Today is December 22nd
The 357th day of 2008.
There are 9 days left in the year.
Today's Highlights in History
On Dec. 22, 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to President Lincoln from Georgia, saying, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."
On Dec. 22, 1907, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, the British stage actress, was born.
1775 - A Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies.
1894 - French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. He was eventually vindicated.
1912 - Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, was born Claudio Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas.
1941 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, D.C., for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1944 - During the Battle of the Bulge, Germany demanded the surrender of American troops at Bastogne, Belgium; Brigadier Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe reportedly replied: "Nuts!"
1984 - New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him.
1989 - Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, the last of Eastern Europe's hard-line Communist rulers, was toppled from power in a popular uprising.
1989 - Playwright Samuel Beckett died in Paris at age 83.
1990 - Lech Walesa took the oath of office as Poland's first popularly elected president.
2000 - Pop singer Madonna married film director Guy Ritchie in Scotland. (The couple announced in October 2008 that they were divorcing.)
2001 - Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers.
2002 - Rock musician Joe Strummer of The Clash died at age 50.
2005 - New York transit workers ended their three-day strike without a new contract.
2005 - Astronomers announced the discovery of two more rings encircling the planet Uranus.