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. During Apollo 8‘s 10 lunar orbits, television images were sent back home and spectacular photos were taken of
the Earth and the moon from the spacecraft. In addition to being the
first human beings to view firsthand their home world in its entirety,
the three astronauts were also the first to see the far side of the
moon. On Christmas morning, Apollo 8 left its lunar orbit and
began its journey back to Earth, landing safely in the Pacific
Ocean.  

Apollo 8 crew members from left to right: James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman.

On December 27, 1944, as World War II dragged on, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered his secretary of war to seize
properties belonging to the Montgomery Ward company
because they refused to comply with a labor agreement.

In an effort to avert strikes in critical war-support industries,
Roosevelt (below) created the National War Labor Board in
1942.

The board negotiated settlements between management and
workers to avoid shut-downs in production that might cripple
the war effort. During the war, the well-known retailer and
manufacturer Montgomery Ward had supplied the Allies with
everything from tractors to auto parts to workmen’s clothing–
items deemed as important to the war effort as bullets and
ships. However, Ward’s Chairman Sewell Avery (below) 
refused to comply with the terms of three different collective
bargaining agreements which the United Retail, Wholesale
and Department Store Union hammered United Retail,
Wholesale and Department Store Union hammered out
between 1943 and 1944.

President Roosevelt creating the National War Labor Board
in 1942.

Wanda LaFaye Young (Rogers)
(August 9, 1943 – December 15, 2021),

(FoxNews) – Wanda Young, best known as a member of Motown’s
popular and chart-topping The Marvelettes, has died. She was 78.

Meta Ventress, Young’s daughter, told the New York Times that
her mother died on Dec. 15 in Garden City, Mich. She told the
outlet that the cause of the singers death had to do with
complications due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 1931 – 26 December 2021)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel
Peace Prize-winning activist for racial justice and LGBT rights
and retired Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has died. South
African President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement 
Sunday.

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS BY NORMAN ROCKWELL.