"Today is Wednesday, Dec. 24, the 358th day of 2025. There are seven days left in the year. This is Christmas Eve. Today in history: On Dec. 24, 2013, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon to code-breaker Alan Turing, who was criminally convicted of homosexual behavior in the 1950s. Also on this date: In 1814, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, which would end the War of 1812 following ratification by both the British Parliament and the U.S. Senate."
"In 1851, fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes (about two-thirds of the library's collection). In 1865, several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, that was the original version of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1913, 73 people, most of them children, died in a crush of panic after a false cry of Fire! during a Christmas party for striking miners and their families at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan."
"In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal. In 2018, a series of explosions ripped through fireworks workshops in Tultepec, a town just north of Mexico City, leaving at least 24 people dead and dozens injured."
Dec. 24, 2025 is Wednesday and Christmas Eve. Key historical milestones on Dec. 24 include Queen Elizabeth II's 2013 posthumous pardon of code-breaker Alan Turing and the 1814 signing of the Treaty of Ghent ending the War of 1812 after ratification. In 1851, fire destroyed about 35,000 Library of Congress volumes. In 1865, veterans formed the original Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee. In 1913, 73 people died at the Italian Hall after a false cry of fire. In 1914, impromptu Christmas truces occurred along parts of the Western Front. Later entries include Eisenhower's 1943 appointment, 1992 Iran-Contra pardons, 2018 Tultepec explosions, and NASA's 2024 Parker Solar Probe close approach. Birthdays include Dr. Anthony Fauci, 85, and Lee Daniels, 66.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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