December 8
Today in America's Present Past
1765 | Inventor Eli Whitney was born.
1776 | War of Independence: George Washington’s retreating army crosses the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
1816 | Diplomat August Belmont was born.
1828 | Abolitionist Clinton Bowen Fisk was born.
1831 | Architect James Hoban died.
1861 | Entrepreneur William C. Durant was born.
1863 | POTUS: Republican President Lincoln issued his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South.
1872 | Cleric Brigham Young wed his 55th wife, Hannah Tapfield.
1885 | Entrepreneur William Henry Vanderbilt died.
1886 | Civil Rights: Samuel Gompers helped found the American Federation of Labor.
1889 | Poet Hervey Allen was born.
1894 | Cartoonist E. C. Segar was born.
1894 | Author James Thurber was born.
1902 | SCOTUS: Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes was sworn in.
1913 | Poet Delmore Schwartz was born.
1925 | Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. was born.
1936 | Civil Rights: NAACP filed suit to equalize salaries of black and white government school teachers.
1936 | Actor David Carradine was born.
1941 | Congress: The U.S. Congress declares War on Japan.
1941 | POTUS: Democrat President Roosevelt delivers “Day of Infamy” Speech.
1942 | Architect Albert Kahn died.
1943 | Entertainer Jim Morrison was born.
1953 | POTUS: Republican President Eisenhower delivers “Atoms for Peace” Speech.
1953 | Actress Kim Basinger was born.
1961 | Journalist Ann Coulter was born.
1963 | Frank Sinatra, Jr is kidnapped at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe (Nevada).
1963 | Pan Am Flight 214 crashed outside Elkton, Maryland with 81 killed.
1966 | Cold War: The US and USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space.
1967 | Astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. died.
1969 | War on Terror: Police surprise attack on Black-Panthers in Los Angeles, California.
1972 | United Airlines Flight 553 crashed at Chicago’s Midway Airport killing 45.
1978 | Film: “Deer Hunter” debuted.
1982 | Film: “Sophie’s Choice” debuted.
1982 | Musician Marty Robbins died.
1982 | Norman Mayer holds the Washington Monument hostage, and is killed after 10 hours.
1982 | Entertainer Nicki Minaj was born.
1987 | Cold War: The US and USSR sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles.
2010 | SpaceX becomes the first successful company to launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.
2016 | Astronaut and politician John Glenn died.
2018 | Inventor Evelyn Berezin died.
2019 | Economist Paul Volcker died.