On December 24, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge touched a button
and lights up the first national Christmas tree to grace the White
House grounds.

The balsam fir came from Coolidge’s home state of Vermont and
stood 48 feet tall. Several musical groups performed at the tree-
lighting ceremony.

President Calvin Coolidge and his wife First Lady Grace.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (left) dining with President Roosevelt.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington,
D.C. for a series of meetings with President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt on a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a
future peace.

Now that the United States was directly involved in both the
Pacific and European wars, it was incumbent upon both Great
Britain and America to create and project a unified front.

On December 16, 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives’
Committee on the Judiciary released a 265-page report
recommending the impeachment of President Bill Clinton
for high crimes and misdemeanors.

The subsequent impeachment proceedings were the culmination
of a slew of specious scandals involving the president and first
lady Hillary Clinton. The Clintons were suspected of arranging
improper real-estate deals, fundraising violations and cronyism
in involving the firing of White House travel agents. Added to the
mix were stories of Clinton’s extra-marital affairs and a sexual harassment claim filed against him.

House floor debates articles of impeachment.

Washington on his Deathbed, an 1851 portrait by Junius
Brutus Stearns.

George Washington, the American revolutionary leader and
first president of the United States, died at his estate in Mount
Vernon, Virginia. He was 67 years old. His last words were
"’Tis well."

The diagnosis of Washington’s illness and the immediate
cause of his death have been subjects of much debate.       

     
Modern medical authors have concluded that he likely died
from  severe epiglottitis, an inflammation in the throat,
complicated by various treatments which included extensive bloodletting.      
 


        
        
        
        
       

The sarcophagi of George (right) and Martha Washington at
the entrance to their tomb in Mount Vernon.

Marble Statue of George Washington by Jean-Antoine
Houdon, circa 1794 State Capital, Commonwealth of
Virginia, Library of Virginia.

Henry Alfred Kissinger  (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023)

Henry Kissinger, the influential former U.S. Secretary of State
who earned a reputation as a sagacious diplomat but drew
international condemnation and accusations of war crimes
for his key role in widening the American presence in Vietnam
and the U.S. bombing of Cambodia, died Wednesday.

He served as Secretary of State and national security adviser
under two Republican presidents, Richard Nixon and Gerald
Ford, and advised powerful leaders in both American political
parties for decades.

Henry Kissinger President Richard Nixon.

Kissinger and President Gerald Ford.