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From: "Mary" <>
Subject: [FOLKLORE] Today in History - Dec. 7th
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 07:30:11 -0500


Today is Thursday, December seventh, the 342nd day of 2000.
There are 24 days left in the year.


Today's Highlight in History:

On December seventh, 1941, Japanese forces attacked American
and British territories and possessions in the Pacific,
including the home base of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii.

On this date:
In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the US
Constitution.

In 1796, electors chose John Adams to be the second
president of the United States.

In 1836, Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president
of the United States.

In 1842, the New York Philharmonic gave its first concert.

In 1946, fire broke out at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta;
the blaze killed 119 people, including hotel founder W.
Frank Winecoff.

In 1972, America's last moon mission to date was launched as
"Apollo 17" blasted off from Cape Canaveral.

In 1982, convicted murderer Charlie Brooks Junior became the
first U-S prisoner to be executed by injection, at a prison
in Huntsville, Texas.

In 1985, retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart died
in Hanover, New Hampshire, at age 70.

In 1987, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev set foot on
American soil for the first time, arriving for a Washington
summit with President Reagan.

In 1988, a major earthquake in the Soviet Union devastated
northern Armenia; official estimates put the death toll at
25,000.

Ten years ago: As President Bush arrived in Venezuela on the
last stop of his South American tour, his chief spokesman,
Marlin Fitzwater, warned Iraq that there was "no lessening
in the threat of war," despite Iraq's promise to release its
hostages.

Five years ago: Under Republican pressure, President Clinton
reluctantly presented a seven-year balanced-budget plan that
was quickly criticized by GOP lawmakers. A 746-pound probe
from the "Galileo" spacecraft hurtled into Jupiter's
atmosphere, sending back data to the mothership before it
was presumably destroyed.

One year ago: NASA scientists all but gave up hope of
contacting the Mars Polar Lander, last heard from four days
earlier as it began its descent towrad the Red Planet.

Today's Birthdays:
Actor Eli Wallach is 85.
Bluegrass singer Bobby Osborne is 69.
Actress Ellen Burstyn is 68.
Senator Thad Cochran (Republican, Mississippi) is 63.
ABC News anchorwoman Carole Simpson is 60.
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench is 53.
Country singer Gary Morris is 52.
Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 51.
Actress Priscilla Barnes is 45.
Basketball Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird is 44.
"Tonight Show" announcer Edd Hall is 42.
Rock musician Tim Butler (The Psychedelic Furs) is 42.
Actor C. Thomas Howell is 34.
Pop singer Nicole Appleton (All Saints) is 25.



"No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it
against attack in time of peace or insure it victory in time
of war."

-- President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933).


(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights
Reserved.)

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