Walter Lefeber: The first one was that the Western Hemisphere would no longer be open to European colonization. The second one was that the Western Hemisphere was not otherwise to be interfered with by Europeans. And, the third one was the so-called 'two spheres principle,' in which Monroe said that there are now distinct U-S and European, New World [and] Old World systems.

Later, through the Declaration of Lima in 1942 and the Treaty of Rio in 1947, Western Hemisphere republics adopted the principles of the Monroe Doctrine to defend themselves against foreign intervention.

Nuclear Reaction: 1942 / 12 / 02:

On December Second, 1942, American scientists demonstrated for the first time that they could control a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. The experiment was conducted in the physics laboratory at the University of Chicago as part of the secret United States program to develop an atomic bomb in World War Two. Bernard Feld, then a twenty-two-year-old graduate student in physics, was part of the team. Professor Feld, who died in 1993, said there was a tense atmosphere in the lab:

Bernard Feld: Although we all believed that it was going to work, the fact was that nobody had ever really made one work and if it did work, we were still not 100 percent sure that it wouldn't run away on us, for example. And so there was a considerable amount of tension in the air -- but when, finally, the thing did go critical, Enrico Fermi was able to announce: 'Well, we've gone critical. It works. It works the way we expected it to work. Well, [let's] close down and we'll see you tomorrow morning.'

Professor Bernard Feld remembered that the group of scientists toasted the success with a bottle of Chianti wine and cigarettes. He said they did not have enough money for champagne or cigars.

Southern Jury Convicts KKK Members of Murder: 1965 / 12 / 03:

On December Third, 1965, an all-white federal jury in Montgomery, Alabama, convicted three members of the violent, racist organization, the Ku Klux Klan, in connection with a murder. They were found guilty under an 1870 law that outlawed conspiracy to deprive citizens of their civil rights. The charges stemmed from the killing of Viola Liuzzo (PRON: lee OOZE oh). She was a white housewife from Detroit, Michigan, who had gone to Alabama to work in a campaign to register blacks to vote. Mrs. Liuzzo was last seen late at night on a rural Alabama road. The Klansmen received ten-year prison sentences for killing her. On December second, another all-white Alabama jury had found another member of the K-K-K guilty of murder in the ambush shooting of Willie Brewster, a black man. Reacting to the convictions, U-S President Lyndon Johnson said the nation could take heart that there were those in the South who believed in racial justice.

President Truman Moves on Civil Rights: 1951 / 12 / 03:

On December Third, 1951, President Harry Truman appointed a special commission to ensure that companies doing business with the federal government observed all civil rights laws. Truman took this step as the chief executive of the federal government. Three months earlier, Congress had defeated a bill he sponsored to create a federal civil-rights agency. The presidential statement that accompanied the civil-rights order said, in part, "We cannot be satisfied until all our people have equal opportunities for jobs; for homes; for education; for health, and for political expression; and, until all our people have equal protection under the law." The law President Truman had proposed in September angered members of Congress from the still largely segregated South, which often opposed plans to enforce civil-rights laws.

George Washington's Farewell to His Officers: 1783 / 12 / 04:

On December Fourth, 1783, General George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, met with his top lieutenants at a tavern in New York City to say farewell. The officers were emotionally moved because General Washington was not only their commander, but also their hero. Historians report that a few of the officers urged General Washington to proclaim himself ruler of the United States. They told him that their soldiers would support the claim. Washington abruptly rejected the idea as undemocratic He said that all he wanted was to return to his beloved Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia. Four years later, however, he was back in public life, not as an all-powerful king, but as the first elected President of the United States.

The Grange: 1867 / 12 / 04:

Leroy Watson: When the Grange was originally founded, it was seen as an opportunity for education for many farmers. There was a great deal of technological revolution going on in the United States in the agricultural industry. The Grange founders saw this coming and they were afraid that farmers were not taking advantage of the new technology that was available to them, or taking advantage of it in the right way.

Leroy Watson of the Grange, the farmers' organization founded on this date in 1867.

Walt Disney Born: 1901 / 12 / 05:

One hundred years ago on December fifth, 1901, Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois. The name of Walt Disney eventually would become synonymous with entertainment for children and families. In 1923, Disney began to produce animated films in Hollywood, in partnership with his brother Roy. Disney's 1928 cartoon "Steamboat Willie" was one of the first to bring synchronized sound to the world of animated films. That cartoon starred Disney's most enduring character, Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney was a pioneer in other ways as well, making early use of color and stereophonic sound in cartoons. He also is credited with creating the full-length cartoon film with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in 1937. Disney's successes included other full-length cartoons such as "Bambi," "Fantasia" and "Lady and the Tramp," as well as live-action films such as "Treasure Island," "The Absent-Minded Professor" and the musical "Mary Poppins." Disneyland, opened in 1955 in Anaheim, California, became the first of Disney's popular amusement parks and tourist attractions. It was joined in 1971 by Walt Disney World in Florida, a resort that Walt Disney had helped to plan before his death in 1966. He died of acute circulatory collapse following surgery for the removal of a lung tumor. Today Walt Disney's name remains on his company, which has diversified to include films for all ages; television, radio and Internet networks; and European and Japanese theme parks.

