On this date in history:

In 1907, the first Christmas Seals to raise money to fight tuberculosis went on sale in the post office in Wilmington, Delaware.

In 1920, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1936, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, with the country and the world waiting in painful suspense to hear confirmation or repudiation of a belief that King Edward had decided to abdicate, told Commons that he could not make an announcement before tomorrow, Dec. 10.

In 1955, two weeks of bloody student uprisings against President Fulgencio Batista appeared to follow the pattern of the student riots that deposed Cuban Dictator Gerardo Machado 22 years ago. Batista would remain in power four more years before losing power to Fidel Castro.

In 1958, in Indianapolis, retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H. W. Welch, Jr., established the John Birch Society, a right-wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceived to be the extensive infiltration of communism into U.S. society.

In 1974, White House aide John Ehrlichman testified at the Watergate trial that U.S. President Richard Nixon was responsible for a coverup.

In 1990, Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential vote.

In 1992, British Prime Minister John Major announced the formal separation of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

In 2002, United Airlines, which said it was losing $22 million a day, filed for bankruptcy.

In 2006, U.S. midterm election figures indicated Democrats made a 31-seat gain to recapture control of the House of Representatives, with 233 seats to 202 for the Republicans. Democrats earlier assured themselves the Senate majority.

In 2009, the U.S. government's bailout program for ailing major banks played a critical role in renewing the flow of credit and preventing a more acute crisis, the independent Congressional Oversight Panel said in a year-end report.

In 2012, the death toll from Typhoon Bopha, which raged across the Philippines for five days, continued to rise. Officials later said more than 1,000 people had been killed with at least that many injured, and thousands of others were left homeless.

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