December 23
1783
George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army.
1788
Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the District of Columbia.
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.
1913
President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the Federal Reserve System.
1947
The transistor was unveiled by American physicists John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley.
1948
Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed.
1986
Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling aboard the experimental airplane Voyager.
Birthdays
Akihito
1933–, emperor of Japan
Richard Arkwright
inventor (1732)
Joseph Smith
religious leader (1805)
James Duke
industrialist (1856)
Harriet Monroe
editor, critic, and poet (1860)
Sarah Breedlove Walker
businesswoman, philanthropist (1867)
Yousuf Karsh
photographer (1908)
Robert Bly
writer (1926)
Wesley K. Clark
soldier and political figure (1944)
Susan Lucci
actor (1946)