TUESDAY, Dec. 23, 2025

962 — Under future Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo and recover the tattered tunic of John the Baptist during the Byzantine-Arab Wars 1688 — King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, flees to France from William of Orange 1888 — Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear with a razor after an argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin and sends it to a female courtesan for safekeeping 1913 — U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act into law, creating the central banking Federal Reserve System 1920 — Government of Ireland Act / Home Rule Act passes, partitioning Ireland 1954 — First human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston 1968 — Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders become the first people to orbit the moon aboard Apollo 8