MONDAY, Dec.22, 2025

1790-Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) 1885-Samurai Itō Hirobumi becomes the first prime minister of Japan 1941-Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C. for a wartime conference 1973-OPEC Gulf Six decides to raise the posted price of marker crude from $5.12 to $11.65 per barrel effective Jan. 1, 1974 1976-35 Unification church couples wed in NYC 1989-After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu 1990-Labor activist Lech Wałęsa sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president 2010-Repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, a 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama