Today is Friday, Dec. 21, the 355th day of 2018. Winter arrives at 5:23 p.m. Eastern time.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Dec. 21, 1891, the first basketball game, devised by James Naismith, is believed to have been played at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. (The final score of this experimental game: 1-0.)
In 1620, Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Pilgrim tercentenary issue was issued in 1923. The 1 cent denomination pictures the Mayflower crossing the Atlantic on its way to Plymouth, Mass.
In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman concluded their “March to the Sea” as they captured Savannah, Georgia.
Here, Sherman inspects battlements at Atlanta in 1864 prior to his March to the Sea. (AP Photo)
In 1937, Walt Disney’s first animated feature, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” had its world premiere in Los Angeles.
Seen here is a detailed view of the 20-foot wide by 9-feet high large colorful billboard of the 1937 release of the animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Monday, July 14, 2014, in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
In 1945, U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton, 60, died in Heidelberg, Germany, 12 days after being seriously injured in a car accident.
Patton is pictured circa 1940s.In 1968, Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.
The Earth shines over the horizon of the Moon in this Dec. 24, 1968 photo shot by the astronauts on Apollo 8. (AP Photo)
In 1969, Vince Lombardi coached his last football game as his team, the Washington Redskins, lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 20-10.
Washington Redskins head coach Vince Lombardi voices his opinion about a play from the sidelines where he made his regular season debut with the team in New Orleans, La., Sept. 21, 1969. Lombardi’s expression later changed to a smile as the Redskins beat the New Orleans Saints 26-20. (AP Photo)
In 1988, 270 people were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, sending wreckage crashing to the ground.
In 1991, eleven of the 12 former Soviet republics proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the death of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
In 2002, President George W. Bush received a smallpox vaccination, fulfilling a promise he’d made when he ordered inoculations for about a-half million U.S. troops.