Peace and Justice History – December 25

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Today in Peace and Justice History

Dec. 25, 1914

Peace & Justice History: German officer in the trenches with British soldier — German officer in the trenches with British soldier

Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops at the front in World War I ceased firing their guns and artillery and began to sing Christmas carols. At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no man’s land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers suspected it to be a trick, but they soon climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings; the fighting didn’t resume in earnest for several days, and then only at the insistence of the generals.

What happened that night

film-Joyeux Noel: Christmas Truce Of 1914	German and British soldiers fraternize
watch & listen

Dec. 25, 1921

President Harding announced the release of Socialist Party leader Eugene V. Debs from prison, unconditionally commuting his 10-year sentence to time served. Debs’s full rights as a citizen, however, were not restored. He had been imprisoned for his vocal opposition to U.S. participation in World War I.

Following a meeting with the president and attorney general, Debs commented,

“. . . a convict for his principles is always a citizen in good standing. He is a citizen by his own inherent, God-given integrity. The only man who loses his citizenship is the man who renounces his principles and abdicates his manhood.”

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Dec. 25, 1946

People seeking amnesty for conscientious objectors convicted of refusing to fight in World War II held the first Christmas demonstration at the White House.

Dec. 25, 1992

The special prosecutor responsible for investigating crimes committed in the Iran-Contra Affair, Lawrence E. Walsh, denounced the pardons granted the day before by President George H.W. Bush. Mr. Walsh charged that “the Iran-contra cover-up, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed.”

Walsh said, “evidence of a conspiracy among the highest ranking Reagan Administration officials to lie to Congress and the American public” was central to his case against Weinberger. President Bush had been vice president at the time of the arms sales to Iran for hostages, and illegal aid to the insurgent Contras in Nicaragua.

Those Bush pardoned: Caspar Weinberger, former Secretary of Defense, soon to go on trial for lying to Congress; Clair E. George, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine services, who had been convicted twice of perjury; two other CIA officials, Duane Clarridge and Alan D. Fiers Jr.; Robert C. McFarlane, the former national security adviser, and Elliott Abrams, the former assistant Secretary of State for Central America, both of whom had pled guilty to withholding information from Congress.