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| On this date in: | |
| 1790 | The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, R.I. |
| 1803 | The Louisiana Purchase was completed as the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans. |
| 1864 | Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his "March to the Sea." |
| 1879 | Thomas Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, N.J. |
| 1946 | The Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life" had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its official premiere. |
| 1963 | The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays. |
| 1968 | Author John Steinbeck died at age 66. |
| 1976 | Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley died at age 74. |
| 1860 | South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. |
| 1994 | Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk died at age 85. |
| 1996 | Astronomer Carl Sagan died at age 62. |
| 1999 | The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples. |
| 2002 | Trent Lott resigned as Senate Republican leader two weeks after igniting a political firestorm with racially charged remarks. |
| 2005 | New York City transit workers began a three-day strike. |
Article of the day
Elvis Presley is drafted
On this day in 1957, while spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland, his newly purchased Tennessee mansion, rock-and-roll star Elvis Presley receives his draft notice for the United States Army.
With a suggestive style--one writer called him "Elvis the Pelvis"--a hit movie, Love Me Tender, and a string of gold records including "Heartbreak Hotel," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel," Presley had become a national icon, and the world's first bona fide rock-and-roll star, by the end of 1956. As the Beatles' John Lennon once famously remarked: "Before Elvis, there was nothing." The following year, at the peak of his career, Presley received his draft notice for a two-year stint in the army. Fans sent tens of thousands of letters to the army asking for him to be spared, but Elvis would have none of it. He received one deferment--during which he finished working on his movie King Creole--before being sworn in as an army private in Memphis on March 24, 1958.
After six months of basic training--including an emergency leave to see his beloved mother, Gladys, before she died in August 1958--Presley sailed to Europe on the USS General Randall. For the next 18 months, he served in Company D, 32nd Tank Battalion, 3rd Armor Corps in Friedberg, Germany, where he attained the rank of sergeant. For the rest of his service, he shared an off-base residence with his father, grandmother and some Memphis friends. After working during the day, Presley returned home at night to host frequent parties and impromptu jam sessions. At one of these, an army buddy of Presley's introduced him to 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whom Elvis would marry some years later. Meanwhile, Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, continued to release singles recorded before his departure, keeping the money rolling in and his most famous client fresh in the public's mind. Widely praised for not seeking to avoid the draft or serve domestically, Presley was seen as a model for all young Americans. After he got his polio shot from an army doctor on national TV, vaccine rates among the American population shot from 2 percent to 85 percent by the time of his discharge on March 2, 1960.Today Birthdays
| David Cook turns 26 years old today. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Singer David Cook ("American Idol") turns 26 years old today.
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