Today is Monday, Dec. 26, the 361st day of 2016. There are five days left in the year. The seven-day African-American holiday Kwanzaa begins today. This is Boxing Day.
Today’s highlight:
On Dec. 26, 1941, during World War II, Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. Churchill grimly warned that “many disappointments and unpleasant surprises await us,” but also expressed faith that “the British and American peoples will, for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together in majesty, in justice and in peace.”
On this date:
In 1799, former President George Washington was eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
In 1865, James H. Nason of Franklin, Massachusetts, received a patent for “an improved coffee percolator.”
In 1908, Jack Johnson became the first African-American boxer to win the world heavyweight championship as he defeated Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.
In 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, the embattled U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium, was relieved by units of the 4th Armored Division.
In 1966, Kwanzaa was first celebrated.
In 1972, the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, died in Kansas City, Missouri, at age 88.
In 1980, Iranian television footage was broadcast in the United States, showing a dozen of the American hostages sending messages to their families.
In 2004, more than 230,000 people, mostly in southern Asia, were killed by a 100-foot-high tsunami triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean.
Ten years ago: Former President Gerald R. Ford died in Rancho Mirage, California, at age 93.
Associated Press
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