the following March.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/north-vietnam-rejects-johnsons-prisoner-exchange-proposal)

Dec 8, 1980: John Lennon is assassinated in New York City

Former Beatle John Lennon is shot and killed by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980. For those who were listening to the radio on the evening of December 8, 1980, the news was probably broken by a disc jockey reading from the sketchy initial bulletin that came over the Associated Press newswire shortly after 11:25 p.m., Eastern Standard Time: "There's a report that John Lennon has been shot. It happened in New York. On the Upper West Side." In fact, Lennon had been declared dead some 10 minutes earlier in the emergency room of a Manhattan hospital—news that millions of Americans would receive, jarringly, from Monday Night Football announcer Howard Cosell, breaking into the regular commentary on that evening's contest between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots: "An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City...shot twice in the back, rushed to the Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival." John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were returning home from a transfer session at a midtown Manhattan recording studio at approximately 10:50 p.m. on this day in 1980, when they exited their limousine onto the West 72nd Street sidewalk just outside their apartment building, the now-famous Dakota. On nearly the same spot some six hours earlier, Lennon had signed his autograph on a copy of his new album, Double Fantasy, for the man who would soon shoot him dead: Mark David Chapman. In his statement to the authorities later that evening, the 25-year-old Chapman, whom police took into custody peaceably after finding him reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye at the site of the shooting, said, "I'm sure the large part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the book. The small part of me must be the Devil." A worldwide outpouring of grief and tribute followed John Lennon's assassination, culminating in a 10-minute silent vigil on December 14 that saw some 100,000 people gather in New York's Central Park and tens of thousands of others in cities around the world. Of Chapman, who pled guilty to Lennon's killing and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, Yoko Ono would later say, "I don't even want to think about him, and I usually don't. Because it's so irrelevant who pulled the trigger. That was not what was relevant. The fact that John's gone is what we're living with."

Vietnam War Dec 8, 1965: Operation Tiger Hound launched

In some of the heaviest raids of the war, 150 U.S. Air Force and Navy planes launch Operation Tiger Hound to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the lower portion of the Laotian panhandle, from Route 9 west of the Demilitarized Zone, south to the Cambodian border. The purpose of this operation, which lasted until 1968, was to reduce North Vietnamese infiltration down the trail into South Vietnam. After 1968, the Tiger Hound missions became part of a new operation called Commando Hunt. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/operation-tiger-hound-launched)

Dec 8, 1940: Bears beat Redskins 73-0 in NFL Championship game

On this day in 1940, the Chicago Bears trounce the Washington Redskins in the National Football League (NFL) Championship by a score of 73-0, the largest margin of defeat in NFL history. The Bears, coached by George Halas, brought a 6-2 record to their regular-season meeting with the Redskins in Washington on November 17, 1940. After Chicago lost 3-7, the Redskins coach, George Preston Marshall, told reporters that Halas and his team were "quitters" and "cry babies." Halas used Marshall’s words to galvanize his players, and the Bears scored 78 points in their next two games to set up a showdown with the Redskins in the league’s championship game on December 8, also in Washington. Less than a minute into the game, the Bears’ running back Bill Osmanski ran 68 yards to score the first touchdown. After the Redskins narrowly missed an opportunity to tie the game, the Bears clamped down and began to dominate, leaving the field at halftime with a 28-0 lead. Things only got worse for the Redskins, and by the end of the second half officials were asking Halas not to let his team kick for extra points, as they were running out of footballs after too many had been kicked into the stands. The Bears followed their history-making win with two more consecutive championships, including a game against the New York Giants at Chicago’s Wrigley Field just two weeks after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Many great football players were subsequently drafted into World War II, and Halas himself would leave in 1942 for a tour of duty in the Pacific. In 1946, after the war ended, Halas and a number of former players returned to the team, and the Bears won their fourth NFL Championship in seven years.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bears-beat-redskins-73-0-in-nfl-championship-game)

