“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News and the Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.
Dec. 8, 1941, Wilmington Morning News
U.S.-Japan war in Pacific; White House says Army, Navy loss heavy
This archival story uses language that was common at the time.
Japan assaulted every main United States and British possession in the central and western Pacific and invaded Thailand today in a hasty but evidently shrewdly-planned prosecution of a war she began yesterday without warning.
Tokyo’s formal declaration of war against both the United States and Britain came two hours and 55 minutes after Japanese planes spread death and destruction in Honolulu and Pearl Harbor at 7:35 a.m. Hawaiian time Sunday, Dec. 7. …
An NBC broadcast said Japanese planes – estimated as high as 150 in the opening assault – struck at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy’s mighty fortress of the Pacific, and dropped bombs on Honolulu. …
There was a report from persons who came past Pearl Harbor that one ship was lying on its side and four others were on fire. According to United Press, the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor also caused heavy damage to 300 American airplanes. …
The first U.S. official casualty report listed 104 dead and more than 300 injured in the Army at Hickam Field alone, near Honolulu. …
There was heavy damage in Honolulu residential districts, and the death list among civilians was large but uncounted. …
President Franklin D. Roosevelt will address a joint session of Congress at 12:30 p.m. today.
Dec. 9, 1980, The Morning News
Ex-Beatle Lennon shot dead
Former Beatle John Lennon, who catapulted to stardom with the long-haired British rock group in the 1960s, was shot to death late last night outside his luxury apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Lennon, 40, was rushed in a police car to Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. Doctors said he suffered seven severe wounds in his chest, back and left arm, but they did not know how many bullets had hit him. …
Police said they had taken a suspect into custody and described him as “a local screwball” with no apparent motive. …
After word of the shooting spread, hundreds of people gathered outside the entrance to Lennon’s apartment building, many of them weeping.
Historic holiday tours:These Delaware’s house museums are decked out for Christmas
Dec. 12, 1936, Wilmington Morning News
Edward starts exile after adieu to realm; George VI begins rule
Edward David Windsor of England sailed today into exile after bidding a dramatic farewell to the empire he renounced for “the woman I love.”
Twelve hours after becoming a private citizen, the former monarch dashed to Portsmouth from Belvedere where he had gone following his radio farewell.
Edward, with the Queen Mother Mary and the new king at his side, broadcast his address to the half billion people in the realm he once ruled, now in the hands of his brother, King George VI.
Edward told the world he lay down the scepter of his forefathers only because he could not carry on without “the woman I love,” the American-born, twice-divorced Wallis Warfield Simpson.
Dec. 12, 1978, Evening Journal
$5 million robbery went ‘like clockwork’
NEW YORK – Armed bandits who stole up to $5 million cash from Kennedy Airport in what may be the nation’s biggest currency theft ever should have no difficulty spending the money, mostly in old, unmarked bills, authorities said.
“It went off like clockwork,” said one official. “It was well-planned, well-organized and well-executed.”
The bandits – said to number five by police but put at seven by some witnesses – breached security at a Lufthansa Airline cargo hold early yesterday and made off in a black van with jewels and sacks of foreign and U.S. currency that had been flown from Frankfurt, Germany for transfer to the Chase Manhattan Bank and the Federal Reserve. …
Karl Koepcke, a Lufthansa spokesman, put the value of the jewels at $300,000.
If the $5 million figure is confirmed, it would be the largest cash theft in U.S. history, topping the $4.3 million loss at Purolator Security in Chicago in October 1974. …
The thieves overpowered and handcuffed 10 workers in making their way into the vault of the German airline without tripping an alarm. …
One Chase Manhattan Bank official said the theft appears to be an “inside job.”
Catch up on history:Hurricane Katrina, MLK leads D.C. civil rights march: News Journal archives, Aug. 25-31
Dec. 14, 2000, The News Journal
A winner at last; Gore concedes to Bush
After 36 days of waiting, George W. Bush at last laid claim to the presidency last night with a pledge to “seize this moment” and deliver reconciliation and unity to a nation divided. …
Al Gore exited the tortuously close race, exhorting the nation to put aside partisan rancor and support its new chief executive. …
In a televised address that lasted less than 10 minutes, Gore mixed words of unity with the unmistakable message that he felt wronged by the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that stopped the Florida recount and prompted his concession.
“While I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it,” he said. …
Gore topped his GOP rival by more than 300,000 votes out of 103 million ballots cast nationwide. But Florida’s 25 electoral votes, to be cast Dec. 18 and counted Jan. 6, will give Bush a total of 271 needed to win the presidency. And thus closed an election for the history books, the closest in 124 years.
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
