On Dec. 14, 1799, the first president of the United States, George Washington, died at his Mount Vernon, Virginia, home at age 67.

Ten years ago

President George W. Bush defended his decision to wage the Iraq war, even as he acknowledged that “much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.” The House voted 251-174 to renew the USA Patriot Act. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad escalated his anti-Israeli rhetoric, calling the Holocaust a “myth” used by Europeans to create a Jewish state in the heart of the Islamic world.

Five years ago

The White House insisted the implementation of President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law would not be affected by a negative federal court ruling, and the Justice Department said it would appeal. Gunman Clay A. Duke fired at school board members in Panama City, Florida, but hit no one before fatally shooting himself. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi scraped through two parliamentary votes of no confidence.

One year ago

A last-minute deal salvaged U.N. climate talks in Lima, Peru, from collapse. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh ah-bay) scored a decisive election victory and promised to push efforts to revitalize the world’s third largest economy. Politician, TV personality and onetime Miss America Bess Myerson died in Santa Monica, California, at age 90.

— By The Associated Press