Dec 8, 1941: Roosevelt asks Congress to declare war on Japan

On this day in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt asks Congress to declare war on Japan in perhaps the most memorable speech of his career. The speech, in which he called Japan's act a "deliberate deception," received thunderous applause from Congress and, soon after, the United States officially entered the Second World War. The day before, Japanese pilots had bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, decimating the majority of U.S. warships in the Pacific Fleet along with most of the Air Corps and Navy aircraft stationed on the island of Oahu. The bombing raids killed 2,403 people, including 68 civilians, and wounded almost 1,200. Although Roosevelt and his advisors had received intelligence reports indicating an imminent attack by Japan days before, he had hoped that Japanese and American diplomats, then negotiating in Washington, would come to a peaceful solution. He was incensed to realize that while American and Japanese diplomats engaged in negotiations (over Japan's recent military actions in China and elsewhere in the Pacific), Japanese aircraft carriers had been steaming toward Hawaii intent on attack. His words on December 8 relayed his personal indignation and fury. Roosevelt had already proven his oratorical skills during the Great Depression when his "fireside chats" rallied the nation's morale. The same president who once said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" declared with equal conviction that the nation "would never forget the character of [Japan's] onslaught against us" and vowed that the "unbounding determination of our people... will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God." The stirring speech was hardly necessary—Congress and millions of Americans, who had been hearing details of the attack in the news, shared the president's outrage and commitment to defending the nation. Young men flocked to armed forces recruiting stations the next day and both houses of Congress quickly voted to declare war on Japan, with only one dissenting vote.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roosevelt-asks-congress-to-declare-war-on-japan)

Dec 8, 1941: Jeanette Rankin casts sole vote against WWII

On this day, Montanan Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress and a dedicated lifelong pacifist, casts the sole Congressional vote against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan. She was the only member of Congress to vote against U.S. involvement in both World Wars, having been among those who voted against American entry into World War I nearly a quarter of a century earlier. Rankin was a committed pacifist, and she cared little about the damage her beliefs caused her political career. Although some male representatives joined her in voting against World War I in 1917, many citizens saw her vote as evidence that a woman could not handle the difficult burdens of national leadership. Perhaps as a result, Montanans voted her out of office two years later. Ironically, Rankin won re-election to the House in 1940, just in time to face another vote on war. While her commitment to pacifism was politically harmful during World War I, Rankin knew that in the case of World War II, it would be downright suicidal. The surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor was devastating, and zeal for revenge was at a fever pitch. The vast majority of Americans supported President Roosevelt's call for a declaration of war. Rankin, however, believed that Roosevelt deliberately provoked the Japanese to attack because he wanted to bring the U.S. into the European war against Germany; she was determined not to cooperate with the president's plan. After a 40-minute debate on the floor of the House, a roll call vote began. When her turn came, Rankin stood and said, "As a woman, I can't go to war and I refuse to send anyone else." When news of Rankin's vote reached the crowd gathered outside the capitol, some patriots threatened to attack the Montana congresswoman, and police escorted her out of the building. Rankin was vilified in the press, accused of disloyalty, and called "Japanette Rankin," among other impolite names. She stood her ground, however, and never apologized for her vote. When her term neared completion two years later, Rankin was certain she would not win re-election and chose not to run again. She continued to be an active advocate for pacifism, and led a campaign against the Vietnam War in 1968 when she was 87 years old.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jeanette-rankin-casts-sole-vote-against-wwii)

Dec 8, 1980: John Lennon is assassinated in New York City

Former Beatle John Lennon is shot and killed by Mark David Chapman on December 8, 1980. For those who were listening to the radio on the evening of December 8, 1980, the news was probably broken by a disc jockey reading from the sketchy initial bulletin that came over the Associated Press newswire shortly after 11:25 p.m., Eastern Standard Time: "There's a report that John Lennon has been shot. It happened in New York. On the Upper West Side." In fact, Lennon had been declared dead some 10 minutes earlier in the emergency room of a Manhattan hospital—news that millions of Americans would receive, jarringly, from Monday Night Football announcer Howard Cosell, breaking into the regular commentary on that evening's contest between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots: "An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City...shot twice in the back, rushed to the Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival." John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were returning home from a transfer session at a midtown Manhattan recording studio at approximately 10:50 p.m. on this day in 1980, when they exited their limousine onto the West 72nd Street sidewalk just outside their apartment building, the now-famous Dakota. On nearly the same spot some six hours earlier, Lennon had signed his autograph on a copy of his new album, Double Fantasy, for the man who would soon shoot him dead: Mark David Chapman. In his statement to the authorities later that evening, the 25-year-old Chapman, whom police took into custody peaceably after finding him reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye at the site of the shooting, said, "I'm sure the large part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the book. The small part of me must be the Devil." A worldwide outpouring of grief and tribute followed John Lennon's assassination, culminating in a 10-minute silent vigil on December 14 that saw some 100,000 people gather in New York's Central Park and tens of thousands of others in cities around the world. Of Chapman, who pled guilty to Lennon's killing and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, Yoko Ono would later say, "I don't even want to think about him, and I usually don't. Because it's so irrelevant who pulled the trigger. That was not what was relevant. The fact that John's gone is what we're living with."(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-lennon-is-assassinated-in-new-york-city)

