On Dec. 8, 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Dec. 8 On this date in history:
In 1886, delegates from 25 unions founded the American Federation of Labor, forerunner of the modern AFL-CIO, in Columbus, Ohio.
In 1941, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare that « a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire » as a result of Japan’s « unprovoked and dastardly attack. »
In 1949, the Chinese Nationalist government, defeated by the Communists, retreated from the mainland to the island of Taiwan.
In 1980, former Beatles member John Lennon was shot to death outside his apartment building in New York City. He was 40.
In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the first treaty between the two superpowers to reduce their massive nuclear arsenals.
In 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist when the republics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement creating the Commonwealth of Independent States.
