Comedian Tom Smothers has died at the age of 86.

The National Comedy Center, on behalf of his family,
said in a statement Wednesday that Smothers died
Tuesday at home in Santa Rosa, California.   

In 2023, Smothers announced he had been diagnosed
with stage two lung cancer.

Tommy with brother Dick…The Smothers Brothers.

…‘’THIS ISN’T THE MEN’S ROOM”

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, returned safely
to Earth after an historic six-day journey.

On December 21, Apollo 8 was launched by a three-stage Saturn
5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank
Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.

On Christmas Eve, the astronauts entered into orbit around the
moon, the first manned spacecraft ever to do so.

From left Astronauts Borman, Anders and Lovell
after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean and
being recovered by the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.            
           

                           

THE FIRST IMAGE TAKEN BY HUMANS OF THE
WHOLE EARTH on December 22. 

On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist, a horror film starring the
actress Linda Blair as a girl possessed by an evil spirit, made
its debut in theaters; it went on to earn a reputation as one
of the scariest movies in history. 

The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller,
and Linda Blair.

It become the first horror film to be nominated for the Academy
Award for Best Picture, as well as nine others.

Truman defies the Chicago Tribune and wins in 1948.

On December 26, 1972, former President Harry S. Truman        
was admitted to Kansas City’s Research Hospital and
Medical Center with pneumonia. He developed multiple
organ failure, fell into a coma, and died.
 

Then-President Richard Nixon called Truman a man of
“forthrightness and integrity” who had a deep respect
for the office he held and for the people he served, and
who “supported and wisely counseled each of his
successors.”

   
  
Official portrait of President Truman by Greta Kempton(1945)