Dec 8, 1894: James Thurber is born

On this day in 1894, humorist James Thurber is born in Columbus, Ohio. When Thurber was about 7, he lost an eye in an accident while playing with his brothers. His disability made him shy and awkward, and he was something of a misfit until he discovered a love for writing while at Ohio State University. He encrypted and decoded messages for the Army from 1918 to 1920 in Paris, and later worked there as a freelance writer. He married Althea Adams, whom he later divorced, in 1922. In 1926, the couple moved to New York, and he became associated with a new magazine, The New Yorker, where he shared an office with E.B. White, master stylist and author of Charlotte's Web. White had a strong influence on Thurber's writing, which consisted largely of funny essays and short stories, accompanied by his own humorous drawings. Thurber published many popular story and drawing collections, including The Owl in the Attic (1931), The Seal in the Bedroom (1932), and My Life and Hard Times (1933). His short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," published in The New Yorker in 1939, became one of his best-known works. Thurber's later works lacked the delicate touch of earlier creations, as he struggled with health problems and drank heavily. He wrote several charming works for children, including The 13 Clocks (1950) and The Wonderful O (1957), before his death in 1961.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/james-thurber-is-born)

Dec 8, 1982: Meryl Streep stars in Sophie's Choice

On this day in 1982, Sophie's Choice, starring the actress Meryl Streep as a Holocaust survivor, opens in theaters. Directed by Alan J. Pakula (All The President's Men, The Pelican Brief) and based on a 1979 novel of the same name by William Styron, Sophie's Choice co-starred Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol. The "choice" in the film's title refers to a terrible decision Streep's character is forced to make, about which of her two children will live or die while in a concentration camp. Streep went on to win a Best Actress Oscar for Sophie's Choice, firmly establishing herself as one of the greatest actresses of her generation in Hollywood. To date, she has received more Academy Award nominations than any other actor in history. Streep, who was born on June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey, studied drama at Vassar College and received a master's degree in fine arts from the Yale University School of Drama. She made her big-screen debut with a small role in 1977's Julia, starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. Streep received her first Academy Award nomination, in the Best Supporting Actress category, for her second film, 1978's The Deer Hunter. The Vietnam War-era drama co-starred Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken. Streep won her first Academy Award, in the Supporting Actress category, for 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer, co-starring Dustin Hoffman and Justin Henry. In the film, which also earned Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actor (Hoffman), Streep played a woman who leaves her husband and young son in order to find herself. Two years later, she was again nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), with Jeremy Irons. The year after Streep won an Oscar for Sophie's Choice, she received her third Best Actress nomination for her performance as a whistle blower at a nuclear power plant in Silkwood (1983), with Cher and Kurt Russell. Streep, who became known for her ability to change her accent and appearance to fit her roles, was nominated for Best Actress again for 1985’s Out of Africa, with Robert Redford; 1987’s Ironweed, with Jack Nicholson; and 1988’s A Cry in the Dark, which features the now-famous line “The dingo’s got my baby.” During the 1990s, she racked up four more Best Actress Oscar nods, for Postcards from the Edge (1990), with Shirley MacLaine; The Bridges of Madison County (1995), with Clint Eastwood; One True Thing (1998), with Renee Zellweger and William Hurt; and Music of the Heart (1999), with Angela Bassett and Gloria Estefan. Streep received her record-breaking 13th Oscar nomination, more than any other performer, for her supporting role in Adaptation (2002). More recently, Streep received her 17th Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2012), which also earned Streep her third Oscar win. Streep, who has been married to sculptor Don Gummer since 1978, has four children. Her daughter Mamie Gummer has followed in her mother's footsteps and become an actress, appearing in such movies as 2007's Evening and 2008's Stop-Loss.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/meryl-streep-stars-in-sophies-choice)

Dec 8, 1993: NAFTA signed into law

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Clinton said he hoped the agreement would encourage other nations to work toward a broader world-trade pact. NAFTA, a trade pact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminated virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. The passage of NAFTA was one of Clinton's first major victories as the first Democratic president in 12 years--though the movement for free trade in North America had begun as a Republican initiative. During its planning stages, NAFTA was heavily criticized by Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot, who argued that if NAFTA was passed, Americans would hear a "giant sucking sound" of American companies fleeing the United States for Mexico, where employees would work for less pay and without benefits. The pact, which took effect on January 1, 1994, created the world's largest free-trade zone. History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nafta-signed-into-law)

Dec 8, 1987: Superpowers agree to reduce nuclear arsenals

At a summit meeting in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign the first treaty between the two superpowers to reduce their massive nuclear arsenals. Previous agreements had merely been attempts by the two Cold War adversaries to limit the growth of their nuclear arsenals. The historic agreement banned ground-launched short- and medium-range missiles, of which the two nations collectively possessed 2,611, most located in Europe and Southeast Asia. The pact was seen as an important step toward agreement on the reduction of long-range U.S. and Soviet missiles, first achieved in 1991 when President George H. Bush and Gorbachev agreed to destroy more than a quarter of their nuclear warheads. The following year, Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin agreed to drastically reduce their number of long-range missiles to around 3,000 launching systems each by the year 2003. In 2001, after a decade of arms control stalemate, President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin made a preliminary agreement to further reduce their nuclear arsenals to around 2,000 long-range missiles each.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/superpowers-agree-to-reduce-nuclear-arsenals)

Dec 8, 1542: Mary Queen of Scots born

In Linlithgow Palace in Scotland, a daughter is born to James V, the dying king of Scotland. Named Mary, she was the only surviving child of her father and ascended to the Scottish throne when the king died just six days after her birth. Mary's French-born mother, Mary of Guise, sent her to be raised in the French court, and in 1558 she married the French dauphin, who became King Francis II of France in 1559 and died in 1560. After Francis' death, Mary returned to Scotland to assume her designated role as the country's monarch. Mary's great-uncle was Henry VIII, the Tudor king of England, and in 1565 she married her English cousin Lord Darnley, another Tudor, which reinforced her claim to the English throne. This greatly angered the current English monarch, Queen Elizabeth I. In 1567, Darnley was mysteriously killed in an explosion at Kirk o' Field, and Mary's lover, James Hepburn, the earl of Bothwell, was the key suspect. Although Bothwell was acquitted of the charge, his marriage to Mary in the same year enraged the nobility, and Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her son by Darnley, James. Mary was imprisoned on the tiny island of Loch Leven. In 1568, she escaped from captivity and raised a substantial army but was defeated by her Scottish foes and fled to England. Queen Elizabeth I initially welcomed Mary but was soon forced to put her cousin under house arrest after Mary became the focus of various English Catholic and Spanish plots to overthrow her. In 1586, a major Catholic plot to murder Elizabeth was uncovered, and Mary was brought to trial, convicted for complicity, and sentenced to death. On February 8, 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded for treason at Fotheringhay Castle in England. Her son, King James VI of Scotland, calmly accepted his mother's execution, and upon Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603, he became James I, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mary-queen-of-scots-born)

Dec 8, 1881: Theater fire kills hundreds in Vienna

A fire at the Ring Theater in Vienna, Austria, kills at least 620 people and injures hundreds more on this day in 1881. The luxurious, ornate theater hosted the most popular performances of the day. On December 8, it was featuring the second night of Jacques Offenbach's opera Les Contes d'Hoffman, which was proving popular with both the wealthy and middle class of Vienna. According to the custom of the time, the wealthy theater patrons who sat up front near the stage did not arrive until the last minute so the two balconies at the Ring filled up first. It was about 6:45 p.m. when a stagehand took a long-arm igniter to light the row of gas lights above the stage. He inadvertently also lit some prop clouds that were hanging over the stage. The flames quickly hit the stage curtain, but the theater's established fire procedures were not followed. The theater's iron fire curtain, used to restrict fire, was not lowered, nor were available water hoses used immediately. Worse, the stage managers panicked and shut off the gas totally, cutting off light in the theater. At this point, situation dissolved into chaos. The balconies became clogged as the exits jammed. A fire brigade brought ladders, but they were too short to reach even the first balcony. Despite an attempt to use a curtain to create a net, some people jumped from the balconies, not only killing themselves but also crushing people on the ground floor. Finally, safety nets were brought in that allowed people to jump from the balconies, saving as many as 100 people, according to witnesses. The Royal Family of Austria arrived at the theater as the disaster was ending and immediately began collecting relief funds for the victims and their families. Crown Prince Rudolf was particularly emotional, crying upon seeing the hundreds of lifeless bodies. The estimated death toll was somewhere between 620 and 850 people. The remainder of the structure was demolished and replaced with the Suhnhof building. This memorial was destroyed when Vienna was bombed during World War II. Today, a police station sits at the site.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/theater-fire-kills-hundreds-in-vienna)

