Years Ago

December 7, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Years Ago

Today is Monday, Dec. 7, the 341st day of 2009. There are 24 days left in the year. On this date in 1941, Imperial Japanese warplanes attack the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, as well as other American and British bases in the Pacific; the pre-emptive raids prompt the United States to enter World War II.

In 1796, electors choose John Adams to be the second president of the United States. In 1808, electors choose James Madison to be the fourth president of the United States. In 1836, Martin Van Buren is elected the eighth president of the United States. In 1909, in his State of the Union address, President William Howard Taft defends the decision to base U.S. naval operations in the Pacific at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, instead of in the Philippines. Chemist Leo H. Baekeland receives a U.S. patent for Bakelite, the first totally synthetic plastic. In 1946, fire breaks out at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta; the blaze kills 119 people. In 1972, America’s last moon mission to date is launched as Apollo 17 blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. In 1987, 43 people are killed after a gunman aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner in California apparently opens fire on a fellow passenger, the two pilots and himself, causing the plane to crash. In 1988, a major earthquake in the Soviet Union devastates northern Armenia; official estimates put the death toll at 25,000.

December 7, 1984: Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro and U.S. Sen. John Glenn will meet to discuss cutbacks in federal programs proposed by the Reagan administration.

Ruling in a Summit County case, the Ohio Supreme Court says the state’s new DWI law setting 0.10- percent as the limit for presumed intoxication is constitutional.

Congressman-elect James A. Traficant Jr. and two dozen other freshmen representatives are off to Harvard University for five days of seminars on national issues.

December 7, 1969: Gen. Edwin Burba, deputy commanding general of the 1st U.S. Army, visits Youngstown State University and discusses the YSU ROTC program with university President Albert Pugsley.

Dr. Alexander K. Phillips is elected president of the medical staff at St. Elizabeth Hospital, succeeding Dr. Raymond Scheetz, president since 1965

Robert E. Williams, president of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., says the company is making a comprehensive study of new steel processes with a view toward a major spending program.

The Youngstown Area Board of Realtors will move its offices from the Home Savings & Loan Building to the Wick Building.

December 7, 1959: Generous Youngstowners outdo themselves, contributing a record $45,455 for Mahoning County’s needy at Esther Hamilton’s Alias Santa Claus Club Show at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Melvin R. Hazel, president of Peoples Bank, lawyer, civic leader and poet, dies in North Side Hospital. He was 55.

John Hudzik , 34, head football coach of Cardinal Mooney High School, is in fair condition in North Side Hospital after his car was rammed broadside by a tractor-trailer in Route 90 north of the city.

December 7, 1934: Cleveland Bishop Joseph Shrembs announces that Charles B. Cushwa, vice president of Commercial Shearing Inc., and one of the most prominent Catholic laymen in the Mahoning Valley, is designated by Pope Pius XI a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great.

Gov. George White tells the Ohio Senate that unless an income tax is included in budget legislation, he will veto the entire package, which now includes a 3 percent sales tax.

Fulfilling expectations, steel output in the Youngstown district is likely to rise to 36 percent, the highest since 1931.