On December 21, 1970, rock star Elvis Presley was greeted at
the White House by President Richard M. Nixon. Presley’s visit
was not just a social call: He wanted to meet Nixon in order to
offer his services in the government’s war on drugs.
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to
New York exploded in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland,
killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard,
as well as 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground.
A bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated
in the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000
feet.
The disaster, which became the subject of Britain’s largest
criminal investigation, was believed to be an attack against
the United States. One hundred eighty nine of the victims
were American.
More than two years after the Berlin Wall was constructed by
East Germany to prevent its citizens from fleeing its communist
regime, nearly 4,000 West Berliners were allowed to cross into
East Berlin to visit relatives.
Under an agreement reached between East and West Berlin,
more than 170,000 passes were eventually issued to West
Berlin citizens, each pass allowing a one-day visit to
communist East Berlin.
