On Dec. 17, 1777, France recognized American independence.
In 1807 poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier was born near Haverhill, Mass.
In 1830 South American patriot Simon Bolivar died near Santa Marta, Colombia; he was 47.
In 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, went on the first successful manned powered-airplane flights, near Kitty Hawk, N.C., using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer.
In 1944 the U.S. Army announced it was ending its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast.
In 1957 the United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
In 1969 an estimated 50 million TV viewers watched singer Tiny Tim marry his fiance, Miss Vicky, on NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
In 1992 President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies.
In 2003 the British government announced the first reported case of a person dying from the human form of mad cow disease after a blood transfusion from an infected donor.
In 2004 Pfizer Inc. said it had found an increased risk of heart problems with patients taking Celebrex.
