Today in History: Dec. 23

East Coast under loupe
In 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. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/Popartic)
This is a December 1947 photo of Japanese Premier General Hideki Tojo, at an unknown location.  (AP Photo)
In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo. This is a December 1947 photo of  Tojo, at an unknown location. (AP Photo)
FILE - In this June 4, 1955 file photo, Richard Herrick, left, and his twin brother Ronald, from Northborough, Mass., sing at the annual meeting of the Mended Hearts Club at a hotel in Boston. The identical twin brothers made medical history when Ronald donated one of his kidneys to Richard for a Dec. 23, 1954 kidney transplant that was recognized as the world's first successful organ transplant. Richard lived eight years after receiving the transplant.  Ronald died Monday, Dec. 27, 2010, in Augusta, Maine. He was 79. (AP Photo/File)
In 1954, the first successful human kidney transplant took place at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston as a surgical team removed a kidney from 23-year-old Ronald Herrick and implanted it in Herrick’s twin brother, Richard. In this June 4, 1955 file photo, Richard Herrick, left, and his twin brother Ronald, from Northborough, Mass., sing at the annual meeting of the Mended Hearts Club at a hotel in Boston. (AP Photo/File)
In this 1968 photo from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, distributed by Korea News Service, captain of the USS Pueblo, a Banner-class technical research ship (Navy intelligence), Commanding Officer Lloyd M. Bucher confesses his engagement in the spy operation. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
In 1968, 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured. In this photo from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, distributed by Korea News Service, captain of the USS Pueblo, a Banner-class technical research ship (Navy intelligence), Commanding Officer Lloyd M. Bucher confesses his engagement in the spy operation. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
Co-pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, left, (no relationship to test pilot Chuck Yeager), will attempt to circumnavigate the globe without refuelling in an experimental aircraft called Voyager. Photo was taken after a test flight over the Mojave Desert December 19, 1985. The aircraft is made of plastic and graphite fiber composite and able to carry five-times its own weight in fuel, was designed by Rutan's brother, Burt, and is so economical that it can complete the 25 000 mile (40 250 km) flight along the equator in about 12 days with fuel to spare. (AP Photo/Doug Pizac)
In 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, non-refueled round-the-world flight as it returned safely to Edwards Air Force Base in California.  (AP Photo/Doug Pizac)
In 1997, a federal jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, declining to find him guilty of murder. (Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.) FILE – In this Aug. 9, 2004 file photo, convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, is led from the Pittsburg County Courthouse in McAlester, Okla., after his sentencing in the state’s murder case against him. Nichols was tried and convicted on federal charges and was convicted of murder following a separate trial in Oklahoma. Nichols received multiple life prison sentences. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)
In 2003, a jury in Chesapeake, Va., sentenced teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty. FILE – In this Oct. 26, 2004 file photo, Lee Boyd Malvo enters a courtroom in Spotsylvania, Va. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star via AP)
(1/7)
East Coast under loupe
This is a December 1947 photo of Japanese Premier General Hideki Tojo, at an unknown location.  (AP Photo)
FILE - In this June 4, 1955 file photo, Richard Herrick, left, and his twin brother Ronald, from Northborough, Mass., sing at the annual meeting of the Mended Hearts Club at a hotel in Boston. The identical twin brothers made medical history when Ronald donated one of his kidneys to Richard for a Dec. 23, 1954 kidney transplant that was recognized as the world's first successful organ transplant. Richard lived eight years after receiving the transplant.  Ronald died Monday, Dec. 27, 2010, in Augusta, Maine. He was 79. (AP Photo/File)
In this 1968 photo from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, distributed by Korea News Service, captain of the USS Pueblo, a Banner-class technical research ship (Navy intelligence), Commanding Officer Lloyd M. Bucher confesses his engagement in the spy operation. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)
Co-pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, left, (no relationship to test pilot Chuck Yeager), will attempt to circumnavigate the globe without refuelling in an experimental aircraft called Voyager. Photo was taken after a test flight over the Mojave Desert December 19, 1985. The aircraft is made of plastic and graphite fiber composite and able to carry five-times its own weight in fuel, was designed by Rutan's brother, Burt, and is so economical that it can complete the 25 000 mile (40 250 km) flight along the equator in about 12 days with fuel to spare. (AP Photo/Doug Pizac)

Today is Sunday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2018. There are eight days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 23, 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.

On this date:

In 1783, George Washington resigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Va.

In 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.

On Dec. 23, 1805, Joseph Smith Jr., principal founder of the Mormon religious movement, was born in Sharon, Vt.

In 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.

In 1941, during World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.

In 1954, the first successful human kidney transplant took place at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston as a surgical team removed a kidney from 23-year-old Ronald Herrick and implanted it in Herrick’s twin brother, Richard.

In 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.

In 1968, 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.

In 1975, Richard S. Welch, the Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Athens, was shot and killed outside his home by the militant group November 17.

In 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan (ruh-TAN’) and Jeana (JEE’-nuh) Yeager, completed the first non-stop, non-refueled round-the-world flight as it returned safely to Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1997, a federal jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, declining to find him guilty of murder. (Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)

In 2003, the government announced the first suspected (later confirmed) case of mad cow disease in United States, in Washington state. A jury in Chesapeake, Va., sentenced teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty. A gas well accident in southwestern China killed 233 people. New York Gov. George Pataki posthumously pardoned comedian Lenny Bruce for his 1964 obscenity conviction.

Ten years ago: Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet (reh-NAY’-tee-ay-REE’ ma-GOHN’ duh lah veel-oo-SHAY’), founder of an investment fund that had lost $1.4 billion in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, was discovered dead after committing suicide at his Madison Avenue office. A military-led group seized control of the airwaves in Guinea and declared a coup after the death of the country’s long-time dictator, Lansana Conte.

Five years ago: The last two imprisoned members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot (Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova) were given amnesty and set free after spending nearly two years in prison for a protest at Moscow’s main cathedral. Auburn’s Gus Malzahn was honored as The Associated Press national coach of the year. Mikhail Kalashnikov, 94, designer of the AK-47 assault rifle, died in Izhevsk, Russia.

One year ago: The top leadership of the Miss America Organization resigned amid a scandal over emails in which pageant officials had ridiculed past winners over their appearance and intellect and speculated about their sex lives. A federal judge in Seattle partially lifted a Trump administration ban on certain refugees after two groups argued that the policy kept people from some mostly Muslim countries from reuniting with family living legally in the United States.

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