THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― DECEMBER 24

December 24 is the 358th day of the year(359th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are seven days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Tuesday or Wednesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Friday or Sunday (56).

NATIONAL EGGNOG DAY 


1515 – Thomas Wolsey is appointed Lord Chancellor of England by Henry VIII.


1801 – British inventor Richard Trevithick takes seven of his friends for a test ride on his "Puffing Devil," or "Puffer," the first steam-powered passenger vehicle, on this day in 1801.


1814 – The Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America is signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium, ending the War of 1812. By terms of the treaty, all conquered territory was to be returned, and commissions were planned to settle the boundary of the United States and Canada.

1851 – A devastating fire at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroys about two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes, including most of Thomas Jefferson's personal library, sold to the institution in 1815.

1864 – On this day in 1864, a Union fleet under Admiral David Dixon Porter begins a bombardment of Fort Fisher, North Carolina. Although an impressive display of firepower, the attack failed to destroy the fort; a ground attack the next day did not succeed either.

1865 – In Pulaski, Tennessee, a group of Confederate veterans convenes to form a secret society that they christen the "Ku Klux Klan."

1923 – On this day in 1923, President Calvin Coolidge touches a button and lights up the first national Christmas tree to grace the White House grounds.

1943 – FDR appoints General Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe.

1952 – The McCarren-Walter Act takes effect and revises America's immigration laws. The law was hailed by supporters as a necessary step in preventing communist subversion in the United States, while opponents decried the legislation as being xenophobic and discriminatory.

1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.

1972 – Comedian Bob Hope gives what he says is his last Christmas show to U.S. servicemen in Saigon. Hope was a comedian and star of stage, radio, television, and over 50 feature films.

1979 – The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978.

1999 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed). NB: The banner; there's not even any question today.

2003 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.

2008 – The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

1625 – Johann Rudolph Ahle, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1673)

1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet and playwright, compred in Europe to Byron and Goethe (d. 1855)

1818 – James Prescott Joule, English physicist and brewer, Joule's First Law (d. 1889)

1880 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and political cartoonist (d. 1939)

1895 – E. Roland Harriman, American financier and philanthropist (d. 1978)

1905 – Howard Hughes, American businessman, engineer, and pilot (d. 1976)

1913 – Adolph Frederick "Ad" Reinhardt, American painter and academic (d. 1967)

1927 – Mary Higgins Clark, American author

From Wikipedia and Google