On This Day: December 8 By The Associated Press 1941, the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. 1980, Rock musician John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by Mark David Chapman. The former Beatle was 40. 1776 George Washingtons retreating army crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. 1854 Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own conception. 1863 President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South. 1886 The American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio. 1925 Sammy Davis Jr., the American performer famous for his singing, dancing and comedy routines, was born. 1987 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began an intefadeh, or uprising. 1987 President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. 1991 Russia, Belarus and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government dead, forming a new Commonwealth of Independent States. 1991 Kimberly Bergalis, who had contracted AIDS from her dentist, died in Florida at age 23. 1992 Americans saw live TV coverage of U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Somalia as Operation Restore Hope began. 1993 President Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. 1995 The Grateful Dead announced they were breaking up, four months after the death of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. 2008 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal he would confess to masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks; four other men also abandoned their defenses.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 21:23:34 +0000
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