PHOTOS: Today in History, December 17

Firefighters inspect foam-covered engine and split tail of an Iberia DC10 airliner which crash-landed at Logan International Airport in Boston, Dec. 17, 1973. There were no reports of deaths among the 167 persons aboard including the crew. Ronald Brinn of the Massachusetts Port Authority, which has jurisdiction over the airport, said the left main landing gear hit the approach lights of the runway. (AP Photo/J. Walter Green)

"Boy, they really flew by wire," astronaut John Glenn quipped as he checks over the control wires of the full scale model of the Wright Brothers first powered aircraft, Dec. 17, 1963, Kitty Hawk, North Carolinia. The model was presented at ceremonies in observance of the 69th anniversary of powered flight. Fly-by-wire is a modern space term meaning the astronaut has manual control of capsule. (AP Photo/Perry Aycock)

President John Kennedy at dinner table in Bogota, Colombia, on Dec. 17, 1961, after his speech in San Carlos Palace. The American President laid down a stern challenge to Latin America's wealthy few to join in a "Revolutionary Task" of improving their countrymen's welfare. (AP Photo)

New Czecholovak Foreign Minister Jiri Dienstbier and Austrian counterpart Alois Mock are cutting off segments of the Iron Curtain wire fencing near Helvin in Czechoslovakia, Sunday, Dec. 17, 1989. (AP-Photo/rb/stf/Rudi Blaha)

University of Pennsylvania archaeologist-anthropologist Allan Mann searches the Betsy Ross grave site on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1975, in Philadelphia. The remains of Betsy Ross were scheduled to be removed from the cemetery and placed in the garden of her former home in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/WGI)

Radio reporter Alex Paen from KMPC Los Angeles walks to the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Dec. 17, 1979 with an Iranian woman as they carry thousands of Christmas cards for the American hostages. They have been sent, via the radio station, from well-wishers in the U.S. (AP Photo)

Four American women, from left: Barbara Deming (partially hidden), 47, of Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Patricia Griffith, 32, of Ithaca, New York; Diane Bevel, 24, of Chicago, Illinois, and Grace Newman, 39, of New York City, leave the office of the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front in Moscow, Dec. 17, 1966. The women just finished a conference on their planned trip to the North Vietnam capital of Hanoi. They said they were making the trip despite the possible consequences when they return and the possibility of being killed by American bombers while there. (AP Photo)

U.S. President Bill Clinton reads "The Night Before Christmas" to Washington area elementary school students, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Washington, Friday, Dec. 17, 1993. The president sat in a wicker rocking chair in front of a roaring fire as he read the Christmas classic to the students from six area elementary schools. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette)

Accused serial killer Joel Rifkin, right, enters the Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola, New York, with a correction officer escort for a suppression hearing, Dec. 17, 1993. Rifkin is charged with the death of 19 women and awaits trial. (AP Photo/Mike Albans)

Kate Millett, left, author of the best selling feminist tract "Sexual Politics" listens as writer Gloria Steinem speaks at a news conference given by women's liberation activists in New York City on Dec. 17, 1970. (AP Photo)

Russian Interior Ministry soldiers warm their hands in front of a fire near a check point on the Chechen border near Sleptsovsk, about 18 miles West of Grozny, Saturday, Dec. 17, 1994. Russian President Boris Yeltsin has given Chechen forces until Saturday at night to lay down their arms or face the full force of the Russian. (AP Photo/Sergel Karpukhin)

The scene at Olympia as Gosta Kruse and his elephants performed during the charity preview of Bertram Mills Circus Christmas season in London on Dec. 17, 1959. Thousands of children from hospitals, homes and orphanages watched the show. (AP Photo/Laurence Harris)

Kofi Annan, center, is congratulated by staff members of the United Nations in New York Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996, after taking the oath of office of secretary general. Annan, 58, from Ghana, succeeds Boutros Boutros-Ghali. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Radio reporter Alex Paen delivers a sack of Christmas cards sent to the U.S. hostages from well-wishers in the U.S. toTehran, Iran, Dec. 17, 1979. Guards accepted the mail and said it would be distributed after inspection. (AP Photo)

An American GI looks at corpses of American soldiers killed in cold blood by fire from German tanks in Belgium, shown Dec. 17, 1944. (AP Photo)

In sub-freezing weather, Muscovites line up awaiting the end of changing of the guard in order to enter Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1991. As the disintegration of the Soviet Union continues, the mausoleum may soon be closed. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing)

