George Washington, having crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night, defeated Hessian mercenary troops fighting for the British at the Battle of Trenton, N.J.
In 1908, Jack Johnson became the first African-American to win the world heavyweight boxing title when he knocked out Tommy Burns in the 14th round near Sydney, Australia.
In 1917, the federal government took over operation of U.S. railroads for the duration of World War I.
In 1972, Harry Truman, 33rd president of the United States, died at age 88.
In 1974, legendary comedian Jack Benny died of cancer. He was 80.
In 1990, Nancy Cruzan, the focus of a right-to-die case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, died in a Missouri hospital.
In 1993, members of China's Communist Party gathered in Beijing to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong.
In 1996, child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, 6, was found slain in a basement room of her family's posh Boulder, Colo., home.
In 2001, the man captured as he tried to ignite explosives hidden in his sneakers aboard an American Airlines jet was identified as Richard Reid, a 28-year-old unemployed British citizen.
In 2003, more than 26,000 people were reported killed and thousands injured when an earthquake struck the ancient Iranian city of Bam.
Also in 2003, the death toll reached 135 in the crash of a Boeing 727 in Benin.
In 2004, a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami in South and Southeast Asia, with massive tidal waves, some 40 feet high, slamming into India, Thailand, Indonesia and several other countries, killing thousands of people.
Also in 2004, Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko claimed victory in the court-ordered second vote in the country's presidential run-off. The earlier vote, which favored Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, was annulled after strong allegations of fraud.
In 2005, a report said U.S. President George Bush decided to skip seeking warrants for international wiretaps because the court that handles such matters was challenging his requests at an unprecedented rate.
In 2006, former U.S. President Gerald Ford died at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at the age of 93. A Michigan congressman chosen by President Richard Nixon as vice president to succeed the resigned Spiro Agnew, Ford was elevated to president when the Watergate scandal drove Nixon from office in 1974. Ford served as the 38th president until defeated two years later by Jimmy Carter.
Also in 2006, more than 200 people died when a gas pipeline being vandalized exploded in the Nigerian capital of Lagos.
And, a Baghdad appeals court upheld the death sentence for deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for a 1982 massacre of 148 Shiite men.
In 2007, U.S. employers were told by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that they can reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees once they become eligible for Medicare.
A thought for the day: Michel Eyquem de Montaigne said, "A man of understanding has lost nothing, if he has himself."
Today is Saturday, Dec. 27, the 362nd day of 2008 with four to follow.
The moon is new. The morning stars are Saturn and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include German astronomer Johannes Kepler in 1571; English engineer George Cayley, father of the science of aerodynamics, in 1773; French bacteriologist Louis Pasteur in 1822; actor Sydney Greenstreet in 1879; actress Marlene Dietrich in 1901; news correspondent Cokie Roberts in 1943 (age 65); French actor Gerard Depardieu in 1948 (age 60); and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon in 1951 (age 57).
On this date in history:
In 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.
In 1941, Japanese warplanes bombed Manila in the Philippines, even though it had been declared an "open city."
In 1947, the first "Howdy Doody" show, under the title "Puppet Playhouse," was telecast on NBC.
In 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts returned to Earth after orbiting the moon 10 times, paving the way for moon-landing missions.
In 1985, terrorists killed 20 people and wounded 110 in attacks on passengers of the Israeli airline El Al at the Rome and Vienna airports. U.S. President Ronald Reagan blamed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
In 1991, a Scandinavian Airlines jet with 129 people aboard crashed and broke apart after taking off from Stockholm. No one was killed.
In 1992, a U.S. jet shot down an Iraqi fighter over southern Iraq's "no-fly" zone in the first such incident since the Persian Gulf War.
In 1997, Britain's Windsor Castle was reopened to the public following restoration work. One hundred rooms of the palace were damaged in a 1992 fire.
In 2002, Chechen rebels, seeking independence from Russia, killed 52 people with two vehicle bombs at pro-Russian government offices.
In 2003, the search continued for bodies in the aftermath of the Christmas Day mudslide in California's San Bernardino Mountains. At least one dozen people were feared dead.
