Today is Wednesday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2003 with 14
to follow.
Those born on this date include American Revolutionary War soldier Deborah
Sampson, who fought as a man under the alias Robert Shurtleff, in 1760; poet
John Greenleaf Whittier in 1807; conductor Arthur Fiedler in 1894; novelist
Erskine Caldwell in 1903; composer/bandleader Ray Noble also in 1903; Western
swing bandleader/violinist Spade Cooley in 1910; columnist William Safire in
1929 (age 74); publisher Bob Guccione in 1930 (age 73; British singer/actor Tommy
Steele in 1936 (age 67); actor Ernie Hudson ("Ghostbusters") in 1945
(age 58; comedian Eugene Levy in 1946 (age 57); and actor Bill Pullman in 1954
(age 49).
On this date in history:
In 1790, the Aztec Calendar or Solar Stone was uncovered by workmen repairing
Mexico City's Central Plaza.
In 1903, Orville Wright made history's first sustained airplane flight, lasting
12 seconds and covering 120 feet near Kitty Hawk, N.C. His brother Wilbur flew
852 feet later that day.
In 1925, Army Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell, outspoken advocate of a
separate U.S. Air Force, was found guilty of conduct prejudicial to the good of
the armed services. He was awarded the Medal of Honor 20 years after his death.
In 1939, the Nazi warship Graf Spee was scuttled off the coast of Uruguay as
British vessels pursued it.
In 1944, the more than 110,000 Japanese Americans who had been relocated from
the West Coast shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were told they
would be allowed to return home in less than three weeks, on Jan. 2.
In 1967, the Clean Air Act was passed by Congress.
In 1975, a federal jury in Sacramento, California, sentences Lynette Alice
"Squeaky" Fromme to life in prison for her attempted assassination of
President Gerald R. Ford.
In 1981, American Brig. Gen. James Dozier was kidnapped in Rome by Italy's Red
Brigades. He was freed 42 days later in a raid by Italian anti-terrorist
forces.
In 1986, a Las Vegas federal jury awarded entertainer Wayne Newton $19.3
million in his defamation suit against NBC. A judge later reduced the award to
$5.3 million.
Also in 1986, a federal jury in Detroit cleared automaker John DeLorean of all
15 charges in his fraud and racketeering trial.
In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radical Roman Catholic priest and opponent
of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, was elected president of Haiti in
a landslide victory. It was the first free election in Haiti's history.
In 1990, Secretary of State Baker told NATO that Iraq might withdraw from
Kuwait around the Jan. 15 deadline. NATO rejected the partial solution.
In 1991, 15 people were killed and 20 wounded in clashes between Soviet troops
and guerrillas in a disputed Armenian enclave.
In 1992, Israel tried to deport hundreds of Palestinians to Lebanon but Beirut
closed the border, trapping them in the Israeli-controlled "security
zone."
Also in 1992, President Bush formally signed the North American Free Trade
Treaty simultaneously with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.
In 1993, President Clinton acknowledged the $500 million gift of philanthropist
Walter Annenberg to public-education reform.
In 1994, North Korea said it shot down a U.S. Army helicopter in North Korean
airspace, killing one pilot. The second pilot was reportedly uninjured but was
held in North Korea.
In 1996, the United Nations elected Kofi Annan of Ghana the new
secretary-general.
In 1997, New Jersey became the first state in the United States to permit
homosexual couples to adopt children.
In 1998, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization said 1998 was the warmest
year ever recorded.
In 2001, U.S. officials said they believed they had destroyed Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan but it became evident in a few days
that hundreds of bin Laden's men were escaping through the mountains into
Pakistan. And, the whereabouts of bin Laden himself were not known.
In 2002, President Bush ordered the Pentagon to proceed with construction by
2004 of a limited missile defense shield.
A thought for the day: in "Hawthorne," Henry James wrote, "It
takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature."
(c) Copyright 2003 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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Classic Quotes by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 - 1973) British scholar &
fantasy novelist
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"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to
anger."
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"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish."
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"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less
than half of you half as well as you deserve."
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"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that
almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in
this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But
the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to."
Letter to Michael Tolkien, March 1941
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"It's a dangerous business going out your front door."
Charles
Mims
http://www.the-sandbox.org
