The "shoe bomber," British terrorist Richard Reid (above),
attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes on
American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami on December
22, 2001, but passengers and crew subdued him, leading to
his arrest and a life sentence. 

The event that prompted worldwide airport security changes
like mandatory shoe removal.

   
    

        
        
        
        
       

The shoes Reid tried to detonate during the flight.

George Smith Patton Jr
(11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945)

     

          
  General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. 3rd Army,
died from injuries suffered in a car accident not in battle. He
was 60 years old.   
                  
          
          
 

President Richard Nixon met Elvis Presley in the Oval Office
on December 21, 1970, a famously strange meeting initiated
by Elvis, who wanted to offer his services in the war on drugs
and asked Nixon for a federal narcotics badge, which Nixon
granted, giving the world one of the most requested photos
in U.S. National Archives history.

Elvis showing off his cuff links to the president.

Elvis presented Nixon with signed photographs of his family.

ED DANAHUE

Jane Fonda with father Henry Fonda.

Actress, activist and fitness guru Jane Fonda, known for
her roles in films like "Klute," "Barbarella" and "9 to 5."
is 88 years young today.

On this day in 1913,the first modern crossword puzzle was  
published in the "New York World," part of a set of what the
paper called "mental exercises." Clues included: "sunk in
mud," "the fibre of the gomuti palm" and "such and nothing
more."

Arthur Wynne (June 22, 1871 – January 14, 1945)