Today is Wednesday, Dec. 8, the 343rd day of 2004. There are 23 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 8, the 343rd day of 2004. There are 23 days left in the year. On this date in 1941, the United States enters World War II as Congress declares war against Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaims the Roman Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own conception. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announces his plan for the reconstruction of the South. In 1886, the American Federation of Labor is founded in Columbus, Ohio. In 1914, "Watch Your Step," the first musical revue to feature a score composed entirely by Irving Berlin, opens in New York. In 1949, the Chinese Nationalist government moves from the Chinese mainland to Formosa as the Communists press their attacks. In 1978, former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir dies in Jerusalem at age 80. In 1980, rock star John Lennon is shot to death outside his New York City apartment building by an apparently deranged fan. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev sign a treaty calling for destruction of intermediate-range nuclear missiles. In 1987, the "intefadeh" (Arabic for uprising) by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories begins. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signs into U.S. law the North American Free Trade Agreement, which goes into effect at the start of 1994.
December 8, 1979: Gov. James A. Rhodes says his administration will do what it can to smooth the way for Commuter Aircraft Corp.'s manufacturing plant to be built at the Youngstown Municipal Airport, short of intervening directly in the decision making of city government.
Supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's revolutionary strongman, claims responsibility for assassinating Shahriar Mustapha Chafik, a nephew of the shah of Iran, on a fashionable street in Paris.
Forty-three persons become citizens of the United States during naturalization ceremonies in the courtroom of Judge Elwyn V. Jenkins. The greatest number, 10, came from Italy, followed by seven from Korea and five from Greece.
December 8, 1964: Youngstown Congressman Michael J. Kirwan celebrates his 78th birthday with two parties, one in San Francisco, as he returned from a trip to Hawaii and Samoa, and one in Youngstown, following Esther Hamilton's Alias Santa Show.
The steel industry, a keynote of the nation's economy, has broken its all-time record for yearly production, with four weeks remaining in the year. Output for the year is at 118 million tons.
December 8, 1954: The Youngstown city administration has taken all police towing away from the Riley Bros. Co. because Danny Thomas, a relative of the owners, is one of the leaders in a drive to defeat Mayor Frank X. Kryzan in the Democratic primary in the spring.
Youngstown City Council will hold a public hearing to give various city organizations an opportunity to have a say in the proposed housing ordinance. Renewed interest in the legislation followed a fire that took the lives of a child and his grandmother.
Mayor Frank X. Kryzan says he will ignore the results of a civil service examination for airport manager and keep Donald Scheetz on the job for at least another year.
December 8, 1929: The only eyewitness to a accident in which John P. McLaughlin was killed when struck by a Youngstown police car says the car was traveling at 45 to 50 mph without another car in sight when McLaughlin was struck.
A U.S. cruiser, a detachment of 500 Marines and two Marine airplanes are dispatched to Haiti to reinforce 700 Marines already there and to attempt to quell riots that erupted after 20 Marines killed five natives.