Hoping to recover from bankruptcy with a bold scheme of colonization, Moses Austin meets with Spain authorities in San Antonio to ask permission for 300 Anglo-American families to settle in Texas.

Eight months after the United States enters World War I on behalf of the Allies, President Woodrow Wilson announces the nationalization of a large majority of the country’s railroads under the Federal Possession and Control Act.

On December 26, 1941, the federal Office of Price Administration initiates its first rationing program in support of the American effort in World War II: It mandates that, beginning in early January the following year, no driver will be permitted to own more than five automobile tires.

On December 26, the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst is sunk by British warships in the Arctic after decoded German naval signals reveal that the Scharnhorst is on a mission to attack an Anglo-American convoy to Russia.

Mobster Bugsy Siegel opens the glitzy Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 26, 1946.

The first day of the first Kwanzaa is celebrated in Los Angeles under the direction of Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach. The seven-day holiday, which has strong African roots, was designed by Dr. Karenga as a celebration of African American family, community, and culture.

On December 26, 1972, former President Harry S. Truman dies in Independence, Missouri.

On the afternoon of December 26, 1996, six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey is found dead under a blanket in the basement of her family's Boulder, Colorado, home. John and Patsy Ramsey, her parents, had called police at 5:52 that following morning to report their daughter missing. Although police found a ransom note demanding $118,000, the money would never be necessary, because JonBenét had already been killed. The crime soon became a national sensation.