http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Dec 8, 1980: John Lennon shot
John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, the rock group that transformed popular music in the 1960s, is shot and killed by an obsessed fan in New York City. The 40-year-old artist was entering his luxury Manhattan apartment building when Mark David Chapman shot him four times at close range with a .38-caliber revolver. Lennon, bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital but died en route. Chapman had received an autograph from Lennon earlier in the day and voluntarily remained at the scene of the shooting until he was arrested by police. For a week, hundreds of bereaved fans kept a vigil outside the Dakota--Lennon's apartment building--and demonstrations of mourning were held around the world.
John Lennon was one half of the singing-songwriting team that made the Beatles the most popular musical group of the 20th century. The other band leader was Paul McCartney, but the rest of the quartet--George Harrison and Ringo Starr--sometimes penned and sang their own songs as well. Hailing from Liverpool, England, and influenced by early American rock and roll, the Beatles took Britain by storm in 1963 with the single "Please Please Me." "Beatlemania" spread to the United States in 1964 with the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," followed by a sensational U.S. tour. With youth poised to break away from the culturally rigid landscape of the 1950s, the "Fab Four," with their exuberant music and good-natured rebellion, were the perfect catalyst for the shift.
The Beatles sold millions of records and starred in hit movies such as A Hard Day's Night (1964). Their live performances were near riots, with teenage girls screaming and fainting as their boyfriends nodded along to the catchy pop songs. In 1966, the Beatles gave up touring to concentrate on their innovative studio recordings, such as 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, a psychedelic concept album that is regarded as a masterpiece of popular music. The Beatles' music remained relevant to youth throughout the great cultural shifts of the 1960s, and critics of all ages acknowledged the songwriting genius of the Lennon-McCartney team.
Lennon was considered the intellectual Beatle and certainly was the most outspoken of the four. He caused a major controversy in 1966 when he declared that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus," prompting mass burnings of Beatles' records in the American Bible Belt. He later became an anti-war activist and flirted with communism in the lyrics of solo hits like "Imagine," recorded after the Beatles disbanded in 1970. In 1975, Lennon dropped out of the music business to spend more time with his Japanese-born wife, Yoko Ono, and their son, Sean. In 1980, he made a comeback with Double-Fantasy, a critically acclaimed album that celebrated his love for Yoko and featured songs written by her.
On December 8, 1980, their peaceful domestic life on New York's Upper West Side was shattered by 25-year-old Mark David Chapman. Psychiatrists deemed Chapman a borderline psychotic. He was instructed to plead insanity, but instead he pleaded guilty to murder. He was sentenced to 20 years to life. In 2000, New York State prison officials denied Chapman a parole hearing, telling him that his "vicious and violent act was apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged." He remains behind bars at Attica Prison in New York State.
John Lennon is memorialized in "Strawberry Fields," a section of Central Park across the street from the Dakota that Yoko Ono landscaped in honor of her husband.
Dec 8, 1941: The United States declares war on Japan
On this day, as America's Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan.
Leaning heavily on the arm of his son James, a Marine captain, FDR walked haltingly into the House of Representatives at noon to request a declaration of war from the House and address the nation via radio. "Yesterday," the president proclaimed, "December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."
Roosevelt's 10-minute speech, ending with an oath-"So help us God"—was greeted in the House by thunderous applause and stamping of feet. Within one hour, the president had his declaration of war, with only one dissenting vote, from a pacifist in the House. FDR signed the declaration at 4:10 p.m., wearing a black armband to symbolize mourning for those lost at Pearl Harbor.
On both coasts, civilian defense groups were mobilized. In New York, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia ordered the rounding up of Japanese nationals, who were transported to Ellis Island and held in custody indefinitely. In California, antiaircraft batteries were set up on Long Beach and the Hollywood Hills. Reports on supposed spy activity on the part of Japanese Americans began pouring into Washington, even as Japanese Americans paid for space in newspapers to declare unreservedly their loyalty to the United States. The groundwork was being laid for the tragic internment of Japanese Americans, thought a necessary caution at the time but regretted years later as a hysterical and bigoted response.
Dec 8, 1993: NAFTA signed into law
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Clinton said he hoped the agreement would encourage other nations to work toward a broader world-trade pact.
NAFTA, a trade pact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminated virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. The passage of NAFTA was one of Clinton's first major victories as the first Democratic president in 12 years--though the movement for free trade in North America had begun as a Republican initiative.
