Dec. 8 (UPI) -- 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. Advertisement 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