Twenty years ago today, Benazir Bhutto became the first ever female to lead a Muslim country when Pakistan appointed her prime minister December 1, 1988.

Oldest child of Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Al Bhutto, Benazir received a B.A. from Harvard University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, later studying at Oxford. She was repeatedly to call her four years as an undergraduate in Cambridge, Mass. the four happiest of her life, as they instilled in her a deep-rooted respect for democracy.

She married in 1987, taking office a year later. She was twice accused of corruption and went into “self-imposed” exile to Dubai 10 years ago. She returned to the post last fall, only to be assassinated a couple of months later by Al-Qaeda on December 27, 2007.

Whether the corruption charges were founded on true crimes and indiscretions or not, it would be difficult to deny the fact that Bhutto is both a legendary and inspiring figure, if only because of what she represents.

…Other significant events to occur today:

1864 President Abe Lincoln gives a State of the Union address that reinforces the Emancipation Proclamation he had made a mere 10 weeks before, urging the end of slavery.

1913 Greece annexes Crete a year after the mini-Minoan island had achieved independence from Turkey following the first Balkan War.

1918 Iceland, though remaining a member of the Danish kingdom, achieves sovereignty, Transylvania unites with Romania and Serbs, Croats and Slovenes proclaim a kingdom by that name in the land that will later become the fraught Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

1934 Russia continues to replace the old-guard Bolsheviks with Stalinist henchman in another killing, this one of Politburo member Kirov.

1944 Axis power-controlled U-869, the sub that would later become the subject of New York Times riveting bestseller Shadow Divers, departs from Norway with an American Northeastern destination.

1955 Ms. Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a White man on the bus, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and creating another watershed moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

1981 The world officially recognizes the AIDS virus’ existence and threat, making today World AIDS day.

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