Today is Saturday, Dec. 31, the 365th and final day of 2011.
Today’s Highlight:
On Dec. 31, 1951, the Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.
On this date:
In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded his famous brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin.
In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, the British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery was killed.
In 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.
In 1909, the Manhattan Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was officially opened to vehicular traffic.
In 1946, President Harry Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
In 1969, Joseph Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was shot to death with his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Pa., home by hitmen acting at the orders of UMWA president Tony Boyle.
In 1985, singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year’s Eve performance in Dallas.
Associated Press
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