TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 24
1565 Compromise of the Nobles in Habsburg Netherlands closes against inquisition
1638 The Ottomans under Murad IV recapture Baghdad from Safavid Persia.
1812 Joel Barlow, aged 58, American poet and lawyer, dies from exposure near Vilna, Poland, during Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. Barlow was on a diplomatic mission to the emperor for President Madison.
1814 A treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, ending the War of 1812, is signed at Ghent, Belgium. The news does not reach the United States until two weeks later (after the decisive American victory at New Orleans).
1818 Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composed the music for “Silent Night” to words written by Josef Mohr.
1826 Eggnog riots begin at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York Also known as the Grog Mutiny, these riots began on Christmas Eve after cadets consumed copious amounts of eggnog made with smuggled
1828 William Burke who, with his partner William Hare, dug up the dead and murdered to sell the corpses for dissection, went on trial in Edinburgh.
1851 A fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, destroying about 35,000 volumes.
1865 Ku Klux Klan created The extremist white supremacist organization, also known as the Klan, was created in Pulaski, Tennessee by Confederate Army veterans.
1906 Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, MA.
1917 The Kaiser warns Russia that he will use “iron fist” and “shining sword” if peace is spurned.
1936 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered in Berkeley, California
1943 General Dwight D. Eisenhower is appointed the Allied Supreme Commander, even though almost everyone believed the position would go to American Chief of Staff George C. Marshall.
1948 The first completely solar-heated house became occupied in Dover, MA.
1951 Libya gains independence from Italy
1955 NORAD’s Santa tracking service begins
1956 African Americans defy a city law in Tallahassee, Florida, and occupy front bus seats.
1963 New York’s Idlewild Airport is renamed JFK Airport in honor of the murdered President Kennedy.
1968 The first pictures of an Earth-rise over the moon are seen as the crew of Apollo 8 orbits the moon.
1974 An oil tanker’s spill pollutes 1,600 square miles of Japan’s Inland Sea.
1979 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in support of the country’s Marxist government.
1992 President Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.
2000 The “Texas 7,” seven convicts that had escaped a Texas prison, robbed a sports store in Irving, TX. The suspects killed Officer Aubrey Hawkins, stole $70,000, 25 weapons and clothing. The men had escaped on December 13.
2005 Chad declares a state of war against Sudan in the wake of the Dec. 18 attack on the town of Adre, in which approximately 100 people were killed.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