During its planning stages, NAFTA was heavily criticized by Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot, who argued that if NAFTA was passed, Americans would hear a "giant sucking sound" of American companies fleeing the United States for Mexico, where employees would work for less pay and without benefits. The pact, which took effect on January 1, 1994, created the world's largest free-trade zone
Dec 8, 1542: Mary Queen of Scots born
In Linlithgow Palace in Scotland, a daughter is born to James V, the dying king of Scotland. Named Mary, she was the only surviving child of her father and ascended to the Scottish throne when the king died just six days after her birth.
Mary's French-born mother, Mary of Guise, sent her to be raised in the French court, and in 1558 she married the French dauphin, who became King Francis II of France in 1559 and died in 1560. After Francis' death, Mary returned to Scotland to assume her designated role as the country's monarch. Mary's great-uncle was Henry VIII, the Tudor king of England, and in 1565 she married her English cousin Lord Darnley, another Tudor, which reinforced her claim to the English throne. This greatly angered the current English monarch, Queen Elizabeth I.
In 1567, Darnley was mysteriously killed in an explosion at Kirk o' Field, and Mary's lover, James Hepburn, the earl of Bothwell, was the key suspect. Although Bothwell was acquitted of the charge, his marriage to Mary in the same year enraged the nobility, and Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her son by Darnley, James. Mary was imprisoned on the tiny island of Loch Leven.
In 1568, she escaped from captivity and raised a substantial army but was defeated by her Scottish foes and fled to England. Queen Elizabeth I initially welcomed Mary but was soon forced to put her cousin under house arrest after Mary became the focus of various English Catholic and Spanish plots to overthrow her. In 1586, a major Catholic plot to murder Elizabeth was uncovered, and Mary was brought to trial, convicted for complicity, and sentenced to death.
On February 8, 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded for treason at Fotheringhay Castle in England. Her son, King James VI of Scotland, calmly accepted his mother's execution, and upon Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603, he became James I, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1326 - Daitokuji temple, Rinzai line, established in Kyoto
by Daito Kokushi
1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room, the
second public library of Europe.
1659 - Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez is founded by Fray
García de San Francisco.
1710 - Battle of Brihuega in the War of the Spanish
Succession: British General James Stanhope captured by French & Spanish
forces
1710 - Battle at Brihuega: English Gen Stanhope captured
1776 - George Washington's retreating army crosses Delaware
River from NJ
1777 - Capt Cook leaves Society Islands
1792 - 1st cremation in US, Henry Laurens
1794 - 1st issue of Herald of Rutland, VT published
1813 - Ludwig von Beethoven's 7th Symphony in A, premieres
1846 - Hector Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust"
premieres
1849 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Luisa Miller"
premieres in Naples
1852 - Gustav Freytag's "Die Journalisten"
premieres in Breslau
1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaims Immaculate Conception, makes
Mary, free of Original Sin
1857 - 1st production of Dion Boucicaults "Poor of NY"
1863 - 2,500 reported killed as result of fire at Jesuit
Church of La Compana Santiago Chile
1863 - Abraham Lincoln's Amnesty Proclamation and plan for
Reconstruction of South
1864 - Pope Pius IX publishes encyclical Quanta cura
("Syllabus errorum")
1869 - 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican I,
opens in Rome
US President Abraham LincolnUS President Abraham Lincoln
1869 - Timothy Eaton founds T. Eaton Co. Limited in Toronto, Canada.
1874 - Jesse James gang takes train at Muncie Kansas
1875 - Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Volki i Ovsty"
premieres in St Petersburg
1876 - Suriname begins compulsory education for 7-12 years
1880 - 5,000 armed Boers gather in Paardekraal South-Africa
1881 - Vienna's Ring Theater destroyed by fire, kills
between 640-850
1886 - American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft
unions Samuel Gompers elected AFL president
1895 - Battle at Amba Alagi: Ethiopian emperor Menelik II
drives Italian general Baratieri's out
1896 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Missing 3
Quarter" (BG)
1899 - Natal: British fall/burst out belegerd Ladysmith
1902 - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr became Associate Justice on
Supreme Court
1907 - King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish
throne.
