Thursday, December 24th
The 358th day of 2009.
There are 7 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
On Dec. 24, 1992, President Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal. (Go to article.)
On Dec. 24, 1907, I. F. Stone, the American journalist famous for his witty commentary in his newsletter, "I.F. Stone's Weekly", was born. Following his death on June 18, 1989, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On December 24, 1859, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about congressional debates over slavery, William Henry Seward's famous "Irrepressible Conflict" speech, and the presidential election of 1860. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1524 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama, who had found the sea route around Africa to India, died in India.
1814 The War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.
1851 Fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes.
1865 The Ku Klux Klan was founded as a private social club by several Confederate Army veterans in Pulaski, Tenn.
1871 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.
1906 Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, Mass.
1920 Enrico Caruso gave his last public performance, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces during World War II.
1968 The Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast.
1989 Ousted Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega, who had succeeded in eluding U.S. forces, took refuge at the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City.
1997 Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the aging revolutionary known as Carlos the Jackal, was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national.
2002 Laci Peterson was reported missing from her Modesto, Calif., home, by her husband, Scott, who was later convicted of murdering her and their unborn son.
2004 The international Cassini spacecraft launched a probe on a three-week free-fall toward Saturn's mysterious moon Titan.
Current Birthdays
Ryan Seacrest turns 35 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg TV personality Ryan Seacrest ("American Idol") turns 35 years old today.
89 Dave Bartholomew
Bandleader
82 Mary Higgins Clark
Mystery writer
69 Anthony Fauci
Public health official
65 Mike Curb
Recording company executive
64 Lemmy
Rock musician (Motorhead)
63 Jeff Sessions
U.S. senator, R-Ala.
54 Grand L. Bush
Actor
54 Clarence Gilyard
Actor
53 Stephanie Hodge
Actress
52 Ian Burden
Rock musician (The Human League)
47 Kate Spade
Designer
46 Mary Ramsey
Rock singer (10,000 Maniacs)
45 Mark Valley
Actor
43 Diedrich Bader
Actor ("The Drew Carey Show")
39 Amaury Nolasco
Actor ("Prison Break")
38 Ricky Martin
Singer
Historic Birthdays
I. F. Stone
12/24/1907 - 6/18/1989
American journalist
(Go to obit.)
60 William Paterson
12/24/1745 - 9/9/1806
Irish-born American governor of New Jersey
58 Kit Carson
12/24/1809 - 5/23/1868
American frontiersman and folk hero
65 Matthew Arnold
12/24/1822 - 4/15/1888
English poet and social critic
73 Michael Curtiz
12/24/1886 - 4/10/1962
Hungarian-born American film director
22 Georges-Marie Guynemer
12/24/1894 - 9/11/1917
French World War I combat pilot
60 Baby Dodds
12/24/1898 - 2/14/1959
American jazz musician
70 Howard Hughes
12/24/1905 - 4/5/1976
American manufacturer and aviator
67 Ava Gardner
12/24/1922 - 1/25/1990
American actress
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
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