Today is Wednesday, December 23, the 357th day of 2009. There are eight days left in the year.

On this date

In 1783, George Washington resigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

In 1788, Maryland passed an act to cede an area "not exceeding ten miles square" for the seat of the national government; about two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.

In 1933, Marinus van der Lubbe was found guilty and sentenced to death in Germany for setting fire to the parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag.

In 1941, US Marines and civilian contractors forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.

In 1948, Hideki Tojo, the Japanese general who was prime minister when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor to begin its war against the United States, was hanged as a war criminal with six others.

In 1953, Lavrenty Beria, the Soviet security police chief who played a leading role in Stalin's political purges, was executed for plotting to succeed him as Soviet leader.

In 1968, 82 crew members of the US intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.

In 1990, the people of Slovenia voted overwhelmingly in a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia.

Thought for Today

"You can always spot a well-informed man — his views are the same as yours." — Ilka Chase, author, actress and humorist (1905-1978).