On January 10

On this day in ...

... 1984 (25 years ago today), full diplomatic relations were re-established between the United States and the Holy See. Relations between America and the Vatican had broken in 1867. Representing the United States at the Vatican since last February (but expected to depart with the Bush Administration) is Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon (above at far right, with Pope Benedict XVI), whose work as a Harvard law professor included authorship of A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2001).

... 1991, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (left), who'd been U.N. Secretary-General since 1982, prepared to head to Baghdad, the BBC reported, "in a final diplomatic effort to avoid war against Iraq," by "rais[ing] the possibility of sending a UN peacekeeping force to Kuwait to oversee the peaceful withdrawal of Iraqi troops. " His efforts would fail, and military intervention, dubbed "Operation Desert Storm," would begin on January 16.

On August 8

On this day in ...

... 1988 (10 years ago today), Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (left), then U.N. Secretary-General, said he planned the next day to announce a truce in the 8-year-old war between Iran and Iraq, after Iran announced on this day its acceptance of "Iraq's compromise proposal for a cease-fire." It's estimated that "as many as 750,000 Iranian soldiers and perhaps a third that number of Iraqi troops died on the battlefield."

... 1935, in Kansas City, Missouri, Jane Dee Hull (below right) was born. She "moved to Arizona in 1962 after hearing a Barry Goldwater speech," was elected a state legislator in 1978 and then Arizona's Secretary of State. From the latter post she assumed the post of Governor of Arizona -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor swore in the Republican Hull on September 8, 1997 -- when the incumbent was forced to resign after a federal fraud conviction. Hull, who served until 2003, was the 2d of 3 women to govern Arizona. The other 2, both Democrats, are Rose Mofford (who served 1987-1991) and Hull's successor, current Governor Janet Napolitano.