“History Pages” contains articles from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News and Evening Journal. See archives at delawareonline.com.
December 8, 1941, Wilmington Morning News
US-Japan war in the Pacific; White House says Army, Navy heavy losses
This reservation uses language that was common at the time.
Japan attacked all the assets of the United States and the British in the middle and western Pacific and entered Thailand today in a hasty but apparently carefully planned war that he started yesterday without warning.
Front page of the Wilmington Morning News from December 8, 1941.
Tokyo’s official declaration of war with the United States and Britain came two hours and fifty-five minutes after Japanese planes spread death and destruction in Honolulu and Pearl Harbor at 7:35 a.m. Hawaiian time Sunday. …
NBC News said Japanese planes – estimated at 150 in the first attack – struck Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, the US Navy’s main Pacific base, and dropped bombs on Honolulu. …
There was a report from people who came past Pearl Harbor that one ship was lying on its side and four others were on fire. According to the United Press, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor also caused heavy damage to 300 American aircraft. …
The first official US casualty report listed 104 dead and over 300 wounded in the Battle at Hickam Field alone, near Honolulu. …
There was heavy damage in the districts surrounding Honolulu, and the death toll among civilians was large but not countable. …
President Franklin D. Roosevelt will address a session of Congress at 12:30 pm today.
December 9, 1980, The Morning News
Ex-Beatle Lennon was shot dead
Former Beatle John Lennon, who rose to fame with the long-haired British rock group in the 1960s, was shot dead last night outside his luxury apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
The front page of The Morning News from December 9, 1980.
Lennon, 40, was rushed in a police car to Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The doctors say that he suffered seven serious wounds on his chest, back and left arm, but they do not know how many bullets he had hit him with. …
Police said they arrested a suspected “screwball” for no apparent reason. …
After word of the shooting spread, hundreds of people gathered outside the front door of Lennon’s home, many of them crying.
History of vacations to visit: These Delaware museums are decorated for Christmas
December 12, 1936, Wilmington Morning News
Edward goes into exile after adieu to the kingdom; George VI begins to rule
England’s Edward David Windsor set sail today for asylum after saying goodbye to the royal he rejected “the woman I love” in a dramatic fashion.
Twelve hours after becoming a private citizen, the former king rushed to Portsmouth from the Belvedere where he had gone following his radio appearance.
Front page of the Wilmington Morning News from December 12, 1936.
Edward, with Queen Mother Mary and the new king at his side, broadcast his address to half a billion people in his former domain, now in the hands of his brother, King George VI.
Edward told the world that he laid down his ancestral scepter only because he could not go on without “the woman I love,” American-born, twice-divorced Wallis Warfield Simpson.
December 12, 1978, Evening Journal
$5 million hack went ‘like clockwork’
NEW YORK – The armed robbers who stole nearly $5 million from Kennedy Airport in what may be the nation’s largest cash heist should have no problem spending money, especially in old, unmarked bills, authorities said.
“It was over like clockwork,” said one official. “Well planned, well organized and well executed.”
Front page of The Evening Journal from December 12, 1978.
The robbers – said to have reached number five by the police but placed at number seven by other witnesses – broke the security of the Lufthansa Airline cargo area yesterday morning and boarded a black van containing precious stones and bags of foreign and American currency that had been transported from Frankfurt, Germany to the Chase Manhattan Bank and the Federal Reserve. …
Karl Koepcke, a Lufthansa spokesman, put the value of the jewelry at $300,000.
If the $5 million figure is confirmed, it would be the biggest heist in US history, topping the $400 million loss on Purolator Security in Chicago in October 1974.
The thieves overpowered and handcuffed 10 crew members in entering the cabin of the German airliner without tripping the alarm. …
A Chase Manhattan Bank executive said the theft appears to be an “inside job.”
Contact details: Hurricane Katrina, MLK leads DC civil rights march: News Journal archives, Aug. 25-31
December 14, 2000, The News Journal
The winner in the end; Gore agrees to Bush
After 36 days of waiting, George W. Bush finally took the presidency last night with a pledge to “seize this moment” and bring reconciliation and unity to a divided nation. …
Al Gore pulled out of a close race, urging the nation to put aside hatred and support its new president. …
The front page of The News Journal from December 14, 2000.
In a televised address that lasted less than 10 minutes, Gore mixed words of solidarity with the unmistakable message that he felt he was wronged by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision that halted Florida’s redistricting and gave him permission.
“Even though I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it,” he said. …
Gore defeated his GOP rival by more than 300,000 votes out of 113 million votes cast nationwide. But Florida’s 25 votes in the election, which will be held on December 18 and counted on January 6, will give Bush the 271 votes needed to win the presidency. And thus closed the selection of history books, the closest in 124 years.
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
This article appeared on the Delaware News Journal: News Journal archive Dec. 8-14: Pearl Harbor attack, John Lennon was killed