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Today's Highlight in History:
On Dec. 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve telecast.
On this date:
In 1524, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama - who had discovered a sea route around Africa to India
- died in Cochin, India.
In 1809, legendary American frontiersman Christopher "Kit" Carson was born in Madison County, Ky.
In 1814, the War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.
In 1851, fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes.
In 1865, several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tenn. called the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1871, Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces as part of Operation Overlord.
In 1951, Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors," the first opera written specifically for television, was first broadcast by NBC-TV.
In 1980, Americans remembered the U.S. hostages in Iran by burning candles or shining lights for 417 seconds
- one second for each day of captivity. Karl Doenitz, the last leader of the Third Reich following the suicides of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, died in West Germany at age 89.
In 1990, Canadian teenager Tammy Homolka died after being drugged and sexually abused by her older sister, Karla, and Karla's fiance, Paul Bernardo.
Ten years ago: A group of escaped convicts robbed a sporting goods store in Irving, Texas; a police officer, Aubrey Hawkins, was killed during the robbery. Bombs exploded outside churches in nine Indonesian cities and towns, killing at least 19 people. Nick Massi, an original member of the Four Seasons, died in Newark, N.J. at age 73.
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Five years ago: Iraq's governing Shiite coalition called on Iraqis to accept results showing the religious bloc leading in parliamentary elections and moved ahead with efforts to form a "national unity" government. Michael Vale, the actor best known for portraying sleepy-eyed Fred the Baker in Dunkin' Donuts commercials, died in New York at age 83.
One year ago: The Senate passed health care legislation, 60-39, in the chamber's first Christmas Eve vote since 1895. Sean Goldman, a 9-year-old boy at the center of a five-year custody battle on two continents, was finally turned over to his American father, David Goldman, in Brazil. A woman jumped barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he was walking down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass; the pope was unhurt.
Today's Birthdays: Songwriter-bandleader Dave Bartholomew is 90. Author Mary Higgins Clark is 83. Federal health administrator Anthony S. Fauci is 70. Recording company executive Mike Curb is 66. Rock singer-musician Lemmy (Motorhead) is 65. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is 64. Actor Grand L. Bush is 55. Actor Clarence Gilyard is 55. Actress Stephanie Hodge is 54. The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai (HAH'-mihd KAHR'-zeye), is 53. Rock musician Ian Burden (The Human League) is 53. Actor Anil Kapoor is 51. Actor Wade Williams is 49. Designer Kate Spade is 48. Rock singer Mary Ramsey (10,000 Maniacs) is 47. Actor Mark Valley is 46. Actor Diedrich Bader is 44. Actor Amaury Nolasco is 40. Singer Ricky Martin is 39. Author Stephenie Meyer ("Twilight") is 37. "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest is 36.
Thought for Today: "To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year."
- E.B. White, American author and journalist (1899-1985).
(Above Advance for Use Friday, Dec. 24)
Copyright 2010, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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