General Motors chairman Roger Smith, right, talks with unemployed GM Hydromatic worker James Natho, 35, after giving him $300 Christmas check in Ypsilanti, Michigan on Dec. 17, 1982. Smith explained that the plan was to get everyone back to work and Natho replied, "You can keep this (the check) if you can do that," causing the office workers gathered at the plant to break out in laughter. General Motors is giving $300 to more than 100,000 laid-off autoworkers who have reached the end of their unemployment benefits. (AP Photo/Robert Kozloff)

Actress Sissy Spacek waves to the crowd as Kevin Costner, right, arrives with co-stars Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, rear and director Oliver Stone, left, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1991, for the world screening of "JFK" at the Mann Village Theatre in Los Angeles. The screening benefits "Rock The Vote", a non-partisan group dedicated to registering young people to vote. (AP Photo/Chris Martinez)

President George H. W. Bush, center, signs the North American Free Trade Agreement during a ceremony at the Organization of American States headquarters, Thursday, Dec. 17, 1992, Washington, D.C. Canadian Amb. Derek Burney and U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills applaud during the signing. The president predicted an explosion of growth throughout North America as he signed the agreement. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

Statue of Liberty at the start of removing scaffolding from Lady Liberty, Dec. 17, 1985 in New York. (AP Photo/Mario Cabrera)

Anti Communist protesters, one with a poster saying "Lenin is a cheat" picket delegates as they arrive for the first session of the Congress of Peoples Deputies in the Kremlin, Moscow on Monday, Dec. 17, 1990. The Congress will discuss the mounting problems facing the USSR. (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver)

News reporters and photographers, along with radio and television men, staged a "dog watch'" in Cleveland, Dec. 17, 1954, as they awaited the juryís decision in the first degree murder case of Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard, charged with the slaying of his wife, Marilyn on July 4. The newsmen smoked, played cards and swapped yarns as they lounged in the courtroom far into the night after the jury had received the case at 10:13 a.m. (AP Photo)

President George W. Bush, center seated, signs the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 during a ceremony at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Friday, Dec. 17, 2004 in Washington. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years, hoping to improve the spy network that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. Standing on stage with Bush are from l-r Senate Majority Leader Bill First, R-Tennessee, Vice Chairman, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Indiana, Sen. Joe Lieberman , D-Connecticut, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission Thomas Kean, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Californa, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Peter Hoekstra , R-Michigan, and C.I.A. Director Porter Goss. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Maj. Gen. O.P. Smith, commander of the first Marine Division, bows his bared head in prayer as he pays final tribute at a Hungnam military cemetery to the men who fought their way out of Chinese communist trap with him at the Changjin Reservoir to the northeast on Dec. 17, 1950. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle )

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was taken from the Federal Court in Sacramento, Dec. 17, 1975 by a U.S. Marshal and a matron after receiving a life sentence for attempting to assassinate President Ford with a gun during his visit to the California capital city on September 5. (AP Photo/Walt Zeboski)

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau at left with glasses, announced that several members of the "Westies," an Irish-American organized crime group, had been arrested, at press conference in New York, Dec. 17, 1986. The Westies, known by this name for the part of the Manhattan which they control - west of midtown, between Ninth Avenue and the Hudson River, have been working with the Gambino family for about 10 years, according to police intelligence. (AP Photo/David Bookstaver)

Dr. Albert Sabin, right, whose live polio vaccine is now being tested extensively throughout the world, is shown at Cincinnati's Children's Convalescent Hospital with Mark Stacey, 5, who contracted paralytic polio last summer, Dec. 17, 1959. With them are Dr. Walter Langsam, center, president of the University of Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Harvey Eugene Smith)

Judith Campbell Exner, with her pro-golfer husband, Dan Exner, appears at a San Diego news conference at which she said she and President John F. Kennedy conducted a "close, personal relationship," Dec. 17, 1975. Mrs. Exner denied any personal link, however, with a Mafia assassination plot against Cuban leader Fidel Castro. (AP Photo/David F. Smith)

Mrs. Richard Aldrich of New York is shown receiving a medal from President Franklin Roosevelt at his Hyde Park, New York, home on Dec. 17, 1939, in recognition of invaluable services to the United States Army in establishing and operating of hospitals in Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War. Mrs. Aldrich's son, Richard watches the presentation. The gold medal was authorized by an act of Congress. (AP Photo)

A cordon operation in a hamlet of hot-spot Phong Dien district in Thua Thien province, north of Hue, is commanded by Vietnamese district chief and conducted by soldiers of the 101st U.S. Airborne Division and Vietnamese territorial forces, Dec. 17, 1969. Soldiers guide people through police check points and give medical care among other things. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)

Magic Johnson, right, talks to guard Sedale Threatt of the Los Angeles Lakers during a time out in the first half of Tuesday's game in Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1991 against the Bulls. Johnson received two standing ovations from the sellout crowd, during his first road appearance since his retirement from the Lakers. Johnson sat on the Lakers' bench. (AP Photo/John Swart)