Dec 8, 1980: John Lennon is murdered

Singer John Lennon is shot and killed by Mark David Chapman outside his apartment building in New York City. After committing the murder, Chapman waited calmly outside, reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. Chapman was a troubled individual who was obsessed with Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J. D. Salinger's novel about a disaffected youth, and with various celebrities. While working as a security guard in Hawaii, he decided that Lennon was a phony and, while listening to Beatles tapes, Chapman decided to plan his murder. Chapman purchased a gun in Hawaii and then traveled to New York. Although he called his wife to tell her that he was in New York to shoot Lennon, she ignored his threats. Unable to buy bullets in New York due to strict laws, Chapman flew to Atlanta and purchased hollow-nosed rounds to bring back. On the day of the murder, Chapman bought an extra copy of The Catcher in the Rye and joined fans waiting outside The Dakota, Lennon's apartment building. That evening, as Lennon walked by on his way into the building, Chapman shot him in the back and then fired two additional bullets into his shoulder as the singer wrenched around in pain. On June 8, 1980, just two weeks before he was scheduled to present an insanity defense at trial, Chapman pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 20 years-to-life. Ironically, Chapman was sent to Attica prison, where--10 years earlier--rioting had inspired Lennon and wife, Yoko Ono, to record a benefit song to "free all prisoners everywhere." In prison, Chapman became a born-again Christian and spent his time writing evangelical tracts for publication.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-lennon-is-murdered)

Dec 8, 1949: Chinese Nationalists move capital to Taiwan

As they steadily lose ground to the communist forces of Mao Zedong, Chinese Nationalist leaders depart for the island of Taiwan, where they establish their new capital. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek left for the island the following day. This action marked the beginning of the "two Chinas" scenario that left mainland China under communist control and vexed U.S. diplomacy for the next 30 years. It also signaled the effective end of the long struggle between Chinese Nationalist forces and those of the communist leader Mao Zedong, though scattered Chinese Nationalists continued sporadic combat with the communist armies. At the time, many observers hoped that the end of the fighting and the Chinese Nationalist decision to establish a separate government on Taiwan might make it easier for foreign governments to recognize the new communist People's Republic of China. For the United States, however, the action merely posed a troubling diplomatic problem. Many in America, including members of the so-called "China Lobby" (individuals and groups from both public and private life who tenaciously supported the Chinese Nationalist cause), called upon the administration of President Harry S. Truman to continue its support of Chiang's government by withholding recognition of the communist government on the mainland. In fact, the Truman administration's recognition of the Nationalist government on Taiwan infuriated Mao, ending any possibility for diplomatic relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. In the years after 1949, the United States continued its support of Taiwan, and Mao's government continued to rail against the Nationalist regime off its coast. By the 1970s, however, U.S. policymakers, desirous of opening economic relations with China and hoping to use China as a balance against Soviet power, moved toward a closer relationship with communist China. In 1979, the United States officially recognized the People's Republic of China.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chinese-nationalists-move-capital-to-taiwan)

Civil War Dec 8, 1863: Lincoln issues Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln offers his conciliatory plan for reunification of the United States with his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. By this point in the Civil War, it was clear that Lincoln needed to make some preliminary plans for postwar reconstruction. The Union armies had captured large sections of the South, and some states were ready to have their governments rebuilt. The proclamation addressed three main areas of concern. First, it allowed for a full pardon for and restoration of property to all engaged in the rebellion with the exception of the highest Confederate officials and military leaders. Second, it allowed for a new state government to be formed when 10 percent of the eligible voters had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. Third, the Southern states admitted in this fashion were encouraged to enact plans to deal with the freed slaves so long as their freedom was not compromised. In short, the terms of the plan were easy for most Southerners to accept. Though the emancipation of slaves was an impossible pill for some Confederates to swallow, Lincoln's plan was charitable, considering the costliness of the war. With the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Lincoln was seizing the initiative for reconstruction from Congress. Some Radical Republicans thought the plan was far too easy on the South, but others accepted it because of the president's prestige and leadership. Following Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, the disagreements over the postwar reconstruction policy led to a heated battle between the next president, Andrew Johnson, and Congress. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-issues-proclamation-of-amnesty-and-reconstruction)

Dec 8, 1942: Auto-factory architect Albert Kahn dies "The man who built Detroit"

