Today is Monday, December 13th, the 348th day of 2004. There are 18 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On December 13th, 1944, during World War Two, the U.S. cruiser "Nashville" was badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze attack that claimed more than 130 lives.
On this date:
In 1577, Sir Francis Drake of England set out with five ships on a nearly three-year journey that would take him around the world.
In 1769, Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, received its charter.
In 1862, Union forces suffered a major defeat to the Confederates at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
In 1918, President Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit Europe while in office.
In 1928, George Gershwin's musical work "An American in Paris" had its premiere, at Carnegie Hall in New York.
In 1964, in El Paso, Texas, President Johnson and Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion that diverted the Rio Grande, reshaping the U.S.-Mexican border and ending a century-old dispute.
In 1978, the Philadelphia Mint began stamping the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which went into circulation the following July.
In 1981, authorities in Poland imposed martial law in a crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. (Martial law formally ended in 1983.)
In 1993, the space shuttle "Endeavour" returned from its mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that people were entitled to a hearing before real property linked to illegal drug sales could be seized.
Ten years ago: An American Eagle commuter plane carrying 20 people crashed short of Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15.
Five years ago: In a spirited presidential campaign debate, Texas Governor George W. Bush and Senator John McCain fought over tax policy and farm subsidies, while McCain was pushed to defend his centerpiece campaign finance proposals. In his first major test on the road to peace with Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak won parliamentary backing for opening negotiations with Damascus.
One year ago: Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole under a farmhouse in Adwar, Iraq, near his hometown of Tikrit. A summit to forge a European Union constitution collapsed in Brussels, Belgium. Oklahoma quarterback Jason White won the Heisman Trophy. Former Senator William V. Roth Junior (Republican, Delaware), creator of Roth IRA accounts, died in Washington at age 82.
Today's birthdays: Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz is 84. Actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke is 79. Actor Christopher Plummer is 75. Actor Robert Prosky is 74. Country singer Buck White is 74. Movie producer Richard Zanuck is 70. Singer John Davidson is 63. Singer Ted Nugent is 56. Rock musician Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is 56. Country musician Ron Getman is 56. Actor Robert Lindsay is 55. Country singer-musician Randy Owen is 55. Actress Wendie Malick is 54. Country singer John Anderson is 50. Singer-songwriter Steve Forbert is 50. Singer-actor Morris Day is 48. Actor Steve Buscemi is 47. Actor Johnny Whitaker is 45. Actor-comedian Jamie Foxx is 37. Rock singer-musician Thomas Delonge (Blink 182) is 29. Actress Chelsea Hertford is 23.