Today in History: December 24, World War I ‘Christmas truce’ begins

On Dec. 24, 1914, during World War I, impromptu Christmas truces began to take hold along parts of the Western Front, principally between British and German soldiers but also involving French troops.

Also on this date:

In 1814, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, which would end the War of 1812 following ratification by both the British Parliament and the U.S. Senate.

In 1851, fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes (about two-thirds of the library’s collection).

In 1865, several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, that was the original version of the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1913, 73 people, most of them children, died in a crush of panic after a false cry of “Fire!” during a Christmas party for striking miners and their families at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.

In 2013, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon to code-breaker Alan Turing, who was criminally convicted of homosexual behavior in the 1950s.

In 2018, a series of explosions ripped through fireworks workshops in Tultepec, a town just north of Mexico City, leaving at least 24 people dead and dozens injured.

In 2024, NASA's Parker Solar Probe survived its record-breaking closest approach to the sun, hurtling 3.8 million miles above its fiery surface. Since its 2018 launch, the probe has completed numerous other close fly-bys to observe solar wind and other events.

Today’s Birthdays: Immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci is 85. Filmmaker Lee Daniels is 66. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright is 64. Singer Ricky Martin is 54. Novelist and film producer Stephenie Meyer is 52. TV host Ryan Seacrest is 51. Rock singer Louis Tomlinson (One Direction) is 34. NFL wide receiver Davante Adams is 33.