AT A GLANCE
Published 1:50 am Saturday, December 8, 2018
TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, Dec. 8, the 342nd day of 2018. There are 23 days left in the year.
Trending
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY
On Dec. 8, 1941, the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Imperial Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
• Flutist James Galway is 79.
• Singer Jerry Butler is 79.
• Actress Kim Basinger is 65.
Trending
• Actor Wendell Pierce (“The Wire”) is 55.
• Actress Teri Hatcher (“Desperate Housewives” is 54.
• Actor David Harewood (“Homeland”) is 53.
• Actor Dominic Monaghan (“Lost”) is 42.
• Actor Ian Somerhalder (“The Vampire Diaries”) is 40.
• Actress AnnaSophia Robb (“Mercy Street”) is 25.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
“The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that. Unknown is what it is. Accept that it’s unknown and it’s plain sailing.” — John Lennon (1940-80).
ON THIS DATE
In 1813, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, was first performed in Vienna, with Beethoven himself conducting.
In 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.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction for the South.
In 1886, the American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio.
In 1980, rock star John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by an apparently deranged fan.
In 2008, in a startling about-face, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal he would confess to masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks.