December 26

December 26 is the 360th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, 361st in leap years. There are 5 days remaining.

Events:

• 1620 - Elizabeth Bathory's crimes are uncovered
• 1776 - American Revolutionary War: The British were defeated in the Battle of Trenton
• 1825 - The Erie Canal opens
• 1860 - Confederate diplomatic envoys James Mason[?] and John Slidell[?] are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Great Britain
• 1908 - Jack Johnson becomes the first African American heavyweight[?] boxing champion by defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia
• 1933 - The Nissan Motor Company was organized in Tokyo, Japan
• 1933 - FM radio is patented
• 1944 - The play The Glass Menagerie[?] by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed).
• 1944 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne
• 1966 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga[?], the chair of Black Studies[?] at California State University at Long Beach[?]
• 1982 - Time magazine's Man of the Year was for the first time given to a non-human; a computer.
• 1991 - Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR.
• 1996 - JonBenet Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen, was found murdered in her family's basement in Boulder, Colorado.
• 1998 - Iraq announced its intention to fire upon US and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern "no-fly zones".

Births:

• 1196 - Frederick II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (+ 1250)
• 1716 - Thomas Gray, poet and letter-writer (+ 1771)
• 1751 - Clement Mary Hofbauer[?], Redemptorist missionary (+ 1820)
• 1791 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor of computing machines (+ 1871)
• 1837 - George Dewey, Admiral in the United States Navy (+ 1917)
• 1883 - Maurice Utrillo, painter (+ 1955)
• 1891 - Henry Miller, writer (+ 1980)
• 1893 - Mao Zedong, Chinese politician and dictator (+ 1976)
• 1903 - Elisha Cook Jr.[?], actor (+ 1995)
• 1914 - Richard Widmark[?], actor
• 1921 - Steve Allen, actor, comedian, composer, author (+ 2000)
• 1927 - Alan King[?], comedian, actor
• 1940 - Phil Spector, music producer
• 1942 - Gray Davis, Governor of California
• 1945 - John Walsh[?], talk show host, television presenter
• 1954 - Ozzie Smith, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1971 - Jared Leto[?], actor

Deaths:

• 1890 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist
• 1909 - Frederic Remington[?], artist
• 1963 - Gorgeous George[?], professional wrestler, television personality
• 1972 - Harry S Truman, 33rd president of the United States
• 1974 - Jack Benny, comedian
• 1977 - Howard Hawks, film director, writer
• 1985 - Dian Fossey, anthropologist
• 1986 - Elsa Lanchester, actress
• 1999 - Curtis Mayfield, musician
• 2000 - Jason Robards[?], actor
• 2001 - Nigel Hawthorne, actor
• 2002 - Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer

Holidays and Observances:

• Boxing Day in the United Kingdom and Australia
• St. Stephen's Day, a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland
• First day of Kwanzaa
• Feast day of Saint Stephen (in the western Christian church))

December 25 - December 27 - November 26 - January 26 -- listing of all days

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