ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 359th day of 2023 and the fifth day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1868, President Andrew Johnson unconditionally pardoned all those who had participated in the Southern rebellion that came to be known as the Civil War.

In 1974, 25-year-old Marshall Fields crashed his car through a White House gate and threatened to detonate a bomb; he surrendered after a four-hour standoff.

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee launched the first World Wide Web server.

In 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president. The Soviet Union was officially dissolved the next day.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Clara Barton (1821-1912), American Red Cross founder; Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), actor; Cab Calloway (1907-1994), bandleader/singer; Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), sculptor/artist; Anwar Sadat (1918-1981), Egyptian president; Rod Serling (1924-1975), screenwriter/producer; Jimmy Buffett (1946-2023), singer-songwriter; Sissy Spacek (1949- ), actress; Karl Rove (1950- ), political strategist; Annie Lennox (1954- ), singer-songwriter; Rickey Henderson (1958- ), baseball player; Justin Trudeau (1971- ), prime minister of Canada.

TODAY'S FACT: Americans spent $211.7 billion shopping online during the holiday season in 2022.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, former New York Yankees player and manager Billy Martin died in an automobile accident.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past." -- Clara Barton

TODAY'S NUMBER: 50 million -- units sold of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," making it the bestselling physical single of all time, according to Guinness World Records. The song debuted on Crosby's weekly radio program, "Kraft Music Hall," on this day in 1941.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 19) and full moon (Dec. 26).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 358th day of 2023 and the fourth day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1814, the United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

In 1943, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme Allied commander.

In 1973, Congress passed legislation allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to elect a mayor and council with limited authority.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others associated with the Iran-Contra scandal.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Kit Carson (1809-1868), Army scout/frontiersman; Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), poet/critic; Howard Hughes (1905-1976), businessman/aviator/film producer; Ava Gardner (1922-1990), actress; Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020), author; Robert Joffrey (1930-1988), dancer/choreographer; Lee Daniels (1959- ), filmmaker; Kate Spade (1962-2018), fashion designer; Stephenie Meyer (1973- ), author; Ryan Seacrest (1974- ), TV/radio personality.

TODAY'S FACT: Kit Carson left his apprenticeship as a saddle and harness maker to join a wagon train headed west when he was 15 years old.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1950, the Cleveland Browns won the NFL championship by defeating the Los Angeles Rams, 30-28, when Lou "The Toe" Groza kicked a field goal with 20 seconds left.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "When someone is mean to me, I just make them a victim in my next book." -- Mary Higgins Clark

TODAY'S NUMBER: 34 -- years after his death in 1976 that the estimated $2 billion estate of Howard Hughes, who died without a valid will, was finally settled.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 19) and full moon (Dec. 26).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 357th day of 2023 and the third day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1783, George Washington resigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army.

In 1823, the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (better known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas") was first published anonymously in the Troy (New York) Sentinel. The poem was later attributed to Clement C. Moore.

In 1954, the first successful kidney transplant was performed at Brigham Hospital in Boston.

In 1986, the lightweight composite aircraft Voyager completed the first nonstop flight around the globe without refueling.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Joseph Smith (1805-1844), religious leader; Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919), entrepreneur; Norman Maclean (1902-1990), author; Akihito (1933- ), former emperor of Japan; Harry Shearer (1943- ), actor/comedian; Wesley Clark (1944- ), Army general; Susan Lucci (1946- ), actress; Bill Kristol (1952- ), political commentator; Jim Harbaugh (1963- ), football player/coach; Eddie Vedder (1964- ), singer-songwriter; Finn Wolfhard (2002- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: In 2006, an original handwritten copy of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" sold in a private sale for $280,000.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1972, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Oakland Raiders, 13-7, with a bizarre last-second touchdown that became known as the "Immaculate Reception."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect." -- Norman Maclean, "A River Runs Through It"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 16 -- survivors of the "Miracle of the Andes" plane crash rescued on this day in 1972, after surviving for more than two months at the crash site in the mountains along the border between Argentina and Chile.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Dec. 19) and full moon (Dec. 26).