1814

The United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 following ratification by both the British Parliament and the U.S. Senate.

1865

Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, that was the original version of the Ku Klux Klan.

1913

73 people, most of them children, died in a crush of panic after a false cry of “Fire!” during a Christmas party for striking miners and their families at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan.

1914

During World War I, impromptu Christmas truces began to take hold along parts of the Western Front between British and German soldiers.

1943

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe.

1992

President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Birthdays

Immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci is 84. Filmmaker Lee Daniels is 65. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright is 63. Singer Ricky Martin is 53. Author Stephenie Meyer is 51. TV host Ryan Seacrest is 50. Rock singer Louis Tomlinson is 33.