Today in History for Dec. 24:
In 1524, Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese navigator who found the sea route from Europe to the East, died in Cochin, India.
In 1781, Canada's first Christmas tree was erected in Sorel, north of Montreal, by Baron Friedrich von Riedesel.
In 1814, the War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium. Because of a military stalemate, it was agreed to restore prewar boundaries. However, because of the slowness of communications at that time, both countries fought the "Battle of New Orleans" the following month.
In 1851, part of the Capitol building in Washington and the entire Library of Congress was destroyed by fire.
In 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was founded in Giles County, Tenn.
In 1879, the temperature in Winnipeg dropped to a record -47.8 degrees.
In 1908, citing morality concerns, New York Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. temporarily closed the city's movie theatres. (The action gave rise to creation of a motion picture censorship board.)
In 1919, American tycoon John D. Rockefeller gave away $100-million -- the largest single philanthropic gift to that day. Half of the money was for salary increases for U.S. teachers.
In 1943, American General Dwight Eisenhower was named commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces for the Second World War invasion of Europe.
In 1948, Canada officially recognized the state of Israel.
In 1951, Libya became the first country created by the United Nations.
In 1964, the Queen gave the final approval for Canada's Maple Leaf flag. Parliament had approved the new design on Dec. 18th to replace the Red Ensign and Union Jack.
In 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis as part of a Christmas Eve television broadcast to Earth while orbiting the moon.
In 1975, Pope Paul VI pulled shut a bronze door ending the Holy Year. The door remained closed until the next Holy Year in 2000. The tradition of the Holy, or Jubilee Year dates back to the Old Testament, when it was designated as a year of favour from God. In modern times it has been used to celebrate significant anniversaries.
In 1985, Italy's Mount Etna erupted, sending four rivers of lava down the volcano's side.
In 1988, following a bitter two-week debate, the House of Commons approved the Canada-U.S. free trade deal. The vote on final reading --- at 1:48 a.m. Eastern time -- was 141-to-111.
In 1989, Panama's deposed dictator Manuel Noriega took refuge at the Vatican Embassy in Panama City after eluding U.S. invasion troops for four days.
In 1991, Mary Kinnear, one of Canada's first female senators, died at age 93. The Port Colbourne, Ont., native was first appointed to the Senate by Lester B. Pearson in 1967. She retired in 1973 on her 75th birthday.
In 1993, Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, famous author of the 1952 bestseller "The Power of Positive Thinking," and a popular religious figure, died at the age of 95.
In 1997, a French court convicted the revolutionary Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal, of the 1975 murders of two French investigators. He was also linked to some of the Cold War's most sensational terror attacks. He was sentenced to life in prison. (In 2011, he was convicted for organizing four deadly attacks in France in the 1980s and sentenced again to life in prison.)
In 1997, Pierre Peladeau, publisher of the "Journal de Montreal" and owner of the Quebecor publishing company, died at age 72.
In 1999, Calgary recorded a record temperature of 17.6 degrees.
In 2009, the U.S. Senate passed landmark health-care reform legislation, a nearly $1-trillion bill pledging to extend coverage to an estimated 30 million Americans.
In 2012, Jack Klugman, the prolific, craggy-faced character actor and regular guy who was loved by millions as sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison in TV's "The Odd Couple" and the crime-fighting coroner in "Quincy, M.E.," died at age 90.
In 2018, one person died and three others were in hospital following a fire at an Edmonton group home for disabled adults.
In 2018, public health officials reported that with no new cases of E. coli connected to romaine lettuce detected since mid-November, the leafy green is probably safe to eat again. In the month before that, 29 people in Canada got sick from the bacteria in the lettuce, mostly in Quebec. A handful became ill in Ontario and New Brunswick, and three in British Columbia after travelling.
In 2018, China's foreign ministry said western allies' support for Canada over the arrests of two Canadians on national-security grounds have made China "very dissatisfied." Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the detention of Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer is a much bigger international offence than China's own arrests of two Canadians, including a former diplomat.
In 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, had an active Christmas Eve. They answered telephone calls from children who were wanted to know where Santa was on his gift-giving journey, with the president at one point asking a seven-year-old named Coleman, "Are you still a believer in Santa?" She responded, "Yes, sir," and Trump added, "Because at 7, that's marginal, right?" She replied, "Yes sir."
In 2020, California became the first U.S. state to record 2 million cases of COVID-19.
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The Canadian Press