A Blast from the Past

, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Today is Dec. 9.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Woodrow Wilson on this date in 1920. Wilson was honored because of his efforts behind the League of Nations, a world body aimed at resolving conflicts between countries before they erupt into war. However, the U.S. Congress refused to approve legislation for the United States to join the League of Nations, and the idea withered on the vine.

It was on this date in 1990 that Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential vote. Back in 1980, Walesa was a shipyard worker in the Polish port city of Gdansk when he organized the Solidarity Labor Union. Warsaw's Communist government tolerated the pro-democracy union activities until December 1981, when it declared martial law, cracked down on Solidarity and threw Walesa into prison for 11 months. But Walesa's ideas could not be so easily contained and eventually contributed to the end of Communism in Poland.

What did the president know and when did he know it? It was on this date in 1974 that former White House aide John Ehrlichman testified at the Watergate trial that President Nixon was responsible for the cover-up that followed the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H.W. Welch, Jr., established the John Birch Society on this date in Indianapolis in 1958. The right-wing organization was dedicated to fighting what it perceived to be the extensive infiltration of communism into American society.

And it was on this date in 1907 that the first Christmas Seals to raise money to fight tuberculosis went on sale in the post office in Wilmington, Del.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.

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Today is Dec. 10.

In one of the 20th century's great love stories, Britain's King Edward VIII gave it all up for the woman he loved. The king abdicated on this date in 1936 to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. The British government had given Edward a choice: the lady or the land, hoping he'd choose the former (Edward had shown Nazi sympathies, something London was not thrilled about). His brother, Albert, succeeded to the throne as King George VI. Edward and his bride were granted the newly created titles of duke and duchess of Windsor and they settled near Paris, returning to England only for rare visits and to be buried.

The Spanish-American War officially ended on this date in 1898 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The terms of the deal gave Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States and called for Spain to withdraw from Cuba. The U.S. Senate later would argue that the U.S. acquisition of the Philippines marked a move toward imperialism, but passed the treaty in February 1899 by a one-vote margin.

It was on this date in 1869 that the Territory of Wyoming granted women the right to vote. (Wyoming had not yet achieved statehood.) It wasn't until early in the 20th century that the entire United States decided that letting women vote would be a good idea.

The National Science Foundation reported on this date in 1984 the discovery of the first planet outside our solar system. It wouldn't be a place we'd be visiting anytime soon: the planet orbited a star 21 million light years from Earth.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.

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Today is Dec. 11.

The International Olympic Committee launched an internal investigation on this date in 1998 into rumors that bribes had been offered by cities seeking to be chosen as sites for the Olympic games. A number of IOC officials ended up resigning after it became clear that they'd been the recipients of loans and gifts from municipal officials hoping to influence their city's choice as an Olympic host.

Germany and Italy declared war on the United States on this date in 1941 -- four days after Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and three days after the United States declared war on Japan.

Up to 40,000 Russian troops invaded Chechnya, a semi-autonomous republic on Russia's border with Georgia, on this date in 1994 to put down a secessionist rebellion. The fighting continues to this day in Chechnya, despite several peace attempts.

A jury in Palm Beach, Fla., acquitted Kennedy cousin William Kennedy Smith of rape charges on this date in 1991. Smith, a medical student, had been accused of attacking a woman at the seaside Kennedy mansion in West Palm Beach. The 10-day trial was televised by Court TV and put the cable network on the map. By the way, the Kennedy family later sold the Florida property.

The final manned lunar mission began on this date in 1972, when Apollo XVII astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt landed on the moon for a three-day exploration.

And it was on this date in 1953, at 6 p.m., that KTVA, Channel 11, in anchorage, Alaska, signed on the air, becoming Alaska's first TV station. We don't know what Alaskans did for fun before then ...

We now return you to the present, already in progress.

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Today is Dec. 12.

Poland's Communist leaders decided enough was enough on this date in 1981 and declared martial law. Among other things, Solidarity Labor Union leader Lech Walesa was thrown in prison, where he would remain for 11 months. The Eastern European nation had given unprecedented freedom to Walesa and Solidarity -- founded in August 1980, in the Baltic port city of Gdansk -- but that ended on Dec. 12, 1981.

The Korean War formally ended on this date in 1991 -- 38 years after the fighting ceased -- when North and South Korea signed a treaty of reconciliation and non-aggression. The historic pact included a pledge to eventually reunify.

Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in as the first black to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives on this date in 1870. Rainey had been appointed to fill a vacancy left by the death of a congressman. He served until March 1879.

It was on this date in 1985 that an Arrow Air DC-8 military charter crashed on takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 aboard, including 248 U.S. soldiers.

Five years later, in 1990, 15 people were killed and more than 260 injured in a pileup on a foggy Tennessee highway.

Princess Anne, the only daughter of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, became the first divorced royal in the inner circle to remarry on this date in 1992 when she wed Cmdr. Timothy Laurence.

And it was on this date in 1901 that a radio message was transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.

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Today is Dec. 13.

