ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced
live on television that "Kuwait is liberated."

ROSS SIMPSON

At 12:18 p.m. et, a terrorist bomb exploded in a parking garage of the World
Trade Center in New York City, leaving a crater 60 feet wide and causing the collapse of several steel-reinforced concrete floors in the vicinity of the blast. Although the terrorist bomb failed to critically damage the main structure of
the skyscrapers, six people were killed, more than 1,000 were injured and
the World Trade Center itself suffered more than $500 million in damage. 

After the attack, authorities evacuated 50,000 people from the buildings,
hundreds of whom were suffering from smoke inhalation. The evacuation
lasted the whole afternoon.

City authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation undertook a massive manhunt for suspects, and within days several radical Islamic fundamentalists
were arrested.

On this day in 1987, The Tower Commission rebuked President
Reagan for failing to control his national security staff in the wake
of the Iran-Contra Affair.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1868, the United States House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson due to his attempt to
dismiss Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S. Senate later acquitted Johnson on May 26, 1868.

Edwin McMasters Stanton
(December 19, 1814 – December 24, 1869)

The impeachment trial against President Andrew Johnson opens
in the Senate Chambers.

George T. Brown, sergeant at arms of the Senate (left), serving the summons on President Andrew Johnson.

House Impeachment Managers.

ROSS SIMPSON

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)

George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States,
served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the
Revolutionary War, then was inaugurated as the first U.S. President
on April 30, 1789.

Washington’s legacy as a commander at Valley Forge, Yorktown, and
Boston was honored in 1917 when an asteroid was named after him:
the 886 Washingtonia asteroid.

General George Washington (left) and French military leader Marquis
de Lafayette at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–78 (AP)

Washington praying at Valley Forge.

A reproduction of Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 oil painting ‘Washington Crossing the Delaware." (Associated Press)

BRIAN THOMAS

During World War II on this  day in 1945, about 30,000 United States
Marines landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima 
from the Imperial Japanese Army.  

William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. is 79-years-old today.

Singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive
Smokey Robinson was the founder and front man of the Motown
vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter
and producer. Robinson led the group from its 1955 origins as
"The Five Chimes" until 1972 when he announced a retirement
from the group to focus on his role as Motown’s vice president,
but Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the
following year. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1987.