Officials from Seagrams show Moscow bartender how to mix drinks to Western Tastes in Moscow Dec. 17, 1979. (AP Photo)

Space Shuttle Challenger beings the process of being transferred to the high bay of the Vehicle Assembly building at Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 17, 1985 where it will be stacked with the solid rocket booster and external tank in preparation for the scheduled for launch as Mission 51-L in January 1986. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

Actor Tab Hunter, right, is shown with actress Connie Stevens on the set of the movie "Grease 2" in Los Angeles, California, on Dec. 17, 1981. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

U.S. soldiers hold a memorial service for seven men of the U.S. 101st Airborne Brigade in a clearing near a former French rubber plantation in Lai Khe, Vietnam, Dec. 17, 1965. Their boots, helmets and M16 rifles are set up with a field altar. The seven paratroopers were killed in action during a search-and-destroy mission against the Viet Cong in the jungles and plantation areas of Lai Khe, about 40 miles north of Saigon, during the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)

Refugees cross the Rwandan-Tanzanian border at Rusumo, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1996. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees are returning to their country after more than two-and-a-half-years in exile in northwestern Tanzania.(AP Photo/str)

In the first San Francisco bullfight in more than 25 years Mexico's Gustavo Garza demonstrates the art in dimly lighted Cow Palace on Saturday, Dec. 17, 1977, in San Francisco. Garza of Monterrey, drew cheers for his performance. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)

Holly Luke, 5, left, and her sister Kirsten, 7, place posies of carnations and pink roses on the green slate slab commemorating author Lewis Carroll, creator of "Alice in Wonderland," in Poet's corner of Westminster Abbey in evening on Friday, Dec. 17, 1982 in London. More than 300 members of Lewis Carroll societies from around the world attended the unveiling of the plaque by Holly and Kirsten's father, Philip Dodgson Jaques, a great-nephew of Carroll. (AP Photo/Robert Dear)

Britain's Duchess of Kent presents the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize to British author Patrick Fermor, in Hyde Park Gate, London, Dec. 17, 1959. (AP Photo)

Visiting President John Kennedy places brick in cornerstone ceremony on Dec. 17, 1961, at the Techno housing project in Bogota, Colombia. Host of the visiting Kennedy's, Colombia's President Alberto Lleras Camargo is at right. (AP Photo)

Colors of the leaking poisonous gasses sulphur and sulphur dioxide glow in the midnight sky over the Macassar township 40 miles (25 km) northeast of Cape Town Sunday, Dec. 17, 1995. Poison gas started to leak after a fire broke out in the storage area of an AECI chemical plant. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the area. At least 100 were injured. (AP Photo/Nicolas Aldrige)

Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, New York City Mayor David Dinkins, center, and Rabbi Leib Glanz, hold hands while they pray at the conclusion of the screening "The Liberators: Fighting in W.W. II" at New York's Apollo Theatre on Thursday, Dec. 17, 1992. The documentary centers on the participation of black American soldiers in the resuce of Jews in German concentration camps. (AP Photo/David Karp)

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat relaxes with his grandson Sherif in the garden of his Nile-side residence near Cairo, Dec. 17, 1978. (AP Photo/Bill Foley)

Returning to Queens Criminal Court in New York following lunch break are Jason Ladone, left, and Michael Pirone, two of the four defendants in the Howard Beach trial, Dec. 17, 1987. The four are accused of confronting three black men, chasing one of them to his death and beating another. (AP Photo/David Bookstaver)

Marine Cpl. Charles Price of Chattanooga, Tennessee, sounds taps for his buddies on Dec. 17, 1950 who died in the retreat of United Nations forces from the Changjin Reservoir area and now lie in fresh graves in a military cemetery at Hungnam. (AP Photo/Max Desfor)

Miss Luisa Brecciaroli, an Italian amateur archeologis in Italy on Dec. 17, 1969 shows a carved stone found in a 2,600-year-old Etruscan tomb near Tarquinia, in central Italy, by a group of amateur archeologists, to which Miss Brecciaroli belongs. (AP Photo)

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn wave upon their arrival at New York's LaGuardia Airport, Dec. 17, 1987. Carter was in the city to deliver a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, where he said that President Reagan's foreign policies have endangered the causes of peace, disarmament, human rights and nuclear non-proliferation. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)

U.S. President George H. Bush gestures while speaking to reporters in the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec.17, 1990. Bush said he still hopes for talk with Iraq on resolving the Persian Gulf crisis, but said Iraqi forces must be out of Kuwait by January 15, "and that means entirely." Bush would not say what he'd do if the headline wasn't met. (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander)