George Washington crosses the Delaware, "To Kill a Mockingbird" premieres, Gorbachev resigns, and passengers on a Christmas flight into Detroit foil the "Underwear Bomber," all on this day.
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Nikola Solic/Reuters
2006: Singer James Brown, one of the founding fathers of funk music with a career that spanned six decades, dies of heart failure at the age 73 in Atlanta, Ga.