December 22nd

Repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell policy", a 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the US military, signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Hamid Karzai sworn in as president of Afghanistan.

Lech Wałęsa sworn in as Poland's 1st popularly elected president.

After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts Nicolae Ceausescu.

Lincoln Tunnel opens. The 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) long tunnel passes under the Hudson River and connects New Jersey to New York City.

French army officer Capt. Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial.

First asteroid discovered through astrophotography. 323 Brucia was discovered by Max Wolf and was named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patron of astronomy.

Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan.

First Christmas tree to be illuminated by electric lights displayed. Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison and the Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, became the first person to decorate a Christmas tree with electric lights at his home in New York City.

During the Civil War, Union general William T. Sherman sent a message to President Lincoln saying, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.".

The execution of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky is called off at the last second.

The U.S. Congress passed the Embargo Act.

Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92).

Construction of the first schoolhouse west of the Allegheny Mountains was started in Schoenbrunn, Ohio, by Moravian missionaries.