This Day in History

On Dec. 23, 1972, in an NFL playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders, Steelers running back Franco Harris scored a game-winning touchdown on a deflected pass with less than 10 seconds left. The "Immaculate Reception," as the catch came to be known, is often cited as the greatest NFL play of all time.

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In 1823, the poem "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel of New York; the verse, more popularly known as "The Night Before Christmas," was later attributed to Clement C. Moore.

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 Japanese forces.

In 1948, former Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese World War II leaders were executed in Tokyo after being tried for war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging.

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

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

In 2003, a Virginia jury sentenced teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty. Malvo and his older partner in crime, John Allen Muhammad, shot and killed 10 people over three weeks in October 2002, terrorizing the Washington, D.C., area. Muhammad was executed in 2009.

In 2024, President Joe Biden announced he was commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment weeks before Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of capital punishment, was to begin a second term.

Today's Birthdays: Former Emperor Akihito of Japan is 92. Actor-comedian Harry Shearer is 82. Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark is 81. Actor Susan Lucci is 79. Distance runner Bill Rodgers is 78. Football Hall of Famer Jack Ham is 77. Political commentator William Kristol is 73. Author Donna Tartt is 62. Rock musician Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is 61. Singer, model and former first lady of France Carla Bruni is 58. Actor Finn Wolfhard is 23.