This Week in History
by Dianne Hermann
“The secret to happiness is freedom.
The secret to freedom is courage.” Carrie Jones
Dec 22-28, 2025
December 22
1882 – Thomas Edison created the first string of Christmas tree lights.
1941 – Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, DC for a wartime conference with President FDR. In 1963, Churchill was made an honorary U.S. citizen. Barack Obama sent the bust of Churchill back to the British embassy when he took over the White House. Churchill’s bust was returned to Washington, thanks to the efforts of former Speaker of the House John Boehner. The bust was dedicated on October 30, 2013.
1964 – The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, with test pilot Bob Gilliland, made its first flight at Plant #42 in Palmdale, California. Watch a documentary with flight footage.
1984 – Bernhard Goetz shot 4 black muggers on a New York City subway train. The “Subway Vigilante” was acquitted of attempted murder but was convicted of gun violations and served less than a year. Goetz is now 78 years old.
2001 – Richard Reid attempted, but failed, to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
2010 – President Barack Obama signed into law the repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, the 17-year-old Clinton administration policy banning homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. military.
December 23
1779 – Revolutionary War hero Benedict Arnold was court-martialed for improper conduct after he agrees to turn over West Point to the British through Major John Andre in exchange for money. Arnold was cleared of all charges while Andre was captured and subsequently hanged in October 1790.
1788 – Maryland voted to cede a 10-sqaure-mile area to form the District of Columbia. Washington, DC became the permanent capital of the U.S. in 1790.
1823 – “A Visit from St Nicholas” by Clement C. Moore was published in the Troy (New York) Sentinel. It is more commonly known as “T’was The Night Before Christmas.”
1867 – Sarah Breedlove, known as Madame C. J. Walker, was born. She became the first self-made female millionaire in the U.S. with her hair care products for black women. She died in 1919 at age 51.
1913 – President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law. In spite its name, the Federal Reserve is a privately owned banking system and is not part of the federal government. It has never been audited.
1961 – Fidel Castro announced Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners after the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion in exchange for $62 million worth of food and medical supplies. Cuba started returning U.S. prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion on this date in 1962.
1968 – Eighty-two crew members of U.S. intelligence ship USS Pueblo were released by North Korea, 335 days after it was captured. The ship remains in North Korea.
1972 – In what became known as the “Immaculate Reception,” the Pittsburg Steelers turned around a 7-6 deficit with a last second touchdown reception by Franco Harris from Terry Bradshaw against the Oakland Raiders for a 13-7 win. Watch it with player interviews.
1986 – Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager (no relation to Chuck Yeager) completed the first around-the-world flight without refueling aboard Voyager when they land at Edwards Air Force Base in California 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds after takeoff.
1997 – Terry Nichols was found guilty of manslaughter in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Nichols is now 70 years old.
2016 – The U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, demanding a halt to Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, by a vote of 14-0. The U.S. abstained.
December 24
1814 – The Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the War of 1812. The British stalled negotiations awaiting the British capture of New Orleans and its valuable port at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Future president Andrew Jackson, who was very ill at the time, successfully defended New Orleans with a much smaller military force and inferior weapons in January of 1815.
1851 – Fire devastated the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, DC, destroying 35,000 volumes and documents, about two-thirds of its book collection. The fire destroyed most of the books purchased from Thomas Jefferson in 1815 to replace those lost during the War of 1812.
1948 – The first house in the U.S. completely sun-heated was occupied in Dover, Massachusetts. It cost about $20,000 to build it. Architect Eleanor Raymond designed the structure, scientist Maria Telkes designed the solar heating system, and Boston heiress and sculptress Amelia Peabody financed it. The Dover Sun House was demolished in 2012 and replaced with a new house with a larger solar array.
1968 – Apollo 8 astronauts gave a Christmas Eve reading from the Bible book of Genesis while orbiting the Moon. Watch images from Apollo 8 as the astronauts read from Genesis.
2000 – Thirty-six minutes after the end of the football game, the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins were called back to the field to play the final 3 seconds of the game, which the Dolphins had won 27-24. The final score did not change.
December 25 – Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
1651 – A Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine of five shillings for “observing any such day as Christmas.” The law banning Christmas celebrations was passed in 1659 and lasted 22 years.
1776 – General George Washington and his troops crossed the nearly frozen Delaware River, surprising and defeating 1,400 Hessians soldiers during the Revolutionary War.
1868 – Despite bitter opposition, President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to most persons involved in the Southern Rebellion (aka The Civil War), except former Confederate officers like Jefferson Davis. In 1872 and 1876, Davis was again excluded from citizenship rights granted to the remaining Confederate officers. It wasn’t until 1978 that President Jimmy Carter restored full citizenship rights to Davis. Davis died in 1889 at age 81.
