Today is Sunday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2007. There are eight days left in the year.
@6. TO boldcap lede:Today’s Highlight:
On Dec. 23, 1823, the poem “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in the Troy (New York) Sentinel; the verse, more popularly known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” was later widely attributed to Clement C. Moore.
@6. TO text bold lede:On this date:
In 1783, George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Va.
In 1805, Joseph Smith Jr., principal founder of the Mormon religious movement, was born in Sharon, Vt.
In 1941, during World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.
In 1947, scientists at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey demonstrated their just-invented point-contact transistor, which paved the way to a new era of miniaturized electronics.
In 1948, former Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.
In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson, on his way home from a visit to Southeast Asia, held an unprecedented meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican.
In 1968, 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.
In 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first nonstop, non-refueled, round-the-world flight as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
In 1987, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for Women in West Virginia. (She was recaptured two days later).
In 1997, a jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, declining to find him guilty of murder. Woody Allen married Soon-Yi Previn in a small ceremony in Venice, Italy.
In 2002, Senate Republicans unanimously elected Bill Frist to succeed Trent Lott as their leader in the next Congress. A passenger plane crashed in central Iran during a flight from Turkey, killing 45 people, mostly from Ukraine.
@6. TO boldcap lede:Today’s Birthdays
Emperor Akihito of Japan is 74. Actor Frederic Forrest is 71. Actor James Stacy is 71. Rock musician Ron Bushy is 66. Actor-comedian Harry Shearer is 64. Actress Susan Lucci is 61. Rock musician Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) is 51. Actress Joan Severance is 49. Rock singer Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) is 43. Actor Corey Haim is 36. Rock musician Jamie Murphy is 32. Actress Estella Warren is 29.
@6. TO boldcap lede:Thought for Today
“Christmas is the season when you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money.” — Anonymous
Associated Press
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