Today is Tuesday, Dec. 28, the 363rd day of 2004. There are three days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On Dec. 28, 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.
On this date:
In 1694, Queen Mary II of England died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.
In 1832, John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson.
In 1846, Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.
In 1856, the 28th president of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, was born in Staunton, Va.
In 1897, the play “Cyrano de Bergerac,” by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris.
In 1917, the New York Evening Mail published a facetious — as well as fictitious — essay by H.L. Mencken on the history of bathtubs in America.
In 1937, composer Maurice Ravel died in Paris.
In 1944, the musical “On the Town” opened on Broadway.
In 1973, Alexander Solzhenitsyn published “Gulag Archipelago,” an expose of the Soviet prison system.
In 1982, Nevell Johnson Jr., a black man, was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade, setting off three days of race-related disturbances that left another man dead.
Ten years ago: CIA Director R. James Woolsey resigned, ending a tenure that was shadowed by the Aldrich Ames spy scandal. President Clinton nominated Dan Glickman to be agriculture secretary, succeeding Mike Espy.
Five years ago: Clayton Moore, television’s “Lone Ranger,” died in West Hills, Calif., at age 85.
One year ago: Libya for the first time allowed U.N. nuclear officials to inspect four sites related to its nuclear weapons program.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Lou Jacobi is 91. Bandleader Johnny Otis is 83. Former United Auto Workers union president Owen Bieber is 75. Actress Dame Maggie Smith is 70. Rock singer-musician Charles Neville is 66. Rock singer-musician Edgar Winter is 58. Rock singer-musician Alex Chilton (The Box Tops; Big Star) is 54. Actor Denzel Washington is 50. Country singer Joe Diffie is 46. Country musician Mike McGuire (Shenandoah) is 46. Actor Chad McQueen is 44. Country singer-musician Marty Roe (Diamond Rio) is 44. Actor Mauricio Mendoza is 35. Comedian Seth Meyers is 31. Actress Sienna Miller is 23. Actress Mackenzie Rosman is 15.
Quote of the day: "The masses gladly take revenge for the honors they render us." — Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).