On December 8, 1942, the architect and engineer Albert Kahn--known as "the man who built Detroit"--dies at his home there. He was 73 years old. Kahn and his assistants built more than 2,000 buildings in all, mostly for Ford and General Motors. According to his obituary in The New York Times, Kahn "revolutionized the concept of what a great factory should be: his designs made possible the marvels of modern mass production, and his buildings changed the faces of a thousand cities and towns from Detroit to Novosibirsk." Albert Kahn was born in Germany in 1869. When he was 11, his family moved to the United States and settled in Detroit, where the teenager took a job as an architect's apprentice. In 1902, after working at a number of well-known architectural firms in Detroit, Kahn started his own practice. While building factories for Packard, the young architect found that swapping reinforced concrete for wood or masonry sped up the construction of manufacturing plants considerably. It also made them sturdier and less combustible. Moreover, reinforced-concrete buildings needed f)ewer load-bearing walls; this, in turn, freed up floor space for massive industrial equipment. Kahn's first concrete factory, Packard Shop No. 10, still stands today on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit. "Architecture," Kahn liked to say, "is 90 percent business and 10 percent art." His buildings reflected this philosophy: they were sleek, flexible, and above all functional. Besides all that utilitarian concrete, they incorporated huge metal-framed windows and garage doors and acres of uninterrupted floor space for conveyor belts and other machines. Kahn's first Ford factory, the 1909 Highland Park plant, used elevators and dumbwaiters to spread the Model T assembly line over several floors, but most of his subsequent factories were huge single-story spaces: Ford's River Rouge plant (1916), the massive Goodyear Airdock in Akron (1929), the Glenn Martin aeronautics factory in Maryland (built in 1937 around an assembly floor the size of a football field) and, perhaps most famous of all, the half-mile–long Willow Run "Arsenal of Democracy," the home of Ford's B-29 bomber in Ypsilanti. Though Kahn designed a number of non-factory buildings, including the Ford and GM office towers in downtown Detroit, he is best known for building factories that reflected the needs of the industrial age. We still celebrate his innovations today.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/auto-factory-architect-albert-kahn-dies

American Revolution Dec 8, 1775: Americans begin siege of Quebec

Beginning on this day in 1775, Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery lead an American force in the siege of Quebec. The Americans hoped to capture the British-occupied city and with it win support for the American cause in Canada. In June, Congress decided to send two columns of 1,000 men each towards Canada. General Richard Montgomery proceeded up Lake Champlain and successfully captured Montreal in November before reaching Quebec City. Colonel Benedict Arnold led his men through the woods of Maine, approaching the city directly. On November 14, Arnold arrived on the Plains of Abraham outside the city of Quebec; his men sustained themselves upon dog meat and leather in the cold winter. The 100 men defending the city refused to either surrender to Arnold or leave their defenses to fight them on open plains, so Arnold waited for Montgomery to join him with his troops and supplies at the beginning of December. The royal governor general of Canada, Sir Guy Carleton, had managed to escape Montgomery's early successful attacks. He snuck into Quebec, organized 1,800 men for the city's defense, and prepared to wait out the Patriots' siege. But Arnold and Montgomery faced a deadline as their troops' enlistments expired at the end of the year. On December 7, Montgomery fired arrows over the city walls bearing letters demanding Carleton's surrender. When Carleton did not acquiesce, the Americans began a bombardment of the city with Montgomery's cannon on December 8. They then attempted a disastrous failed assault on December 31, in which Montgomery was killed and Arnold seriously wounded.(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americans-begin-siege-of-quebec)