As the extensive manhunt continued for Osama bin Laden, the U.S. government on this date in 2001 released a tape of the suspected mastermind of the Sept.11 terrorist attacks in which he spoke of the assaults and voiced pleasure and surprise that so many of the "enemy" had died.

Also on this date in 2001, the U.S. announced it was pulling out of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty which would clear the way for the installation of a missile defense system without restraints. President George W. Bush called it a Cold War relic.

On this date in 1577, English seaman Francis Drake set out from Plymouth, England, with five ships and 164 men on a mission to raid Spanish holdings on the Pacific coast of the New World and explore the Pacific Ocean. Three years later, Drake's return to Plymouth marked the first circumnavigation of the earth by a British explorer.

Abel Tasman of the Dutch East India Co. became the first European to see New Zealand on this date in 1642. However, Maori warriors prevented him from landing. In 1769, Capt. James Cook would land in New Zealand and formally take possession for Great Britain.

It was on this date in 1998 that, in a non-binding plebiscite on Puerto Rico's future, the "none of the above" option was supported by 50 percent of voters -- indicating that most wished the Caribbean island to retain its current status as a U.S. commonwealth.

The first savings bank in the United States, the Provident Institution for Savings, opened in Boston on this date in 1816.

Officials with the Sentry Armored Car Co. in New York City got a shock on this date in 1982 when they discovered the overnight theft of $11 million from their headquarters. It was the biggest cash heist in U.S. history.

Ricky Ray, one of three hemophiliac brothers barred from attending a Florida school because they were HIV-positive, died on this date in 1992. He was 15. The plight of the Ray brothers touched the hearts of Americans -- especially at one point when a fire was set at the family's home. The boys had become infected during a time when blood products were not yet being tested for the AIDS virus.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.

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Today is Dec. 14.

It was on this date in 1998 that a federal judge in Los Angeles sentenced Democratic Party donor Johnny Chung to five years' probation on charges that included $20,000 in illegal gifts to the Clinton-Gore campaign. The Democratic Party had returned nearly $400,000 in gifts from Chung that were of dubious legality.

From the seventh century onward, the South Pole had been the object of many expeditions. But on this date in 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole. He was accompanied by four companions and 52 sled dogs. All returned to camp safely.

Next to visit the South Pole was a party led by Capt. Robert Scott -- all of whom died during the return trip. Their frozen bodies were found 11 months later.

Chile's military dictatorship ended on this date in 1989, when opposition candidate Patricio Aylwin easily won the South American country's first democratic presidential election since the 1973 coup that brought military leader Augusto Pinochet to power. Pinochet had been defeated in a national plebiscite on eight more years of his rule, crippling his regime and prompting the election.

George Washington, "father of our country" and the first president of the United States, died at his Mount Vernon home in Virginia on this date in 1799. He was 67.

Andrei Sakharov -- father of the Soviet H-bomb, dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner for defending human rights -- died at age 68 on this date in 1989.

With an eye to the planned visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul II in early 1998, President Fidel Castro announced on this date in 1997 that Christmas would be an official holiday in the Caribbean island nation for the first time since 1968. Communists are supposed to be atheists, although many, many Cubans are still Catholics -- and Castro apparently wanted to look good for the Vatican.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.

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Today is Dec. 15.

This is Bill of Rights Day. On this date in 1791, the Bill of Rights, comprising the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, took effect following ratification by Virginia.

It was on this date in 1943 that the Battle of San Pietro between American forces and a German panzer battalion took place. The Germans inflicted heavy casualties on U.S. troops trying to retake the 700-year-old Italian town, reducing it almost to rubble.

Filmmaker John Huston, serving as a U.S. Army lieutenant, recorded the battle for the military. The movie footage was so graphic that the War Department dubbed it anti-war and cut two reels from its five-reel length before allowing it to be released in 1944. The film was later re-edited for the TV series "The Big Picture."

Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull was killed in a skirmish with U.S. soldiers along the Grand River, S.D., on this date in 1890. It was Sitting Bull's steadfast refusal to go live on a reservation that led to the U.S. military campaign against him, and the massacre of Gen. George Custer and his men at Little Big Horn.

Egypt's worst modern maritime disaster took place on this date in 1991 in the Red Sea. More than 400 people drowned when a ferry headed from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to Egypt sank. 150 were rescued.

It was on this date in 1989 that Panamanian lawmakers designated Gen. Manuel Noriega head of state and declared that a "state of war" existed with the United States. Noriega had refused to honor the results of Panama's presidential elections. A week later, U.S. troops invaded Panama to arrest Noriega.

In a landmark right-to-die case, a Missouri judge on this date in 1990 cleared the way for the parents of Nancy Cruzan to remove their daughter from life-support systems. Cruzan, comatose with no hopes of recovery, died just after Christmas.

On this date in 1992, the governor of Michigan signed a bill making assisted suicide a felony -- on the same day two chronically ill women killed themselves with the help of euthanasia advocate "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian.

A federal grand jury in New York on this date in 1948 indicted former State Department official Alger Hiss on perjury charges.

And it was on this date in 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association reversed its longstanding position and declared that homosexuality was not a mental illness.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.