December third

Today's Highlight in History:
On December third, 1967, surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the new heart.

On this date:
In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States.

In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio -- the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States -- opened its doors.

In 1925, "Concerto in F," by George Gershwin, had its world premiere at New York's Carnegie Hall, with Gershwin himself at the piano.

In 1947, the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway.

In 1953, the musical "Kismet" opened on Broadway.

In 1960, the musical "Camelot" opened on Broadway.

In 1967, the "Twentieth Century Limited," the famed luxury train, completed its final run from New York to Chicago.

In 1979, eleven people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.

In 1984, more than 4,000 people died after a cloud of gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.

Ten years ago: President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev held the second day of their summit talks off Malta aboard the Soviet cruise liner "Maxim Gorky"; the two leaders then held a joint news conference. East German Communist leader Egon Krenz, the ruling Politburo and the party's Central Committee resigned.

Five years ago: Rebel Serbs in Bosnia failed to keep a pledge to release hundreds of UN peacekeepers, some of whom had been held for more than a week. AIDS activist Elizabeth Glaser, who along with her two children were infected with HIV because of a blood transfusion, died in Santa Monica, California, at age 47.

One year ago: Republicans jettisoned campaign fund-raising from their impeachment inquiry, clearing the way for a historic House Judiciary Committee vote over President Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky and his effort to cover it up.

"There is many a good man to be found under a shabby hat."

-- Chinese proverb.