Dec 8, 1980: John Lennon shot

John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, the rock group that transformed popular music in the 1960s, is shot and killed by an obsessed fan in New York City. The 40-year-old artist was entering his luxury Manhattan apartment building when Mark David Chapman shot him four times at close range with a .38-caliber revolver. Lennon, bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital but died en route. Chapman had received an autograph from Lennon earlier in the day and voluntarily remained at the scene of the shooting until he was arrested by police. For a week, hundreds of bereaved fans kept a vigil outside the Dakota--Lennon's apartment building--and demonstrations of mourning were held around the world. John Lennon was one half of the singing-songwriting team that made the Beatles the most popular musical group of the 20th century. The other band leader was Paul McCartney, but the rest of the quartet--George Harrison and Ringo Starr--sometimes penned and sang their own songs as well. Hailing from Liverpool, England, and influenced by early American rock and roll, the Beatles took Britain by storm in 1963 with the single "Please Please Me." "Beatlemania" spread to the United States in 1964 with the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," followed by a sensational U.S. tour. With youth poised to break away from the culturally rigid landscape of the 1950s, the "Fab Four," with their exuberant music and good-natured rebellion, were the perfect catalyst for the shift. The Beatles sold millions of records and starred in hit movies such as A Hard Day's Night (1964). Their live performances were near riots, with teenage girls screaming and fainting as their boyfriends nodded along to the catchy pop songs. In 1966, the Beatles gave up touring to concentrate on their innovative studio recordings, such as 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, a psychedelic concept album that is regarded as a masterpiece of popular music. The Beatles' music remained relevant to youth throughout the great cultural shifts of the 1960s, and critics of all ages acknowledged the songwriting genius of the Lennon-McCartney team. Lennon was considered the intellectual Beatle and certainly was the most outspoken of the four. He caused a major controversy in 1966 when he declared that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus," prompting mass burnings of Beatles' records in the American Bible Belt. He later became an anti-war activist and flirted with communism in the lyrics of solo hits like "Imagine," recorded after the Beatles disbanded in 1970. In 1975, Lennon dropped out of the music business to spend more time with his Japanese-born wife, Yoko Ono, and their son, Sean. In 1980, he made a comeback with Double-Fantasy, a critically acclaimed album that celebrated his love for Yoko and featured songs written by her. On December 8, 1980, their peaceful domestic life on New York's Upper West Side was shattered by 25-year-old Mark David Chapman. Psychiatrists deemed Chapman a borderline psychotic. He was instructed to plead insanity, but instead he pleaded guilty to murder. He was sentenced to 20 years to life. In 2000, New York State prison officials denied Chapman a parole hearing, telling him that his "vicious and violent act was apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged." He remains behind bars at Attica Prison in New York State. John Lennon is memorialized in "Strawberry Fields," a section of Central Park across the street from the Dakota that Yoko Ono landscaped in honor of her husband. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-lennon-shot)

World War II Dec 7, 1941: "A date which will live in infamy"

On this day, in an early-morning sneak attack, Japanese warplanes bomb the U.S. naval base at Oahu Island's Pearl Harbor—and the United States enters World War II. President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull knew a Japanese attack was imminent. Having received intelligence reports of intercepted coded messages from Tokyo to the Japanese ambassador in the United States, the president anticipated Japanese reprisals for his government's refusal to reverse economic sanctions and embargoes against Japan. The Roosevelt administration had remained firm in its demand that the Japanese first withdraw from China and French Indochina, which it had invaded in 1937 and July 1941, respectively, and renounce its alliance with fascist Germany and Italy. But Japan refused, demanding that the United States first end the embargo on oil shipments vital for Tokyo's war machine. Although negotiations between the two nations continued up to the very last minute, Roosevelt was aware of a secret November 25 deadline, established by Tokyo, that confirmed military action on the part of the Japanese should they not received satisfaction from the negotiations. While forewarned, Washington could not pinpoint the time or place of an attack. Despite initially objecting to war with America, Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto believed that if Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was determined to go to war, it was Japan who had to make a preemptive strike. Yamamoto studied the devastating November 1940 British attack against the Italian fleet at Taranto, and planned and led the sneak attack against the United States. Approximately 360 Japanese warplanes were launched from six aircraft carriers, reinforced by battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. The first dive-bomber was spotted over Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time. It was followed by 200 aircraft, which decimated the American ships anchored there, most of which were only lightly manned because it was Sunday morning. Among the 18 U.S. ships destroyed, sunk, or capsized were the Arizona, Virginia, California, Nevada, and West Virginia. More than 180 planes were destroyed on the ground and another 150 were damaged (leaving but 43 operational). American casualties totaled more than 3,400, with more than 2,400 killed (1,000 on the Arizona alone). The Japanese lost fewer than 100 men. In the short term, the Japanese goal of crippling U.S. naval strength in the Pacific, and thereby giving Tokyo free reign to gobble up more of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific in its dream of imperial expansion, was successful. But the war had only just begun. History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-date-which-will-live-in-infamy)

