Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2009. There are nine days left in the year. On this date in 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe rejects a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply.
In 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the “Pastoral Symphony,” have their world premieres in Vienna, Austria. In 1858, opera composer Giacomo Puccini is born in Lucca, Italy. In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman writes a message to President Abraham Lincoln which says in part: “I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah.” In 1894, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggers worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. (Dreyfus is eventually vindicated.)
December 22, 1984: The Ohio Democratic Party has a balance of $459,733, even after spending heavily on its candidates in the Nov. 6 election, while the Republican State Central and Executive Committee reports a balance of $14,529 and debts of $43,144.
Ohio’s largest Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans merge, claiming that the move will save Ohio consumers $235 million during the next five years through health care cost-containment services.
Japan exported 3.8 million vehicles in 1983, almost half to the United States, where the Japanese hold just under 20 percent of the market, while Japan imported only 37,000 cars and trucks, of which fewer than 3,000 were from the United States.
December 22, 1969: Spec. 5 Daniel E. Evans Jr., a former Youngstown State University honor student who received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in Vietnam, says he volunteered for the draft partly out of irritation at draft dodgers fearful of combat.
A teenage girl jumps from a porch roof and a father and nine other children flee from a fire at their home at 1130 Oklahoma Ave.
New Castle City Council introduces curfew legislation that would require anyone under 17 years old and not accompanied by a parent to be off the streets between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
December 22, 1959: The Youngstown area’s economic outlook for the next 20 years is encouraging and the downtown district can share in the anticipated prosperity if certain improvements are made, a study for the Youngstown Metropolitan Area Development Citizens Committee finds.
Dr. Ralph R. Morrall, 71, the first orthopedic surgeon in the Mahoning Valley, dies in South Side Hospital after being stricken at his Newport Drive home.
President Dwight Eisenhower is greeted by a jubilant crowd of 500,000 Moroccans as he arrives in Casablanca on a crusade for peace that took him to 11 nations.
December 22, 1934: Saying “the New Deal has expressed confidence and faith in private enterprise,” Frank Purnell, president of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. sees substantial improvement in mill operations in 1935.
Christmas baskets will be distributed to between 4,000 and 5,000 of Youngstown’s needy families, providing a holiday meal for the city’s less fortunate. Coal, clothes and toys are also being distributed.
Youngstown shop keepers report Christmas trade was running 20 to 25 percent above a year earlier.