DECEMBER 4TH

Today is Thursday, Dec. 4, the 339th day of 2008.
There are 27 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Dec. 4, 1619, a group of settlers from Bristol, England, arrived at Berkeley Hundred in present-day Charles City County, Va., where they held a service thanking God for their safe arrival. (Some suggest this was the true first Thanksgiving in America, ahead of the Pilgrims' arrival in Massachusetts.)

On this date:

• In 1783, General George Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York.
• In 1816, James Monroe of Virginia was elected the fifth president of the United States.
• In 1875, William Marcy Tweed, the "Boss" of New York City's Tammany Hall political organization, escaped from jail and fled the country.
• In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson left Washington on a trip to France to attend the Versailles Peace Conference.
• In 1942, U.S. bombers struck the Italian mainland for the first time in World War II.
• In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the dismantling of the Works Progress Administration, which had been created to provide jobs during the Depression.
• In 1965, the United States launched Gemini 7 with Air Force Lt. Col. Frank Borman and Navy Cmdr. James A. Lovell aboard.
• In 1978, San Francisco got its first female mayor as City Supervisor Dianne Feinstein was named to replace the assassinated George Moscone.
• In 1991, the original Pan American World Airways ceased operations.
• In 1996, the Mars Pathfinder lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and began speeding toward Mars on a 310 million-mile odyssey. (It arrived on Mars in July 1997.)

Ten years ago:

• Space shuttle Endeavour and a crew of six blasted off on the first mission to begin assembling the international space station.

Five years ago:

• President George W. Bush scrapped import tariffs he'd imposed earlier to help the battered U.S. steel industry.
• Baltimore-based federal prosecutor Jonathan P. Luna was found dead behind the parking lot of a well-drilling company in Lancaster County, Pa. (The case remains unsolved.)

One year ago:

• Defending his credibility, President George W. Bush said Iran was dangerous and needed to be squeezed by international pressure despite a blockbuster intelligence finding that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program four years earlier. The intelligence report on Iran figured in a Democratic debate on National Public Radio as rivals assailed front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for voting in favor of a Senate resolution designating Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
• Pimp C, a rapper with the Texas hip-hop group Underground Kingz, was found dead in a hotel room in Los Angeles; he was 33.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actress-singer Deanna Durbin is 87.
• Game show host Wink Martindale is 74.
• Actor-producer Max Baer Jr. is 71.
• Actress Gemma Jones is 66.
• Rock musician Bob Mosley (Moby Grape) is 66.
• Singer-musician Chris Hillman is 64.
• Musician Terry Woods (The Pogues) is 61.
• Rock singer Southside Johnny Lyon is 60.
• Actor Jeff Bridges is 59.
• Rock musician Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd; the Rossington Collins Band) is 57.
• Actress Patricia Wettig is 57.
• Actor Tony Todd is 54.
• Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson is 53.
• Country musician Brian Prout (Diamond Rio) is 53.
• Rock musician Bob Griffin (The BoDeans) is 49.
• Rock singer Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge) is 46.
• Actress Marisa Tomei is 44.
• Actress Chelsea Noble is 44.
• Actor-comedian Fred Armisen is 42.
• Rapper Jay-Z is 39.
• Actor Kevin Sussman is 38.
• Actress-model Tyra Banks is 35.
• Country singer Lila McCann is 27.
• Actress Lindsay Felton is 24.
• Actor Orlando Brown is 21.

Thought for Today:

"There is always room at the top — after the investigation."
Oliver Herford, American author (1863-1935).

"Let's all be careful out there!"