On this day...

1814 Treaty of Ghent (end of the War of 1812) signed
1818 "Silent Night" composed by Franz Joseph Gruber; first sung next day
1851 Fire devastates Library of Congress, destroys 35,000 volumes
1865 Several Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, TN
1871 Giusseppi Verdi's "Aida" premieres in Cairo, at Suez canal opening
1889 Daniel Stover & William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake
1906 Reginald A. Fessenden became first to broadcast music over radio
1910 Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250,000 people at Lotta's Fountain
1920 Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance (NYC)
1924 Albania becomes a republic
1933 Paris express train derails & kills 160, injures 300
1936 First radioactive isotope medicine administered, Berkeley
1942 First powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Germany
1943 Eisenhower appointed Supreme Commander of Allied forces
1946 4th French republic established
1951 United Kingdom of Libya gains independence from Italy via the UN
1953 Two fast express trains crash head-on killing 103 (Czechoslovakia)
1953 Wellington-Auckland (NZ) express train swept away in flood kills 166
1954 Laos gains its independence
1956 "I Love Lucy" Christmas show airs, never put in syndication
1961 Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3 in AFL championship game
1966 Luna 13 lands on Moon
1966 USAF C144 military charter crashes near Binh Thai Vietnam kills 129
1970 Walt Disney's "The Aristocats" is released
1973 Ferryboat capsized off coast of Equador, drowning 200
1980 Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds
1982 Chaminade, with a student body of only 850 students, beats #1 ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic
1986 French hostage Aurel Cornea, held in Lebanon for 9 months, released
1989 Panama's dictator, Manual Noriega, seeks asylum at the Vatican embassy
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Soviet Union

Birthdays which occurred on December 24th:

3 -BC- Servius Sulpicius Galba, 6th Roman emperor (68-69)
1745 Benjamin Rush, Byberry PA, physician-general (Continental Army)
1754 George Crabbe, Aldeburgh England, poet (Everlasting Mercy)
1798 Adam Mickiewicz, Poland, national poet (Pan Tadeusz)
1809 Christopher "Kit" Carson, KY, western scout
1818 James Prescott Joule, physicist (discovered conservation of energy)
1822 Matthew Arnold, England, poet/critic (Dover Beach)
1868 Emanuel Lasker, Germany, world chess champion (1894-21)
1905 Howard Hughes, reclusive billionaire (Hughes Aircraft)/inventor
1910 Mitchell Ayres, Milwaukee, orchestra leader (Hollywood Palace)
1918 Anwar El Sadat, Egypt, president of Egypt (1970-81)
1920 Dave Bartholomew, Louisiana, jazz artist/songwriter (Blueberry Hill)
1921 Bill Dudley, NFL halfback (Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington)
1922 Ava Gardner, Grabtown NC, actress (On the Beach, Night of the Iguana)
1924 Lee Dorsey, New Orleans, vocalist (Working in the Coal Mines)
1929 Mary Higgins Clark, NY, author (A Cry in the Night, Stillwatch)
1930 Robert Joffrey, choreographer (Joffrey Ballet)
1931 Jill Bennett, Penang Malay, actress (Lady Jane, Concrete Jungle)
1940 Jorma Kaukonen, rock guitarist/vocalist (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)
1940 Paul Tagliabue, NFL commissioner
1944 Erhard Keller, German FR, 500m speed skater (Olympic Gold-1968, 72)
1944 Mike Curb, Savannah GA, singer (Mike Curb Congregation)
1946 Sharon Farrell, Sioux City Iowa, (Lori-Hawaii 5-0, Young & Restless)
1951 Johnny Contardo, rocker (Sha Na Na)
1957 Clarence Gilyard, Jr., Moses Lake Washington, actor (Chips, Duck Factory)
1957 Ian Burden, rocker (Human League)
1969 Kenny Kelly, R&B performer (Riff)

Deaths which occurred on December 24th:

1524 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator dies in Cochin, India
1942 Admiral Jean Darlan, French naval officer is murdered
1954 Johnny Ace, ballad singer, dies at 25 of Russian Roulette
1955 Nana Bryant, actress (Mrs. Nestor-Our Miss Brooks), dies at 67
1984 Ian Hendry, actor dies at 53
1984 Peter Lawford, actor (The Thin Man), dies of cardiac arrest at 61
1991 Walter Hudson, 1,025 lb man, dies at 46