Years Ago

Today is Friday, Dec. 26, the 360th day of 2014. There are five days left in the year. The seven-day African-American holiday Kwanzaa begins today. This is Boxing Day.

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On this date in:

1776: The British suffer a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War.

1799: Former President George Washington is eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

1908: Jack Johnson becomes the first African-American boxer to win the world heavyweight championship as he defeats Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.

1914: Actor Richard Widmark is born in Sunrise Township, Minn.

1933: Nissan Motor Co. is founded in Yokohama, Japan, as the Automobile Manufacturing Co.

1944: During the World War II Battle of the Bulge, the embattled U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium, is relieved by units of the 4th Armored Division.

Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” is first performed at the Civic Theatre in Chicago.

1966: Kwanzaa is first celebrated.

1972: The 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, dies in Kansas City, Mo., at age 88.

1974: Comedian Jack Benny dies in Los Angeles at age 80.

1994: French commandos storm a hijacked Air France jetliner on the ground in Marseille, killing four Algerian hijackers and freeing 170 hostages.

1996: Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in her family’s home in Boulder, Colo. (To date, the slaying remains unsolved.)

2006: Former President Gerald R. Ford dies in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 93.

2004: More than 230,000 people, mostly in southern Asia, are killed by a 100-foot-high tsunami triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean.

Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts breaks Dan Marino’s single-season touchdown pass record when he throws his 48th and 49th of the season against San Diego. (The Colts defeated San Diego in overtime, 34-31.)

Hall of Famer Reggie White, one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, dies in North Carolina at age 43.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: Although the weather outside was frightful, shoppers trekked to area malls and shopping centers for those delightful after-Christmas sales.

Mahoning County Prosecutor James A. Philomena is laying groundwork for a Democratic campaign for Ohio attorney general.

Pfc. William Clepper III, wounded during the U.S. invasion of Panama, arrives home in Sharon in time for Christmas. He was wounded in the back by shrapnel.

1974: Sheila Marie Moynihan, daughter of Pfc. and Mrs. Robert Moynihan, is Youngstown’s first Christmas baby, being born two months early at St. Elizabeth Hospital.

The East Ohio Gas Co. announces plans to spend $1.7 million during 1975 in Youngstown and Warren.

A patient on the eighth floor of St. Elizabeth Hospital sets his mattress on fire while smoking in bed. An alert nurse calls the fire department before rushing into the room and extinguishing the fire.

1964: William Hendricks, former Youngstowner, is promoted to assistant vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

The traffic death toll for the extended Christmas weekend stands at 290. The record was set in 1955 when 609 people were killed during the holiday period.

1939: Six babies arrive on Christmas Day in Youngstown hospitals, the earliest being a son born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Carter.

Clutching a baby doll that Santa had left her a few hours earlier, 3-year-old Nancy Jean Rohrbach tumbles out of her father’s car on a curve in Rt. 422 near Mineral Ridge and is struck and killed by another auto.

Traffic commissioner Clarence W. Coppersmith says “drunken drivers are a menace on the highways and they will not be tolerated,” as he announces a war on drivers who drink.