TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: DEC 23
962 Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist
1672 Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn
1688 King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch flees to France from William of Orange
1690 John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it’s undiscovered
1788 Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the District of Columbia.
1779 Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct
1823 The poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (“‘Twas the night before Christmas”), written by either Clement C. Moore or Maj. Henry Livingston, Jr., was published in the Troy Sentinel of New York.
1888 Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear with a razor, after argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin, and sends to a prostitute for safe keeping
1900 The Federal Party, which recognizes American sovereignty, is formed in the Philippines.
1907 1st all-steel passenger railroad coach completed, Altoona PA
1913 President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the Federal Reserve System.
1919 Great Britain institutes a new constitution for India
1921 President Warren G. Harding frees Socialist Eugene Debs and 23 other political prisoners.
1937 London warns Rome to stop anti-British propaganda in Palestine.
1944 General Dwight D. Eisenhower confirms the death sentence of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War.
1946 University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne University, because they may use a black player in their basketball game
1947 President Harry S Truman grants a pardon to 1,523 who had evaded the World War II draft.
1948 Japan’s Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo and six other collaborators are hanged for war crimes.
1954 The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts
1958 Tokyo Tower opened to the public
1961 Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62 million worth of food & medical supplies
1968 82 members of US intelligence ship ‘Pueblo’ released by North Korea
1972 “Immaculate Reception” Steelers turns around a 7-6 defeat with a last second touchdown reception against the Raiders to win 13-7
1972 16 plane crash survivors rescued after 70 days, survived by cannibalism
1973 “The Young and the Restless” premieres on TV
1975 Metric Conversion Act signed by U.S. President Gerald Ford. The act made the metric system the preferred system of weights and measures in the United States.
1986 The Voyager completes the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. The experimental aircraft, piloted by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after nine days and four minutes in the sky.
1994 Organized crime boss Whitey Bulger goes into hiding
1995 A fire in Dabwali, India, killed 540 people, including 170 children, during a year-end party being held near the children’s school.
1995 The bodies of 16 members of the Solar Temple religious sect were found in a clearing near Grenoble, France. 14 were presumed shot by two people who then committed suicide.
1997 Terry Nichols was convicted by a Denver jury on charges of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the 1995 federal building bombing in Oklahoma City. The bomb killed 168 people.
1997 US Agriculture Department estimates it costs $149,820 to raise a child to 18
REFERENCES: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeoplehistory.com, timeandate.com, factmonster.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
