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UPI Almanac for Monday, Dec. 12, 2016

On Dec. 12, 1975, Sara Jane Moore said she willfully tried to kill U.S. President Gerald Ford. She was sentenced to life in prison but released Dec. 31, 2007.

By United Press International
Reaction of Secret Service agents, police, and bystanders approximately one second after Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate President Gerald R. Ford on September 22, 1975, in San Francisco. Photo courtesy Gerald R. Ford Library
Reaction of Secret Service agents, police, and bystanders approximately one second after Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate President Gerald R. Ford on September 22, 1975, in San Francisco. Photo courtesy Gerald R. Ford Library

Today is Monday, Dec. 12, the 347th day of 2016 with 19 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Jupiter and Saturn. The evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Neptune, and Uranus.

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include John Jay, first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1745; French novelist Gustave Flaubert in 1821; Norwegian painter Edvard Munch in 1863; actor Edward G. Robinson in 1893; English writer Patrick O'Brian in 1914; singer/actor Frank Sinatra in 1915; TV game show host Bob Barker in 1923 (age 93); former New York Mayor Edward Koch in 1924; basketball Hall of Fame member Bob Pettit in 1932 (age 84); singers Connie Francis in 1938 (age 78) and Dionne Warwick in 1940 (age 76); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Dickey Betts in 1943 (age 73); actors Tom Wilkinson in 1948 (age 68) and Bill Nighy in 1949 (age 67); former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby in 1952 (age 64); musician Sheila E. in 1957 (age 59), former tennis star Tracy Austin in 1962 (age 54); and actors Jennifer Connelly in 1970 (age 46) and Mayim Bialik in 1975 (age 41).

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In this date in history:

In 1870, Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina was sworn in as the first African-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1901, Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1913, two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece the "Mona Lisa" was recovered in a Florence, Italy, hotel room.

In 1917, the Rev. Edward J. Flanagan, a 31-year-old Irish priest, opened the doors to Boys Town, a home for troubled and neglected children in Omaha. He lived by the adage, "There is no such thing as a bad boy."

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore said she willfully tried to kill U.S. President Gerald Ford. She was sentenced to life in prison but released Dec. 31, 2007.

In 1981, martial law was imposed in Poland.

In 1985, the crash of Arrow Air Flight 1285, a military charter, on takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland killed all 256 people aboard, including 248 U.S. soldiers.

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In 2003, Paul Martin became Canada's 21st prime minister, succeeding Jean Chretien.

In 2005, Gibran Tueni, an anti-Syrian member of the Lebanese Parliament and head of a leading Lebanon newspaper, was killed in an explosion that tore through his armored car outside Beirut.

In 2006, a Baghdad suicide bomber, luring unemployed Iraqis to his truck with promises of work, killed at least 70 people and injured more than 220 others.

In 2012, South Korean authorities said North Korea, defying international warnings and a U.N. resolution, fired a long-range test rocket.

In 2013, North Korea announced the execution of Jang Song Thaek, an uncle of leader Kim Jong Un, for trying to overthrow the government. Jang, until recently, had been considered one of the most powerful figures in the country.


A thought for the day: "Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise." -- Sigmund Freud

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