TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Dec. 23, 1967

President Lyndon B. Johnson, on his way home from a visit to Australia and Southeast Asia, held an unprecedented meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican; during the two-hour conference, Johnson asked the pope for help in bringing a peaceful end to the Vietnam War. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1788

Maryland passed an act to cede an area “not exceeding ten miles square” for the seat of the national government; about 2⁄3 of the area became the District of Columbia.

1823

The poem “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” was published in the Troy Sentinel; the verse, more popularly known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” was later attributed to Clement C. Moore.

1913

The Federal Reserve System was created as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.

1928

The National Broadcasting Company set up a permanent, coast-to-coast network.

1933

President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored the civil rights of about 1,500 people who had been jailed for opposing the World War.

1941

During World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.

1948

Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.