On this date in history:

In 1776, American forces under Gen. George Washington, having crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night, defeated Hessian mercenary troops fighting for the British at the Battle of Trenton, N.J.

In 1908, Jack Johnson, with a 14th-round KO of Tommy Burns in Australia, became the first African-American to win the world heavyweight boxing title.

In 1917, the federal government took over operation of U.S. railroads for the duration of World War I.

In 1972, Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, died at age 88.

In 1974, legendary comedian Jack Benny died of cancer. He was 80.

In 1990, Nancy Cruzan, the focus of a right-to-die case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, died in a Missouri hospital.

In 1996, child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, 6, was found slain in a basement room of her family's Boulder, Colo., home.

In 2003, more than 26,000 people were killed and thousands injured when an earthquake struck the ancient city of Bam in southeastern Iran, and the death toll was reported at 135 after a Boeing 727 crash in the West African country of Benin.

In 2004, an earthquake-triggered Indian Ocean tsunami with 40-foot-high waves slammed into India, Thailand, Indonesia and several other countries, killing at least 225,000 people, with thousands injured. It was one of the world's worst natural disasters.

In 2006, Gerald R. Ford, 38th president of the United States,died at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at the age of 93.

In 2010, a suicide explosion that killed at least 46 people at a U.N. food distribution point in Pakistan was set off by a teenage girl, an official reported.

In 2012, Brian Schatz, 40, was chosen to succeed U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who died Dec. 17 of respiratory complications at age 88. Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie picked Schatz, who had been the state's lieutenant governor.

In 2013, African leaders met in Juba, South Sudan, to try to end hostilities that killed hundreds of people in the country since mid-December.

Copyright 2014 by United Press International