1909 - Bird banding society found
1913 - Construction starts on Palace of Fine Arts in SF
1914 - British & German fleets battle at Falkland Island
Baseball Legend Connie MackBaseball Legend Connie Mack 1914
- Connie Mack sells Eddie Collins to the White Sox
1914 - Irving Berlin's musical "Watch your Step"
premieres in NYC
1915 - Jean Sibelius' 5th Symphony in E premieres
1921 - Eamon de Valera publicly repudiates Anglo-Irish
Treaty
1923 - German-US friendship treaty signed
1923 - Labour/Liberals win British parliament
1923 - Salary & price freeze in Germany
1926 - Disappearance of Agatha Christie
1930 - Broadway Theater opens at 1681 Broadway NYC
1930 - Cole Porter's musical "NYCers" premieres in
NYC
1931 - Coaxial cable patented
1934 - Friedrich Wolf's "Professor Mamlock"
premieres in Zurich
1935 - The Japanese military police launches a violent
suppression of the religious sect Oomoto, beginning with a crackdown on the
sect's operational bases of Ayabe and Kameoka in Kyoto Prefecture and the
arrest of its leader Onisaburo Deguchi.
1936 - Anastasio Somoza elected pres of Nicaragua
1936 - NAACP files suit to equalize salaries of black &
white teachers
Novelist Agatha ChristieNovelist Agatha Christie 1938 -
Highest temperature for December in US recorded in La Mesa Calif
1938 - LP Beria follows Nikolai Jezjov as head of Russian
secret police
1940 - 1st NFL championship on national radio; Bears beat
Redskins 73-0
1941 - Destruction Camp Chelmo opens
1941 - London: Dutch government declares war on Japan
1941 - Russian 16th army recaptures Krijukovo
1941 - SF 1st blackout, at 6:15 PM
1941 - US & Britain declare war on Japan, US enters WW
II
1941 - President Roosevelt delivers "Day of
Infamy" speech to US Congress a day after the bombing of Pearl Harbour
1942 - 8th Heisman Trophy Award: Frank Sinkwich, Georgia
(HB)
1943 - John Van Druten's "Voice of the Turtle"
premieres in NYC
1946 - Army rocket plane XS-1 makes 1st powered flight
1947 - "Caribbean Carnival" opens at International
Theater NYC for 11 perfs
1948 - "Marinka" closes at Winter Garden Theater
NYC after 168 performances
1948 - 14th Heisman Trophy Award: Doak Walker, SMU (HB)
1948 - Jordan annexs Arabic Palestine
1949 - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" opens at
Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 740 perfs
1949 - Chinese Nationalist government moves from Chinese
mainland to Formosa
1949 - Jule Styne's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"
premieres in NYC
1951 - "Tree Grows in Brooklyn" closes at Alvin
Theater NYC after 267 perfs
1951 - AL alters its restrictions on night games, adopting
NL's suspended game rule & lifting its ban on lights for Sunday games
1952 - 1st TV acknowledgement of pregnancy (I Love Lucy)
1952 - French troops shoot on demonstrators at Casablanca,
50 die
1952 - Isaak Ben-Zwi elected pres of Israel
1953 - 19th Heisman Trophy Award: John Lattner, Notre Dame
(HB)
1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the Atoms for Peace
speech.
1954 - Maxwell Anderson's "Bad Seed," premieres in
NYC
1954 - WPTZ TV channel 5 in Plattsburgh, NY (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1955 - 21st Heisman Trophy Award: Howard Cassady, Ohio State
(HB)
1955 - Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella wins his 3rd MVP
Award
1955 - Turkish government of Menderes forms
1956 - 16th Olympic games close at Melbourne, Australia
1956 - 1st test firing of Vanguard satellite program, TV-0
1956 - Guy Mitchell's "Singing the Blues," single
goes #1 for 10 weeks
1959 - Dom Mintoff demands independence for Malta
1959 - President Eisenhower watches Pakistan v Aust Test
Cricket at Karachi
1960 - Expansion LA Angels sign a 4 year lease to use Dodger
Stadium
1961 - Antwerp Belgium diocese forms
1961 - Larry Costello scores 32 consecutive pts without a
miss (NBA rec)
1961 - South Africa v NZ, Durban debuts for Eddie Barlow
& Peter Pollock
1961 - Wilt Chamberlain scores the 2nd highest total in the
NBA - 78
1962 - "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" closes at
Shubert NYC after 300 perfs
1962 - 114-day newspaper strike begins in NYC
1962 - Failed coup in Brunei
1962 - Funeral for Queen Wilhelmina of Holland (New Kerk,
Delft)
1963 - "Girl Who Came to Supper" opens at Broadway
Theater NYC for 112 perfs
1963 - Mickey Wright/Dave Ragan Jr wins LPGA Haig & Haig
Scotch Mixed Golf
1963 - 3 fuel tanks explodes when jetliner is struck by
lightning crashing near Elkton, Maryland-Only case of lightning caused crash,
81 die
1963 - Pan Am Flight 214 crashes outside Elkton, Maryland
with a loss of 81 people.
