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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Library of Congress
1868: In one of his last significant moves as president, U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional amnesty to all Civil War Confederate soldiers. Earlier amnesties, requiring signed oaths and excluding certain classes of people, had been issued by President Abraham Lincoln and by Johnson.