Today in History - History - December 26th

1944Battle of Bastogne-US Gen Patton's 4th Pantzers repulse Germans

1986Mark Messier is suspended for 10 games for instigating a fight with Jamie Macoun and breaking his cheekbone

1991Jack Ruby's gun sells for $220,000 in auction

1799George Washington is eulogized by Col Henry Lee as "1st in war, 1st in peace & 1st in hearts of his countrymen"

1965Paul McCartney is interviewed on pirate radio station Radio Caroline

1933Bradman scores 187* NSW v Victoria, 294 mins, 13 fours

1944Tennessee Williams' play "Glass Menagerie," premieres in Chicago

1924Judy Garland, 2½, billed as Baby Frances, makes her show business debut

1941Winston Churchill becomes 1st British PM to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that Axis would "stop at nothing"

1935Stalin views Dmitri Sjostakovitsj' opera "Lady Macbeth"

1891Henry Miller, Manhattan, New York, author/artist (Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer, Sexus), (d. 1980)

1791Charles Babbage, London, British inventor (calculating machine), (d. 1871)

1893Mao Zedong, Shaoshan, Hunan, Chinese revolutionary & Chairman of the Communist Party of China (1949-76), (d. 1976)

1921Steve Allen, NYC, comedian/TV host (Tonight Show, Steve Allen Show)

1941Jazz musician Ella Fitzgerald (24) weds convicted drug dealer Benny Kornegay

2002Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal (30) weds Shaunie Nelson at The Beverly Hills Hotel's Crystal Garden

1948MLB player Gil Hodges (24) weds Joan Lombardi

1959NFL coach John Madden (23) weds Virginia Fields

2001"Harry Potter" author J. K. Rowling (36) weds anesthesiologist Neil Murray (30) in Aberfeldy, Scotland

1993Comedian Rodney Dangerfield (72) weds Joan Child (41) at Silver Bells Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas

1946Actor Jackie Coogan (32) weds Ann McCormack (22)

1843US Navy flag officer David Farragut (42) weds Virginia Loyall

1989Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player, dies of cirrhosis of the liver at 65

2004Reggie White, American football player, dies at 43

2006Gerald R Ford, 38th President of the United States, dies at 93

1972Harry Truman, 33rd US President (1945-53), dies in KC Mo at 88