December

1 France won its first Davis Cup title in59 years by upsetting theU.S., the defending champions, at the finalsinLyons, France.

2 U.S. hostages in Lebanon, Joseph J. Cicippio and Alann Steen, were freed.

Federal officials confiscated nearly 12 tons of cocaine ata warehouse inMiami, the secondlargestseizure ofillegal drugs inU.S history rj U.S. military veterans observedthe 50th anniversary ofthesurpriseJapanese air raid on Pearl Harbor navalbase inHawaii in1941. President Bush made a speech urging U.S. veterans ofthe attack toforget theirrancor toward Japan.

4 Hostage Terry Anderson freed.

Pan American World Airways ceased operations afteritran out ofcash. They became thethird major carrierafterEastern Airlinesand Midway Airlinestoshut down in 1991.

EJ President Bush named Transportation Secretary Samuel K.Skinner toreplaceJohn H. Sununu as White House chiefof staff.

/: The Labor Department reported that the number ofpayrolljobsintheU.S. decreased by 241,000in November,while thenation'sunemployment rate was unchanged at6.8percent.

Evangeline celebrated her 23rd birthday.

8

The turmoil intheSovietUnion took a stunning turn, when the leadersofthethreeSlavicrepublics signed an agreement forming a "Commonwealth ofIndependent States"toreplace theold U.S.S.R.

1Q The Supreme Court, ina unanimous 8-0 decision, declared unconstitutional the "Son ofSam" law, a New York Statelaw thatlimited theabilityof criminals toprofitfrom selling storiesof their crimes forbooks ormovies.

New YorkStock Exchange

The N.Y. Stock Exchange continued tohit new highs Not long afterschool began in1991, the marketwas closing over 3,00 on a regularbasis The United Stateswas still ina recession, but theU.S. stock market continued tomove tonew heights.

HostagesFreed

Associated Presscorrespondent Terry Anderson,the longest-held Western hostage inLebanon, was freed by theShiiteMoslems after2,454days in captivity. The threereleased men,including Joseph Cicippio, and Alan Steen, were thelast of 17Americans held captiveinLebanon between March 1984and December1991.

H William Kennedy Smith, 31, thenephew of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,was found not guiltyof charges thathe had raped awoman at his family'sPalm Beach, Fla., vacation estate on Easter weekend.

17 Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev held a privatediscussion with Russian republicPresident BorisN.Yeltsin intheKremlin. Afterthe talks, Yeltsinannounced thatGorbechev had accepted asimminent thedemise oftheU.S.S.R He alsotold reporters thatall Sovietfederal functionswould eitherbe dissolved or formally transferred tothenewly created Commonwealth ofIndependent Statesin 1992.

lg General Motors announced that it would reduce its payrollsby 74,000employees, or 18percent, close21 ofits 125 North American factories and pare capitalspending during thenext fouryears inan efforttoreturn toprofitability.