Today in History, December 23rd
On December 23, 1783, George Washington resigned his military command at Annapolis. Plus the Federal Reserve Act and the Immaculate Reception.
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December 23 is best known as the day in 1783 when George Washington resigned his command of the Continental Army and went home. The date also saw Woodrow Wilson sign the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 and Franco Harris make the “Immaculate Reception” in 1972.
The big story: Washington Gives Up His Command (1783)
The war was won and the British were sailing out of New York. Washington could have kept his army and his power. Instead, on December 23, 1783, he rode into Annapolis, Maryland, where Congress was then meeting, and handed his commission back. The ceremony was carefully scripted to show that the army answered to the people’s representatives. Washington bowed to Congress, read a short farewell, and gave his commission and a copy of his remarks to Thomas Mifflin, the president of Congress, who answered with a prepared reply. Then Washington left and rode for Mount Vernon, arriving in time for Christmas. The gesture stunned people on both sides of the Atlantic. King George III reportedly said that if Washington truly gave up power, he would be the greatest man in the world. The room where it happened, the Old Senate Chamber in Maryland’s State House, is still there to visit.
More events on December 23
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1823 | The poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” better known by its opening line about the night before Christmas, appeared anonymously in a New York newspaper. |
| 1888 | Vincent van Gogh cut off part of his own ear in Arles, France. |
| 1913 | President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, creating the Federal Reserve System. |
| 1941 | Japanese forces captured Wake Island after the outnumbered U.S. garrison held out for more than two weeks. |
| 1948 | Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese wartime leaders were hanged in Tokyo for war crimes. |
| 1968 | North Korea released the crew of the USS Pueblo after 11 months in captivity. |
| 1972 | Franco Harris’s “Immaculate Reception” gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a last-second playoff win over the Oakland Raiders. |
| 1975 | President Gerald Ford signed a law declaring the metric system the preferred measurement system in the U.S. Americans mostly kept their inches. |
| 1982 | Residents of Times Beach, Missouri, were told their town was contaminated with dioxin and would have to be evacuated. |
| 1986 | The aircraft Voyager landed in California after the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world. |
| 2009 | The Colorado parents behind the “Balloon Boy” hoax were sentenced for staging it. |
Born on December 23
- 1805: Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- 1867: Madam C.J. Walker, hair-care entrepreneur and philanthropist, widely regarded as the first Black woman millionaire in the U.S.
- 1929: Chet Baker, trumpeter and singer of West Coast cool jazz.
- 1933: Akihito, emperor of Japan from 1989 to 2019.
Sources
- Resignation of Military Commission, George Washington’s Mount Vernon
- What Happened on December 23, Britannica
- December 23: This Day in History, History.com
- Federal Reserve Act Signed, Federal Reserve History
- Madam C.J. Walker, Britannica
- Chet Baker, Britannica
- Akihito, Britannica
