Today is Tuesday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2009. There are nine days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

In 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe rejected a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply.

ON THIS DATE

In 1775, Esek Hopkins was appointed the commander in chief of the Continental Navy.

In 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the “Pastoral Symphony,” had their world premieres in Vienna, Austria.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William Sherman wrote a message to President Abraham Lincoln which said in part: “I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah (Georgia).”

In 1894, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. (Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.)

In 1984, New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot and wounded four youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him.

In 2001, Richard Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and other passengers. (Reid is serving a life sentence.)

In 1999, an Algerian accused of trying to smuggle nitroglycerin and other bomb-making materials into the United States, arriving by ferry from Port Angeles from Canada, pleaded innocent in Seattle to all five counts of a federal indictment. (Ahmed Ressam was convicted in April 2001 of terrorist conspiracy and eight other charges.)

Associated Press