Today's Highlight in History:
On Dec. 5, 1933, national Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.
Rev. Billy Sunday condemns repeal of prohibitionOn this date:
In 1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
In 1782, the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook, N.Y., the first chief executive to be born after American independence.
In 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.
In 1792, George Washington was re-elected president; John Adams was re-elected vice president.
In 1831, former President John Quincy Adams took his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1848, President James K. Polk triggered the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.
In 1872, having left New York on Nov. 5, the brigantine Mary Celeste was found adrift off Portugal with no one aboard.
In 1932, German physicist Albert Einstein was granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States.
In 1945, five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers disappeared on a routine flight in the area of the Atlantic known as the Bermuda Triangle.
In 1955, in one of the early civil rights actions in the South, the African-American commonity declared a boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Ala., demanding seating on an equal basis with white people. The boycott, prompted by the arrest of Rosa Parks, a black woman who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, lasted until Dec. 20, 1956, when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling integrated the city's public transit system. The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, feminist Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church because of her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.
In 1990, the U.S. State Department said Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had accepted the idea of direct high-level U.S.-Iraqi talks to resolve the Gulf crisis.
In 1991, British media magnate Robert Maxwell disappeared while on his yacht off the Canary Islands. Richard Speck, who'd murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, died in prison a day short of his 50th birthday.
In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.
In 1997, the space shuttle Columbia returned from a 16-day mission that had been marred by the bungled release of a satellite. The World Trade Organization rejected American claims that the Fuji film company had conspired with the Japanese government to keep Eastman Kodak products out of Japan.
In 1999, AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney welcomed the collapse of World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, asserting that "No deal is better than a bad deal." Cuban President Fidel Castro demanded that the United States return 5-year-old Elian Gonzalez, who had been rescued at sea, to his father in Cuba within 72 hours.
In 2002, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott praised Strom Thurmond's pro-segregation 1948 presidential campaign. The ensuing uproar led to Lott's resignation from the Senate leadership. TAKE TWO: Strom Thurmond, the oldest and longest-serving senator in history, celebrated his 100th birthday on Capitol Hill. (It was at this gathering that Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, in toasting Thurmond, seemed to express nostalgia for Thurmond's segregationist past; the resulting firestorm prompted Lott to resign his leadership position.) UPI TAKE: U. S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., celebrated his 100th birthday on Capitol Hill. Thurmond, who retired the following year, had served the Senate since 1954, making him both the longest-serving and oldest member of Congress. He died June 27, 2003. [That's it from the UPI. — Ed.] In Kansas City, Missouri, a pharmacist who'd diluted chemotherapy drugs given to thousands of cancer patients was sentenced to 30 years in prison. General Ne Win, former dictator of Myanmar, also called Burma, died in Yangon at age 91. ABC executive Roone Arledge died in New York at age 71.
In 2004, gunmen ambushed a bus carrying unarmed Iraqis to work at a U.S. ammo dump near Tikrit, killing 17. Egypt freed an Israeli Arab man convicted of spying in exchange for Israel's release of six Egyptian students who were suspected of trying to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Carlos Moya beat Andy Roddick 6-2, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5) to clinch Spain's second Davis Cup title. The U.S. Congress said it was considering a proposal to withhold millions of dollars in foreign aid unless countries agree to shield Americans from prosecution of war crimes.
In 2006, Fiji's prime minister was placed under house arrest as the Pacific island nation's military announced it had taken control of the government. New York became the first city in the nation to ban artery-clogging trans fats at restaurants.
In 2007, a teenage gunman went on a shooting rampage at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., killing six store employees and two customers; Robert A. Hawkins, 19, then took his own life.
In 2008, the Labor Department reported that an alarming half-million jobs had vanished in Nov. 2008 as unemployment hit a 15-year high of 6.7 percent. Hundreds of workers laid off on short notice from the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago began a six-day sit-in. (Republic ultimately agreed to the workers' demands for severance and accrued vacation pay; the factory was later sold to a California company, Serious Materials.) A judge in Las Vegas sentenced O.J. Simpson to 33 years in prison (with eligibility for parole after nine) for an armed robbery at a hotel room. Alexy II, the Russian Orthodox patriarch who'd presided over a vast post-Soviet revival of the faith, died at his residence outside Moscow at age 79.
Today's Birthdays: Singer Little Richard is 77. Author Joan Didion is 75. Author Calvin Trillin is 74. Musician J.J. Cale is 71. Actor Jeroen Krabbe is 65. Opera singer Jose Carreras is 63. Pop singer Jim Messina is 62. College Football Hall of Famer Jim Plunkett is 62. World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins is 60. Actress Morgan Brittany is 58. Actor Brian Backer is 53. Pro Football Hall of Famer Art Monk is 52. Country singer Ty England is 46. Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik (The Goo Goo Dolls) is 44. Country singer Gary Allan is 42. Comedian-actress Margaret Cho is 41. Writer-director Morgan J. Freeman is 40. Actress Alex Kapp Horner is 40.
Those Who Will Not Be Celebrating: Christina Rossetti, poet (1830); George Armstrong Custer, American military officer (1839) [One of the all-time American assholes, who got just what he deserved. — Ed.]; Bill Pickett, cowboy, rodeo star (1870); film director Fritz Lang (1890); Strom Thurmond, U.S. senator (1902); Otto Preminger, director, producer (1906).
Entertainment Events:
In 1901, movie producer Walt Disney was born in Chicago.
In 1968, the Rolling Stones album "Beggar's Banquet" was released. Also in 1968, Graham Nash quit The Hollies because the band wanted to do an album of Bob Dylan songs.
In 1975, the self-titled album "Fleetwood Mac" was certified gold in the US. It was the first one with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
In 1992, Ice Cube became the first hard-core rapper to have an album make its debut at number one on the "Billboard" album chart, with "The Predator."
In 1996, country singer Montana Slim died at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, two months after being diagnosed with a stomach tumor. He was 91.
In 2003, actress Gwyneth Paltrow married Coldplay singer Chris Martin in Santa Barbara County, California. [Does anyone care? — Ed.]
In 2005, actress Valerie Bertinelli filed for divorce from Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen. [Really, does anyone care? — Ed.]
In 2008, death claimed actresses Nina Foch at age 84 and Beverly Garland at age 82.
Thought for Today: "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." — Walt Disney (born this date in 1901, died 1966). [What a despicable thing to say, especially to a child. Lucky for him he's dead already. — Ed.]
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