Today's Highlight in History:
On December fourth, 1783, General George Washington bade farewell告别，辞行 to his officers at Fraunces Tavern¹ in New York.

On this date:
In 1816, James Monroe of Virginia was elected the fifth president of the United States.

In 1839, the Whig Party opened a national convention全国代表大会 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during which delegates nominated William Henry Harrison for president.

In 1918, President Wilson set sail fo开船，动身 France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference.

In 1942, President Roosevelt ordered the dismantling²分解，拆卸 of the Works Progress Administration, which had been created to provide jobs during the Depression.

In 1942, US bombers³ struck the Italian mainland for the first time in World War Two.

In 1945, the Senate approved US participation⁴ in the United Nations.

In 1965, the United States launched "Gemini Seven" with Air Force Lieutenant中尉，副官 Colonel上校 Frank Borman and Navy Commander James A. Lovell aboard.

In 1978, San Francisco got its first female mayor as City Supervisor⁶ Dianne Feinstein was named to replace the assassinated⁷ George Moscone.

In 1980, the bodies of four American churchwomen slain⁸ in El Salvador two days earlier were unearthed⁹. (Five national guardsmen were later convicted of murdering nuns尼姑 Ita Ford¹¹, Maura Clarke and Dorothy Kazel, and lay worker Jean Donovan.)

In 1996, the Mars Pathfinder lifted off from Cape¹² Canaveral and began speeding toward Mars on a 310 million-mile odyssey远行 to explore the Red Planet's surface.

Ten years ago: President Bush briefed NATO leaders in Brussels, Belgium, on the just-concluded Malta summit he'd held with Soviet¹⁴ President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Five years ago: Bosnian Serbs released 53 out of some four-hundred UN peacekeepers they were holding as insurance against further NATO airstrikes.

One year ago: Space shuttle "Endeavour" and a crew of six blasted off点火起飞 on the first mission to begin assembling装配，安装 the international space station.