Dec 9, 2017 2 min read

Today is Saturday, Dec. 9, the 343rd day of 2017. There are 22 days left in the year.

On Dec. 9, 1892, “Widowers’ Houses,” Bernard Shaw’s first play, opened at the Royalty Theater in London.

In 1935, the Downtown Athletic Club of New York honored college football player Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago with the DAC Trophy, which later became known as the Heisman Trophy.

In 1940, British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II.

In 1942, the Aram Khachaturian ballet “Gayane,” featuring the surging “Sabre Dance,” was first performed by Russia’s Kirov Ballet.

In 1958, the anti-communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianapolis.

In 1962, the Petrified Forest in Arizona was designated a national park.

In 1965, Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, a job he would hold for almost 12 years. “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the first animated TV special featuring characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, premiered on CBS.

In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan-authorization officials of New York City and State said would prevent a city default.

In 1984, the five-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claimed the lives of two Americans ended as Iranian security men seized control of the plane, which was parked at Tehran airport.

In 1987, the first Palestinian intefadeh, or uprising, began as riots broke out in Gaza and spread to the West Bank, triggering a strong Israeli response.

“All sins are attempts to fill voids.”

– Simone Weil, French philosopher (1909-1943)