LIFE Magazine cover with a Fletcher Martin war painting.

Fletcher Martin (April 19, 1904 – May 30, 1979)

Radio City Music Hall, one of the world’s most celebrated and architecturally significant entertainment venues, opened in the
heart of midtown Manhattan amid great fanfare on this day in
history, Dec. 27, 1932.

The Radio City Rockettes, the iconic high-kicking dance
troupe that performs at the theater.

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was
the 33rd president of the United States. He served from
1945 to 1953.

Funeral of Harry Truman as his casket lies in state at the
Truman Library.

Official portrait of President Truman by Greta Kempton.

On December 25, 1962, To Kill a Mockingbird, a film based
on the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name
by Harper Lee, 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same
name by Harper Lee, opened in theaters.

The Great Depression-era story of racial injustice and the
loss of childhood innocence is told from the perspective 
of a young Alabama girl named Scout Finch, played in the
film by Mary Badham, who lives with her older brother Jem
(Phillip Alford) and their widowed attorney father Atticus
(Gregory Peck). While Scout, Jem and their friend Dill
(John Megna) become fascinated by the mysterious shut-in
Boo Radley (Robert Duvall).

Atticus goes to court to defend a Black man falsely accused
of raping a white woman.  

To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for eight Academy
Awards, including Best Picture, and won three Oscars,
including Best Actor (Gregory Peck).       

Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003)