Repeal of Prohibition: 1933 / 12 / 05:

On December fifth, 1933, a Constitutional amendment ending Prohibition in the United States was ratified thirteen years after another Constitutional amendment mandated Prohibition. The repeal ended what former president Herbert Hoover had described as "the noble experiment" to halt the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Prohibition was defeated by a coalition of organizations that convinced Congress that the law was a failure. Most Americans had ignored Prohibition, and criminal gangs grew strong on the profits from making, smuggling and selling illegal alcoholic beverages. The Twenty-First Amendment is the only Constitutional amendment that repeals another amendment.

The Biltmore Forest: 1891 / 12 / 06:

On December sixth, 1891, industrialist George Vanderbilt hired two of the best planners in the United States to help him design the gardens and forest at Biltmore (PRON: BUILT more), the palatial estate he was building in Asheville, North Carolina. One was the nation's best-known landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. The other was Gifford Pinchot (PRON: PIN show), who was to supervise the estate's forest. Mr. Olmsted had established an international reputation as the landscape architect of New York City's Central Park, Jackson Park in Chicago and Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Canada. He was responsible for the landscaping of the one hundred hectares of land immediately surrounding the Biltmore house. Gifford Pinchot, who later became head of the U-S Forest Service -- introduced the principles of scientific forestry management inVanderbilt's fifty-thousand-hectare forest. It became known as a "museum of trees" because it contained so many species of trees and wildlife. After George Vanderbilt's death in 1914, his widow donated a large part of the estate to the U-S government to form the nucleus of the Pisgah (PRON: PIZ gah) National Forest. In 1930, portions of the Biltmore house and gardens were opened for public tours. Hundreds of thousands of visitors tour the estate each year.

Washington Monument Completed: 1884 / 12 / 06:

On December sixth, 1884, construction engineers placed the capstone on the national monument to honor George Washington, the first president of the United States. The monument is, at 169 meters, the world's tallest freestanding masonry structure. From a square base of 1seventeen meters, it is exactly the same proportion as ancient Egyptian obelisks from which it was copied. The ceremonial cornerstone of the Washington Monument was placed on July Fourth, 1848, following a successful campaign to raise private funds for its construction. The shaft rose to forty-six meters when construction was halted because the money ran out. Work resumed during the nation's centennial celebration in 1876 when Congress appropriated funds for the Mmonument's completion. An interior elevator, added in 1886, carries visitors to a small interior observation area near the top of the monument.

New York Philharmonic's Premiere: 1842 / 12 / 07:

On December seventh, 1842, the New York Philharmonic Society performed its first concert. Funded by Uriah Corelli Hill, a violinist who had inherited a fortune, the Philharmonic was a sort of musical cooperative, with the members electing their conductor and dividing the profits from their concerts. The New York Philharmonic opened its debut program with Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony".

The Philharmonic also performed the Overture from Weber's [PRON: "VEH-ber's"] opera "Oberon," and a scene from Beethoven's "Fidelio." Critics reported that the first performance of the orchestra "left something to be desired [needed improvement]."

However, the New York Philharmonic improved, setting an early standard for American orchestras. Today it is considered one of the world's foremost orchestras.

Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor: 1941 / 12 / 07:

Sixty years ago on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese warplanes dove out of an overcast sky and attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Sweeping in from all points of the compass, the Japanese planes, launched from aircraft carriers, bombed, torpedoed and strafed the fleet anchorage, nearby airfields and barracks. With one stroke the Japanese crippled most of the United States Pacific battle fleet. More than twenty-three-hundred American servicemen and twelve-hundred civilians died in the attack. The attack, which came as a delegation of Japanese diplomats was in Washington, D.C., for talks with Secretary of State Cordell Hull, achieved complete surprise. Many Americans hardly knew where Pearl Harbor was until radio news flashes interrupted normal programming.

C-B-S newsman John Daly was the first on the air with the announcement:

John Daly: We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by air, President Roosevelt has just announced. The attack also was made on all naval and military activities on the principal island of Oahu.

On the next day, December eighth, 1941, the United States Congress voted to declare war against Japan.

Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" Speech: 1941 / 12 / 08:

Sixty years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt called the previous day, December Seventh, 1941, a date that would live in infamy. He asked a joint session of the United States Congress to declare war on Japan. Roosevelt condemned in the harshest terms the December Seventh Japanese sneak attack on the U-S Navy's Pacific anchorage at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He noted that at the time of the attack, Japanese diplomats were in Washington to discuss peace. The president told Congress and a national radio audience that the damage to Pearl Harbor was severe, but that he had no doubt about the ultimate outcome of the war.

Franklin Roosevelt: The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God!" [MOMENT OF APPLAUSE]

Congress voted overwhelmingly for the declaration of war.

"Bind Up the Wounds …" Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan: 1863 / 12 / 08:

On December Eighth, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the reconstruction of the secessionist southern states that were still fighting the American Civil War. In simple terms, Mr. Lincoln's policy was to treat the South like a close family member who had recovered from atemporary behavioral problem. President Lincoln revealed his plan during his second inaugural address. A portion of the speech is read here by actor Walter Pidgeon:

Walter Pidgeon Reads Lincoln Speech: With malice towards none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in: to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle; and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Those words and the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are carved in marble at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Above the entrance are carved these words: "In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever."