On December 9, 2000, the US Supreme Court orders a halt to the recounting of votes in the Presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The initial vote on November 8 showed Bush leading by less than half a percent, triggering an automatic recount. The first recount showed Bush winning by just 317 votes, but the Gore campaign demanded a manual recount of 4 counties. State law permitted the recount, but the next few weeks were marked by court fights between the Democrats and state government over the deadlines for the recount. On November 26, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified that Bush had won the election by a 537-vote margin. Gore then sued Harris because all of the recounts had not been completed when she certified the results. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court sided with Gore, ordering that all statewide “undervote” ballots, or punch-card ballots that had been cast but not registered because of a problem called a “hanging chad,” needed to be recounted. Bush immediately appealed to the SOCUS, triggering today's ruling. In 3 days, less than a day before law mandates the Electoral College convene, the court will rule Bush has won Florida, and the election. On December 9, 1979, a commission of scientists declares that smallpox has been eradicated. The disease, which carries around a 30 percent chance of death for those who contract it, is the only infectious disease afflicting humans that has officially been eradicated. On December 9, 1965, CBS Television Network, with no confidence in the product, airs a 30-minute animated special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Network execs were horrified with the show's blatant Christian message, objected to the lack of a laugh track, thought Vince Guiraldi's jazz soundtrack was "intrusive," and were worried about the performances of several of the child actors who voiced the characters. (Cathy Steinberg, who voiced Charlie Brown's sister Sally, couldn't even read yet and had to be voice-fed her lines, in some cases, a syllable at a time. Its most obvious in the choppy delivery of her line,"All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share") The viewing public, however, loved the show, and it remains must-see holiday TV 55 years later.
1934 championship game. Halftime (pre sneakers) score, Bears 10, Giants 3. Final score, Giants 30, Bears 13.
On December 10, 1901, the first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. (A prize for economic science will be added in 1968)The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be “annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the lethal uses of his inventions in war. Today, the Nobels are considered the world's most significant award in their respective fields. Winners receive the medal pictured below and about $1.4 million in cash. On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris formally ends the Spanish-American War. The treaty virtually dissolves the once-mighty Spanish empire, giving the US possession of Puerto Rico and Guam. The Philippines were bought for $20 million, and Cuba became a U.S. protectorate. On December 10, 1884, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is published in England. It will have its American debut 3 months later. The novel tells the story of its narrator, Huck Finn, and Jim, a runaway slave. The book, which condemns racism, will stir controversy: Twain wrote the book in regional vernacular, with all of the racial dialogue common to the day. Critics label it "rough, coarse, and inelegant" and "more suited to the slums," which Twain jokes will spur sales. Today, Huckleberry Finn is considered the first great American novel.
December 11, 1941, a representative of the German consulate in Washington hands Secretary of State Cordell Hull a copy of Germany's declaration of war on the USA, ending America's neutral stance on the war in Europe. In an address to the Reichstag on the same day, Hitler claims Roosevelt's "New Deal" plan to recover from the Depression a failure, and that the US incited the war to cover that failure. In fact, Hitler was pressured by the Japanese into declaring war, citing his own verbal promise to do so when the Axis pact was made. Actually, the Tripartite Pact only obligated Germany to back Japan if it were attacked, not if it were the aggressor. But Hitler thought Japan could defeat the US quickly and on its own, and believed it would then back Germany when he moved on Russia. On December 11, 1936, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. He has been king for less than a year. He chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. Addressing the nation, he explained, “I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love.” On December 12, his younger brother, the duke of York, was proclaimed King George VI. Edward and Wallis married in 1937 and moved to France, eventually accepting liaison duties with the French government at the outbreak of the war. He was also sympathetic to the Nazi cause, and Churchill later offered him the governorship of the Bahamas to get him out of the way. (Churchill was unaware that the Nazis intended to kidnap Edward and install him as puppet head of the British government once Britain fell to the Germans). They returned to France after the war, and Edward did not "officially" visit England again until 1967. He died in 1972, and Wallis in 1986. They are buried side by side on the grounds of Windsor Castle. December 11, 1946, the United Nations votes to form the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, an organization to help provide relief and support to children living in countries devastated by the war. UNICEF outlived its primary purpose and has developed into one of the world's leading advocates for children's rights.
Slim pickings today..... December 12, 1980, American oil tycoon Armand Hammer pays $5,126,000 at auction for a notebook containing writings by Leonardo da Vinci. The manuscript, written around 1508, contains about 300 notes and detailed drawings, all relating to the common theme of water and how it moved. Experts have said that da Vinci drew on it to paint the background of the Mona Lisa. The text came to be known as the Leicester Codex after it was purchased by Thomas Coke,the first earl of Leicester, in 1717. After Hammer's death in 1990, it was sold again at auction, this time for $30.8 million to an anonymous bidder who turned out to be Bill Gates. Gates has loaned the Codex to public museums on numerous occasions. And speaking of da Vinci and the Mona Lisa.... On December 12, 1913, the Mona Lisa is discovered in a Florence hotel room, 2 years after it was stolen from the Louvre. Its in the possession of Italian waiter Vincenzo Peruggia, who had previously worked at the Louvre and had participated in the heist with a group of accomplices dressed as Louvre janitors on the morning of August 21, 1911. Peruggia was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 14 months. The Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre and is now displayed behind bullet proof glass. On December 12, 1965, rookie running back Gale Sayers of the Chicago Bears scores six touchdowns during a single game against the San Francisco 49ers at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, tying the National Football League (NFL) record for most touchdowns in a single game.
