SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2012

Today is Saturday, December 22, the 257th day of 2012. There are nine days left in the year.

1783 ― Washington resigns his military commission as U.S. Army's commander-in-chief

1882 ― First string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison

1894 ― French officer Alfred Dreyfus court-martialed for treason, triggers worldwide charges of anti-Semitism (Dreyfus later vindicated)

1941 ― Japan's invasion leader lands on Luzon, Philippines

1941 ― Tito establishes first Proletarian Brigade in Yugoslavia

1963 ― Official 30-day mourning period for President John F. Kennedy ends

1965 ― Director David Lean's "Dr Zhivago" premieres

1984 ― Madonna's "Like a Virgin" single goes No.1 for six weeks

1990 ― Lech Walesa sworn in as Poland's first popularly-elected president

1992 ― Libyan MIG-23UB attacks Boeing 727 at Souk al-Sabt, 158 die