1965 - Abe Burrows' "Cactus Flower" premieres in
NYC
1965 - Nikolai Podgorny succeeds Mikojan as president of
USSR
1965 - Pope Paul VI signs 2nd Vatican council
American Baseball Player Roger MarisAmerican Baseball Player
Roger Maris 1966 - A terrible Yankee trade, Roger Maris for Card's Charlie
Smith
1966 - US & USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons
in outer space
1967 - Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" album is
released in UK
1967 - NHL California Seals change name to Oakland Seals
1969 - Greek DC-6B crashes in storm at Athens, 93 killed
1969 - Police surprise attack on Black-Panthers in LA
1972 - United Airlines crashes at Chicago's Midway Airport
killing 45
1973 - "Seesaw" closes at Uris Theater NYC after
296 performances
1973 - 39th Heisman Trophy Award: John Cappelletti, Penn
State (RB)
1974 - Greek monarchy rejected by referendum
1974 - Irish Republican Socialist Party forms
1974 - Sandra Post wins LPGA Colgate Far East Golf Open
1974 - Soyuz 16 returns to Earth
1975 - "Raisin" closes at 46th St Theater NYC
after 847 performances
1976 - UN General Assembly re-elects Kurt Waldheim secretary-General
1976 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1977 - 43rd Heisman Trophy Award: Earl Campbell, Texas (RB)
1977 - Portugal's premier Soares resigns
1978 - Commencement of the 1st day/night WSC cricket
supertest at VFL Park
1980 - "Bravo" network premieres on cable TV
1981 - France performs nuclear test
1982 - "Herman Van Veen: All of Him" opens at
Ambassador NYC for 6 perfs
1982 - Clark Gilles fails in 7th Islander penalty shot
1982 - Suriname army leader Bouterse murders 15 opponents
1982 - Norman Mayer holds Washington Monument hostage,
demanding an end to nuclear weapons. Is killed by police after 10 hrs (he had
no explosives)
1983 - 9th Space Shuttle Mission, Columbia 6, lands at
Edwards AFB
1983 - Richard Baker, Zen teacher, steps down from abbotship
of SF Zen Center
1984 - 73rd Australian Men Tennis: Mats Wilander beats K
Curren (67 64 76 62)
1984 - Europe & 64 developing countries sign Lome III
treaty
1984 - Ringo Starr appears on Saturday Night Live
1985 - 60th Australian Womens Tennis: M Navratilova beats C
Evert (62 46 62)
1985 - Ken O'Brien's 96 yard TD pass (NY Jet record) to
Wesley Walker
1985 - Laurie Rinker/Larry Rinker wins LPGA J C Penney Golf
Classic
1986 - House Dems select majority leader Jim Wright as 48th
speaker
1987 - Flyers' Ron Hextall becomes 1st goalie to actually
score a goal
1987 - Jack Sikma (Milwaukee) begins NBA free throw streak
of 51 games
1987 - Occupied Palestinians start "intefadeh"
(uprising) against Israel
US President & Actor Ronald ReaganUS President &
Actor Ronald Reagan 1987 - US President Reagan & Soviet General Secretary
Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles
1987 - The Alianza Lima air disaster.
1988 - Knick's set NBA record of 11 3-pointers & sink
Bucks, 113-109
1989 - Great Britain performs nuclear test
1990 - Galileo Earth-1 Flyby
1990 - Indians agree to a lease new ballpark in Gateway
(Jacobs Field)
1991 - "Homecoming" closes at Criterion Theater
NYC after 49 performances
1991 - "Nick & Nora" opens at Marquis Theater
NYC for 9 performances
1991 - Kris Tschetter/Billy Andrade wins LPGA J C Penney
Golf Classic
1991 - Russia, Belorussia & Ukraine form Commonwealth of
Ind States
1991 - The Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
1992 - Galileo's nearest approach to Jupiter (303 km)
1992 - NBC announces that "Cheers" will go off the
air in May 1993
1993 - 30 killed at religious rebellion in Algeria
1993 - 4th Billboard Music Awards
1993 - Dow-Jones hits record 3734.53
1993 - Storm hits West Europe, 11 killed in England
1994 - "What's Wrong With this Picture?" opens at
Circle in Sq NYC for 12 per
Baseball Player Darryl StrawberryBaseball Player Darryl
Strawberry 1994 - Darryl Strawberry indicted on tax evasion charges
1994 - Fire in cinema in Karamay China, 310 killed
1996 - "God Said, Ha!" closes at Lyceum Theater
NYC after 22 performances
1996 - Donna Andrews & Mike Hulbert win LPGA J C Penney
Golf Classic
1997 - 8th Billboard Music Awards: LeAnn Rimes & Spice
Girls win
1998 - Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed
groups in Algeria.
