Gary Mark Gilmore was an American criminal who gained international attention for demanding the implementation of his death sentence for two murders he had admitted to committing in Utah. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new series of death penalty statutes in the 1976 decision Gregg v. Georgia, he became the first person in almost ten years to be executed in the United States. These new statutes avoided the problems under the 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia, which had resulted in earlier death penalty statutes being deemed "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore unconstitutional. Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in 1977. His life and execution were the subject of the 1979 nonfiction novel The Executioner's Song, by Norman Mailer, and the 1982 TV film of the novel starring Tommy Lee Jones as Gilmore.

Headlines from December 4, 1940

M'NUTT TAKES UP NEW DEFENSE TASK; Security Head to Coordinate Recreation, Health and Allied Activities

JOINT GROUP TO CUT ORDINARY SPENDING URGED BY WOODRUM; Seeks Full Congress Charting of Non-Defense Balance Before New Session WOULD CURB FUND PLEAS Treasury Cash Outgo for Arms $365,233,578 in November, More Than in All 1916

The International Situation

100 College Teachers Depicted As Holding Policy Meeting of Reds; 'Fraction' Sessions Decided on 'Party Line,' Hearing Is Told--Ex-Communist Tells of High Dues and Wide Activity in Schools

Wind Brings Cold of 10 Here to Set Record; 3 Dead in Nation; 20 Below Zero Up-State; WINDS WHIP CITY, BRING GOLD OF 10

Notable Births