December 19th

Today's Highlight in History:
One year ago, on December 19th, 1998, President Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice. The 42nd chief executive became only the second in history to be ordered to stand trial in the Senate, where, like Andrew Johnson before him, he was acquitted.

On this date:
In 1732, Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."

In 1776, Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay.

In 1777, General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to camp for the winter.

In 1843, "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, was first published in England.

In 1907, 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

In 1932, the British Broadcasting Corporation began transmitting overseas with its "Empire Service" to Australia.

In 1957, the 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 1984, Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July first, 1997.

Ten years ago: Police in Jacksonville, Florida, disarmed a parcel bomb at the local NAACP office, the fourth in a series of mail bombs to turn up in the Deep South. (Two of the bombs killed a Savannah, Georgia, alderman and a federal judge in Alabama -- Walter L. Moody Junior was convicted in both bombings.)

Five years ago: Former President Jimmy Carter, on a peace mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, met with Bosnian Serb leaders, who offered a four-month cease-fire. cnn publicly acknowledged it had wrongfully disobeyed a judge's order in broadcasting former Panamanian military ruler Manuel Noriega's jailhouse telephone conversations.

One year ago: Two days after his confession of marital infidelity, Bob Livingston told the House he wouldn't serve as its next speaker. President Clinton halted airstrikes against Iraq after a fourth day of attacks.

"He who knows nothing, doubts nothing."

-- Italian proverb.