Today is Wednesday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2018. There are 12 days left in the year.
Todays Highlight in History:
On Dec. 19, 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice (he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate).
In 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.
In 1813, British forces captured Fort Niagara during the War of 1812.
In 1907, 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
In 1950, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of the military forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
In 1957, Meredith Willsons musical play The Music Man opened on Broadway.
In 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
In 1974, Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st vice president of the United States in the U.S. Senate chamber by Chief Justice Warren Burger with President Gerald R. Ford looking on.
In 1975, John Paul Stevens was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2001, the fires that had burned beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City for the previous three months were declared extinguished except for a few scattered hot spots.
Ten years ago: Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.
Five years ago: Discount retailer Target announced that data connected to about 40 million credit and debit card accounts had been stolen as part of a breach that began over the Thanksgiving weekend.
One year ago: U.S. health officials approved the nations first gene therapy for an inherited disease, a treatment that improves the sight of patients with a rare form of blindness.
Thought for Today: Worse than not realizing the dreams of your youth, would be to have been young and never dreamed at all. Jean Genet (1910-1986).
