| 1776 | After crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey, George Washington leads an attack on Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, and takes 900 men prisoner. | |
| 1786 | Daniel Shay leads a rebellion in Massachusetts to protest the seizure of property for the non-payment of debt. | |
| 1806 | Napoleon’s army is checked by the Russians at the Battle of Pultusk. | |
| 1862 | 38 Santee Sioux are hanged in Mankato, Minnesota for their part in the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota. Little Crow has fled the state. | |
| 1866 | Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, head of the Department of the Platte, receives word of the Fetterman Fight in Powder River County in the Dakota territory. | |
| 1917 | As a wartime measure, President Woodrow Wilson places railroads under government control, with Secretary of War William McAdoo as director general. | |
| 1925 | Six U.S. destroyers are ordered from Manila to China to protect interests in the civil war that is being waged there. | |
| 1932 | Over 70,000 people are killed in a massive earthquake in China. | |
| 1941 | General Douglas MacArthur declares Manila an open city in the face of the onrushing Japanese Army. | |
| 1943 | The German battleship Scharnhorst is sunk by British ships in an Arctic fight. | |
| 1944 | Advancing Soviet troops complete their encirclement of Budapest in Hungary. | |
| 1945 | The United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain, end a 10-day meeting, seeking an atomic rule by the UN Council. | |
| 1953 | The United States announces the withdrawal of two divisions from Korea. | |
| 1962 | Eight East Berliners escape to West Berlin, crashing through gates in an armor-plated bus. | |
| 1966 | Dr. Maulana Karenga celebrates the first Kwanza, a seven-day African-American celebration of family and heritage. | |
| 1979 | The Soviet Union flies 5,000 troops to intervene in the Afghanistan conflict. | |
| 1982 | Time magazine chooses a personal computer as it “Man of the Year,” the first non-human ever to receive the honor. | |
| 1991 | The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union formally dissolves the Soviet Union. | |
| 1996 | JonBenet Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen, is found beaten and strangled to death in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado, one of the most high-profile crimes of the late 20th century in the US. | |
| 1996 | Workers in South Korea’s automotive and shipbuilding industries begin the largest labor strike in that country’s history, protesting a new law that made firing employees easier and would curtail the rights of labor groups to organize. | |
| 1999 | Lothar, a violent, 36-hour windstorm begins; it kills 137 and causes $1.3 billion (US dollars) damage in Central Europe. | |
| 2004 | A tsunami caused by a 9.3-magnitude earthquake kills more than 230,000 along the rim of the Indian Ocean. | |
| 2006 | Former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford dies at age 93. Ford was the only unelected president in America’s history. | |
| Born on December 26 | ||
| 1716 | Thomas Gray, English poet. | |
| 1792 | Charles Babbage, English mathematician who perfected the calculating machine. | |
| 1891 | Henry Miller, American writer. | |
| 1893 | Mao Tse-tung, founding father of the People’s Republic of China. | |
| 1894 | Jean Toomer, poet and novelist who figured prominently in the Harlem Renaissance (Cane). | |
| 1905 | William Loeb III, publisher of the Manchester Union Leader (later The New Hampshire Union Leader), one of the best-known small town newspapers in the US. | |
| 1907 | Albert Gore Sr., US Senator from Tennessee who was instrumental in sponsoring and pushing through legislation that created America’s Interstate Highway System. | |
| 1914 | Richard Widmark, actor (Kiss of Death); member of Western Performers Hall of Fame. | |
| 1921 | Steve Allen, radio and TV personality, actor, musician, comedian, writer; hosted The Steve Allen Show and I’ve Got a Secret; won a Grammy for his jazz composition “The Gravy Waltz” (1963). | |
| 1924 | Frank Broyles, college football player and coach; member of College Football Hall of Fame. | |
| 1927 | Alan King, comedian, actor, producer, author (How to Pick Up Girls, Night and the CIty). | |
| 1939 | Phil Spector, record producer; creator of the “Wall of Sound” production method; convicted in 2009 of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, he was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. | |
| 1942 | Dan Massey, social activist, author; co-founder and CEO of VenusPlusX. | |
| 1945 | John Walsh, TV personality, victims rights advocate; created of America’s Most Wanted TV series after the murder of his son Adam in 1981. | |
| 1947 | USMC General James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps (2006-10); commanded 1st Marine Expeditionary Force during the Second Gulf War. | |
| 2000 | Samuel Sevian, chess prodigy; at age 12 became youngest-ever United States International Master. | |
Source: History Net