On This Day:
Monday December 24, 2012
This is the 359th day of the year, with 7 days
remaining in 2012.
Fact of the Day: A Visit from St. Nicholas
It has long been thought that Clement Clarke Moore
authored A Visit from St. Nicholas, which was
first published in the Troy (New York) Sentinel,
in 1893. The poem begins, " 'Twas the night before
Christmas / And all through the house." Moore is
said to have composed A Visit from St. Nicholas to
amuse his children on Christmas 1822, but, unknown
to him, a houseguest copied it and gave it to the
press. Moore took credit for the work in 1844
after it appeared in his collection Poems.
However, in 1999, descendants of Henry Livingston
Jr. claimed that it was Livingston, not Moore, who
wrote the piece. Much scholarly research supports
their claim, but the poem remains cataloged under
Moore's authorship.
Holidays
Christmas Eve.
Feast day of St. Gregory of Spoleto, Saints
Tharsilla and Emiliana, St. Adela, St Irmina, St
Delphinus, and St. Sharbel Makhlouf.
Libya:
Independence Day (from Italy,
1951).
Events
1814
- The War
of 1812 officially ended as the United
States and Britain
signed the Treaty
of Ghent in Belgium.
1851
- Fire devastated the Library
of Congress in Washington,
D.C., destroying around 2/3 of its
collection, including 2/3 of Thomas
Jefferson's personal library, sold to the
institution in 1815.
1865
- Some veterans of the Confederate Army formed a
private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee,
called the Ku
Klux Klan. The name of the Ku Klux Klan is
derived from the Greek word kuklos, meaning
circle, and clann, a Scottish Gaelic word for the
traditional tribal units of Scotland
that reflects the Scottish ancestry of many of the
KKK's founding members.
1871
- Giuseppe
Verdi's opera "Aida" had its world premiere
in Cairo,
Egypt,
to celebrate the opening of the Suez
Canal.
1914
- In World
War I, the first air raid on Britain
was made when a German airplane dropped a bomb on
the grounds of a rectory in Dover.
1919
- John
D. Rockefeller, thought to be the world's
richest man, gave away $100 million dollars.
1942
- German rocket engineer Wernher
von Braun launched the first
surface-to-surface guided missile.
1943
- General Dwight
D. Eisenhower was appointed the Allied
Supreme Commander, even though most thought Chief
of Staff George
C. Marshall would get the nod.
1948
- "The Perry
Como Show" premiered on TV.
1951
- Libya
achieved independence as the United
Kingdom of Libya,
under King Idris
I.
1963
- New
York's Idlewild
Airport was renamed John
F. Kennedy International Airport in honor of
the assassinated President John
F. Kennedy.
1979
- Afghanistan
was invaded by Soviet
Union troops as the Kabul
government fell.
1992
- President George
Bush pardoned six Reagan aides involved in
the Iran-Contra
Affair, including Caspar
W. Weinberger, former secretary of defense,
and Robert
C. McFarlane, former national security
advisor.
2002
- Laci
Peterson was reported missing from her Modesto,
California
home by her husband, Scott, who was later
convicted of murdering her and their unborn son.
Births
1491
- Ignatius
of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuits.
1745
- Benjamin
Rush, American medical pioneer and signer of
the Declaration
of Independence.
1809
- Kit
Carson, American frontiersman, subject of
adventure novels, fur trapper, guide, American
Indian agent, and Union general.
1822
- Matthew
Arnold, English poet and essayist.
1905
- Howard
Hughes, American industrialist, pilot,
Hollywood producer and director.
1922
- Ava
Gardner (Lucy Johnson), American actress.
Deaths
1863
- William
Makepeace Thackeray, English novelist and
author of "Vanity
Fair" and other works.
1914
- John
Muir, American naturalist, born in Dunbar, Scotland.
1993
- Norman
Vincent Peale, American theologian and
author.
|