Also in 2003, the Italian government took control of Parmalat, the dairy conglomerate, and arrested its chairman in a major accounting scandal.
In 2004, the death toll jumped to 23,500 in the Asian tsunami with hundreds of thousands reported hurt and many thousands missing.
In 2005, workmen installing a water main in the Iraqi Shiite city of Karbala unearthed a grave containing dozens of bodies from a 1991 massacre.
In 2006, the U.S. State Department indicated it supported Ethiopia's military incursion into Somalia as a means to counter Islamists trying to topple the government.
In 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, first woman to hold that post in an Islamic state, was assassinated in a suicide attack as she left a political rally in Rawalpindi. Police said she was shot twice by a gunman who then blew himself up in her motorcade, killing another 20 people. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blamed the attack on al-Qaida terrorists as rioting broke out across the country.
Also in 2007, preliminary results in the Kenyan presidential election showed opposition candidate Raila Odinga the winner over incumbent Mwai Kibaki, 57 to 39 percent. Three days later the election commission reversed the results, touching off tribal violence.
A thought for the day: an anonymous saying goes, "Education is what you have left over after you have forgotten everything you have learned."
Today is Sunday, Dec. 28, the 363rd day of 2008 with three to follow.
The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Saturn and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States, in 1856; jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines in 1903; actors Lew Ayres in 1908, Martin Milner in 1931 (age 77) and Maggie Smith in 1934 (age 74); rock musician Edgar Winter in 1946 (age 62); and actor Denzel Washington in 1954 (age 54).
On this date in history:
In 1732, the Pennsylvania Gazette carried the first known advertisement for the first issue of "Poor Richard's Almanack" by Richard Saunders (Benjamin Franklin).
In 1832, John Calhoun, at odds with U.S. President Andrew Jackson, became the first U.S. vice president to resign.
In 1865, French film pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed the first commercial motion pictures at a Paris cafe.
In 1869, The Knights of Labor, a group of tailors in Philadelphia, staged the first Labor Day ceremonies in U.S. history.
In 1908, nearly 80,000 people were killed when an earthquake struck the ancient town of Messina, Sicily.
In 1945, the U.S. Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States.
In 1950, advancing Chinese troops crossed the 38th Parallel, dividing line between North and South Korea, to help the communist North Koreans fight U.S.-led U.N. forces.
In 1985, warring Lebanese Muslim and Christian leaders signed a peace agreement backed by Syria.
In 1992, in a violent day in Lima, Peru, car bombs exploded outside two embassies, police thwarted a bank raid and rebels launched a missile attack on a police station. Five people were killed, 24 injured.
In 1997, Hong Kong officials announced that all chickens in the territory would be killed in an attempt to eradicate carriers of the avian flu, which had killed several people.
In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau announced a total of 281,421,906 people in the nation. The figure was a 13.2-percent increase in the last 10 years.
In 2001, U.S. President George Bush granted permanent normal trade status to China, reversing a 20-year policy.
In 2003, as aid poured in from scores of nations officials in Iran's ancient city of Bam said perhaps half the city's population of 80,000 were killed or injured in the earthquake that struck the area.
In 2004, at least 18 Iraqi policemen were reported killed by insurgents in several attacks on police stations.
Also in 2004, record numbers of Britons turned out with horses and hounds for a fox hunt on what could be Britain's last legal Boxing Day hunt with a hunting ban scheduled to go into effect in two months.
In 2005, many Sunni Arabs claimed voter fraud but U.N. observers said the Iraqi parliamentary elections were "transparent and credible."
In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled that certain meat and milk produced by cloned animals are safe to eat.
Also in 2006, a Louisiana grand jury indicted seven New Orleans police officers on murder and attempted murder charges related to an alleged 2005 police ambush about one week after Hurricane Katrina struck.
In 2007, hundreds of thousands of mourners filled the streets of the Pakistani village of Garhi Khuda Baksh for the funeral of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister. Tempers flared and nine people were killed in rioting before the start of the funeral procession.
Also in 2007, Nepal abolished its monarchy and became a federal democratic republic.
A thought for the day: it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright."