1896 – John Philip Sousa wrote “Stars & Stripes Forever.” In 1987, Congress made the song the official national march of the U.S. Sousa served in the Marine Corps as a musician and band leader from 1872 to 1892. He also served as a band leader in the Naval Reserve during WWI. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. Sousa, known as the “March King,” died in 1932 at age 77. Watch “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band perform Sousa’s most famous march.
1939 – Montgomery Ward introduced Rudolph as the 9th reindeer in the story “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The story was written by marketing employee Robert May. May considered naming the reindeer “Rollo” or “Reginald.” May’s brother-in-law adapted the poem into a song, which was recorded by Gene Autry in 1949. The recording sold 2.5 million copies the first year and hit #1 on the Billboard chart during the week of Christmas that year.
1990 – The first successful trial test was run on the system that would become the World Wide Web (www). On August 6, 1991, web server creator Tim Berners-Lee posted a short summary of the project, although public availability of the first web servers occurred earlier that year. The original web page was thought to be lost, but Paul Jones of UNC-Chapel Hill saved a copy of the page on a floppy disk.
2025 – Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
December 26
1799 – George Washington was eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as, “First in war, first in peace, and first in hearts of his countrymen.” Henry Lee was the grandfather of Civil War general Robert E. Lee.
1877 – The Socialist Labor Party of North America held its first national convention. It is the second oldest socialist party in the world still in existence.
1924 – Judy Garland, age 2½, made her show business debut (as Baby Frances) with her two sisters. Her real name was Frances Gumm. Her most famous role was as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” Garland died in 1969 at age 47. Her older sister, Dorothy Virginia, died in 1977 at age 59. The oldest Gumm sister, Mary Jane, committed suicide in 1964 at age 48. Watch the Gumm Sisters perform (Baby Frances is on the left).
1941 – Winston Churchill became the first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that the Axis would “stop at nothing.”
1982 – Time Magazine’s “Man” of the Year was a computer.
1991 – Jack Ruby’s gun, the .38 Colt Cobra revolver used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald, sold for $220,000 at auction. In 2008, the gun was sold at a Las Vegas auction for the same price.
1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was found beaten and strangled to death in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado. Her murder remains unsolved. Patricia Ramsey died from cancer in 2006 at age 49.
2018 – The Dow Jones had the largest one-day point increase in history. It rose 1,086.25 points. It was surpassed on April 9, 2025, when the Dow Jones gained 2,962.86 points.
December 27
1900 – Temperance leader Carrie Nation led her first public smashing of a bar at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas. Between 1900 and 1910, Carrie Nation was arrested 30 times. Watch a Smithsonian show about her life.
1937 – Mae West performed her “Adam and Eve” skit that was so suggestive it got her banned from NBC radio. Mae West died in 1980 at age 87.
1947 – The first “Howdy Doody Show” (Puppet Playhouse) was telecast on TV. It aired until 1960. The original Howdy Doody marionette is at the Detroit Institute of Art. Watch the 1947 intro.
1985 – Dian Fossey, an American naturalist, was found murdered at a research station in Rwanda. She was 53 years old. Her assistant, Wayne McGuire, was found guilty in absentia in a Rwandan court. He stayed in the U.S. and never served prison time for her murder.
2012 – NASA unveiled its plan to capture a 500 ton asteroid in 2025. It was called the Asteroid Redirect Mission. The mission was cancelled in 2018.
December 28
1832 – John C. Calhoun became the first Vice President to resign from office. He cited political differences with President Andrew Jackson. Calhoun then filled the vacant Senate seat in South Carolina.
1905 – The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the U.S. was founded and became the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1910.
1945 – Congress officially recognizes the “Pledge of Allegiance.” The phrase “Under God” is added in 1954.
1981 – Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American “test-tube baby,” is born in Norfolk, Virginia. Carr was the 15th baby born in the world from the in-vitro fertilization procedure. Watch a short interview with Carr.
2000 – Retail giant Montgomery Ward announced it is going out of business after 128 years. The last stores closed the following year. Aaron Montgomery Ward started the company in 1872. Montgomery Ward launched as an online retailer in 2004. Ward died in 1913 at age 69.
2005 – A U.S. immigration judge ordered John Demjanjuk deported to Ukraine for crimes against humanity committed during World War II. After years of delays and court proceedings, Demjanjuk was finally deported to Germany in 2009. He was arrested there, tried, and convicted as an accessory to the murder of 27,900 Jews. Demjanjuk died in 2012 at age 91.
2008 – The Detroit Lions finished the season 0-16 after a 31-21 lost to the Green Bay Packers. It was the first time in National Football League history that a team went winless in a 16-game season.
2012 – Vladimir Putin signed into law a ban on the U.S. adoption of Russian children after a child who was adopted died three months after his arrival in the U.S. The boy died after being accidentally left in a car in July for nine hours.
Image from: quadcitiesdaily.com