World War I Dec 7, 1916: David Lloyd George becomes prime minister of Britain

On the night of Thursday, May 29, 1913, the pioneering Russian ballet corps Ballet Russes performs Igor Stravinsky's ballet Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), choreographed by the famous dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, at the Theatre de Champs-Elysees in Paris. In founding the Ballet Russes in 1909, the flamboyant impresario Serge Diaghilev was searching for his own version of the Gesamtkunstwerk (or total art form), a concept introduced by the enormously influential German composer Richard Wagner in his book Oper und Drama (1850-51). Early in the second decade of a new century, Diaghilev saw ballet, and indeed all art, as a means of deliverance from the confines of morality and convention that had ruled Western society in the 19th century. This kind of avant-garde sensibility was widespread in Europe by 1913—particularly in Germany, the birthplace of the era's most prominent philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, whose writings articulated both the sense of chaos and destruction and the call for a violent rebirth of modern society that Stravinsky, Diaghilev and Nijinsky strove to portray in Le Sacre. When the curtain went up in the newly constructed—and architecturally controversial—Theatre de Champs-Elysees on May 29, 1913, it seemed all of Paris society was there. There was great anticipation surrounding Diaghilev's newest production; advance publicity for the ballet had called it real and true art, art that disregarded the traditional boundaries of space and time. Almost as soon as the curtain rose, the audience began to react strongly to the performance, starting with whistles and proceeding to hisses and howls as the dancers appeared. Originally titled The Victim, Stravinsky's ballet portrayed a pagan celebration in which a virgin sacrifices herself to the god of spring. The music was dissonant and strange, while the choreography by Nijinsky marked a radical departure from classical ballet, with the dancers' toes turned in and their limbs thrust at sharp angles instead of smooth, rounded curves. As Carl Van Vechten, drama critic for the New York Sun later wrote, the unruly audience became as much a part of the performance as the dancers and musicians: Some forty of the protestants were forced out of the theater but that did not quell the disturbance. The lights in the auditorium were fully turned on but the noise continued and I remember Mlle. Piltz [the dancer portraying the sacrificial maiden] executing her strange dance of religious hysteria on a stage dimmed by the blazing light in the auditorium, seemingly to the accompaniment of the disjointed ravings of a mob of angry men and women. The subsequent coverage in the press of the ballet—which is now considered one of the great musical achievements of the 20th century—was resoundingly negative; the music was dismissed as mere noise and the dance as an ugly parody of traditional ballet. In light of the horrifically destructive conflict that exploded in Europe barely one year later, the violent reaction to Le Sacre de Printemps came to seem like a logical and inescapable response to such an expression of nihilism and chaos. Against a background of growing nationalist fervor across the continent, French audiences were understandably anxious—about their own country's declining influence in the face of Germany's growing strength, about the seeming failure of traditional notions of morality and order and about what was to come. A year later, during the July Crisis, the French critic Maurice Dupont praised the sanity of the French reaction, calling Le Sacre a Dionysian orgy dreamed of by Nietzsche and called forth by his prophetic wish to be the beacon of a world hurtling towards death—a wish that would soon be fulfilled on the battlefields of World War I.(hISTORY.COM 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/david-lloyd-george-becomes-prime-minister-of-britain)

Vietnam War Dec 7, 1965: McNamara predicts that more U.S. troops will be needed Previous Day

In a memorandum to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara states that U.S. troop strength must be substantially augmented "if we are to avoid being defeated there." Cautioning that such deployments would not ensure military success, McNamara said the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong "continue to believe that the war will be a long one, that time is their ally and their own staying power is superior to ours."(History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mcnamara-predicts-that-more-us-troops-will-be-needed)

Vietnam War Dec 7, 1964: Situation deteriorates in South Vietnam

The situation worsens in South Vietnam, as the Viet Cong attack and capture the district headquarters at An Lao and much of the surrounding valley 300 miles northeast of Saigon. South Vietnamese troops regained control only after reinforcements were airlifted into the area by U.S. helicopters. During the course of the action, two U.S. advisors were killed. There were over 300 South Vietnamese casualties and as many as 7,000 villagers were temporarily forced to abandon their homes. In response, Ambassador Maxwell Taylor, who had just returned from Washington, held a series of conferences with Premier Tran Van Huong, General Nguyen Khanh, and other South Vietnamese leaders. Taylor told them that the United States would provide additional financial aid to help stabilize the worsening situation in the countryside. It was agreed that the funds would be used to strengthen South Vietnam's military forces (which South Vietnam agreed to increase by 100,000 men) and to "further economic assistance for a variety of reforms of industrial, urban, and rural development." Nothing was said during these discussions about President Lyndon B. Johnson's plans to commence the bombing of North Vietnam, which had been decided during Taylor's meeting with the president and his advisers when Taylor was in Washington earlier in December. (History.com 2014) (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/situation-deteriorates-in-south-vietnam)