December 15th

Today's Highlight in History:
On December 15th, 1939, the motion picture "Gone With the Wind" had its world premiere in Atlanta.

On this date:
In 1791, the Bill of Rights went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

In 1890, Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and eleven other tribe members were killed in Grand River, South Dakota, during a fracas with Indian police.

In 1916, the French defeated the Germans in the World War One Battle of Verdun.

In 1938, groundbreaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington DC.

In 1944, a single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

In 1948, former State Department official Alger Hiss was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of perjury. (He was convicted in 1950.)

In 1961, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court.

In 1965, two US manned spacecraft, "Gemini Six" and "Gemini Seven," maneuvered to within ten feet of each other while in orbit.

In 1978, President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.

In 1979, the deposed Shah of Iran left the United States for Panama, the same day the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Iran should release all its American hostages.

Ten years ago: A popular uprising that resulted in the downfall of Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu began as demonstrators gathered in Timisoara to prevent the arrest of the Reverend Laszlo Tokes, a dissident clergyman. Drug trafficker Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha was killed in northern Colombia following a shootout with police.

Five years ago: President Clinton, in a 12-minute prime-time address, presented a package of tax cuts for middle-income families raising children, and outlined deep reductions in government programs to help pay for them.

One year ago: President Clinton concluded his three-day Middle East journey on a disappointing note as Israel refused to resume the West Bank troop withdrawals called for under the Wye River peace accord; nevertheless, Clinton declared his trip a success.

"If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

-- President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924).