2002 - The Caribbean Community Heads of Government meet with
the Government of Cuba and declare the date to be "CARICOM-Cuba Day"
- To celebrate diplomatic ties between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and
Cuba.
2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru,
establishing the South American Community of Nations.
2005 - Ante Gotovina, Croatian army general accused of war
crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife by the Spanish
police.
2008 - Kirsty Williams elected as Leader of the Welsh
Liberal Democrats. The first female leader of a political party in Wales.
2009 - Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 and injure 448.
2010 - With the second launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX
becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and
recover a spacecraft.
2012 - UN climate conference agrees to extend the Kyoto
Protocol to 2020
1765 - Eli Whitney was born in Westboro, MA. Whitney invented the cotton gin and developed the concept of mass-production of interchangeable parts. 1776 - George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. 1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The theory holds that Mary, mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment she was conceived. 1863 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the Reconstruction of the South. 1863 - Tom King of England defeated American John Heenan and became the first world heavyweight champion. 1886 - At a convention of union leaders in Columbus, OH, the American Federation of Labor was founded. 1941 - The United States entered World War II when it declared war against Japan. The act came one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain and Canada also declared war on Japan. 1949 - The Chinese Nationalist government moved from the Chinese mainland to Formosa due to Communists pressure. 1952 - On the show "I Love Lucy," a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time. 1953 - Los Angeles became the third largest city in the United States. 1962 - Workers of the International Typographical Union began striking and closed nine New York City newspapers. The strike lasted 114 days and ended April 1, 1963. 1980 - Zimbabwe’s manpower minister, Edgar Tekere, was found guilty in the killing of a white farmer. He was freed under a law that protected ministers acting to suppress terrorism. 1982 - Norman D. Mayer demanding an end to nuclear weapons held the Washington Monument hostage. He threatened to blow it up with explosives he claimed were inside a van. 10 hours later he was shot to death by police. 1984 - In Roanoke, Virginia, a jury found Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt innocent of libeling Reverend Jerry Falwell with a parody advertisement. However Falwell was awarded $200,000 for emotional distress. 1987 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty agreeing to destroy their nations' arsenals of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. 1987 - The "intefadeh" (Arabic for uprising) by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began. 1989 - Communist leaders in Czechoslovakia offered to surrender their control over the government and accept a minority role in a coalition Cabinet. 1991 - Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine declared the Soviet national government to be dead. They forged a new alliance to be known as the Commonwealth of Independent States. The act was denounced by Russian President Gorbachev as unconstitutional. 1992 - Americans got to see live television coverage of U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Somalia during Operation Restore Hope. (Due to the time difference, it was December 9 in Somalia.) 1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. 1994 - Bosnian Serbs released dozens of hostage peacekeepers, but continued to detain about 300 others. 1994 - In Los Angeles, 12 alternate jurors were chosen for the O.J. Simpson murder trial. 1997 - The second largest bank was created with the announcement that Union Bank Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation would merge. The combined assets were more than $590 billion. 1997 - Jenny Shipley was sworn in as the first female prime minister of New Zealand. 1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police could not search a person or their cars after ticketing for a routine traffic violation. 1998 - The FBI opened its files on Frank Sinatra to the public. The file contained over 1,300 pages. 1998 - Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis Udobi's first of eight babies was born. The other seven were delivered 12 days later. 1998 - AT&T Corp. announced that it was buying IBM's data networking business for $5 billion cash. 1998 - The first female ice hockey game in Olympic history was played. Finland beat Sweden 6-0. 1999 - In Memphis, TN, a jury found that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been the victim of a vast murder conspiracy, not a lone assassin. 1999 - Russia and Belarus agreed in principle to form an economic and political confederation. 2000 - Mario Lemieux announced to the Pittsburgh Penguins that he planned to return to the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player at age 35. He would be the first modern owner-player in U.S. pro sports.
1854 Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. 1886 The American Federation of Labor was founded at a convention of union leaders in Columbus, Ohio. 1941 Congress declared war on Japan and the U.S. entered World War II. 1949 Communist attacks forced the Chinese Nationalist government to flee to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). 1978 Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir died. 1980 John Lennon, former member of the Beatles, was shot and killed in New York City by a deranged fan. 1987 President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the first treaty to reduce the nuclear arsenals of the two superpowers. 1993 President Bill Clinton signed The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/dec08.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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