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so-called "Nero Decree," ordering the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands.
• In 1953, the Academy Awards ceremony was televised for the first time; "The Greatest Show on Earth" was named best picture of 1952.
• In 1962, Bob Dylan's first album, titled "Bob Dylan," was released by Columbia Records.
• In 1965, the wreck of the Confederate cruiser Georgianna was discovered by E. Lee Spence, 102 years to the day after it had been scuttled.
• In 1979, the U.S. House of Representatives began televising its day-to-day business.
• In 1993, Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White announced plans to retire. (White's departure paved the way for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to become the court's second female justice.)
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• Ten years ago: Tobacco farmer Dwight Ware Watson, who claimed to be carrying bombs in a tractor and trailer that he'd driven into a pond on Washington's National Mall, surrendered after disrupting traffic for two days; there were no explosives. Six men hijacked a Cuban airliner to the Florida Keys to seek asylum in the United States. (The six were later convicted of federal hijacking charges.) Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD' ah-BAHS') accepted the position of Palestinian prime minister.
• Five years ago: Five years after launching the invasion of Iraq, President George W. Bush strongly signaled he wouldn't order troop withdrawals beyond those already planned because he refused to "jeopardize the hard-fought gains" of the past year. In a new audio message, Osama bin Laden criticized the publication of drawings insulting to the Prophet Muhammad and warned Europeans of a strong reaction to come. Death claimed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke at age 90 and actor Paul Scofield at age 86.
• One year ago: A motorbike assailant opened fire with two handguns in front of a Jewish school in the southern French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two young sons and a girl. (The gunman, French-born Mohammed Merah, was killed in a gunfight with police after a 32-hour standoff at his apartment; he had also killed three (Continued on page 33)
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