| December 23, 1943 A 135-day strike by 23 conscientious objectors (COs) ended dining hall segregation at Danbury Federal Penitentiary in Connecticut. The number of conscientious objectors had increased from 15 in early 1941 to 200 by the time of the strike. |
| December 23, 1944 General Dwight Eisenhower endorsed the finding of a court-martial in the case of Eddie Slovik, who was tried for desertion, and authorized his execution. It was the first such sentence against a U.S. Army soldier since the Civil War, and Slovik was the only man so punished during World War II. He made no secret of his unwillingness to enter combat, but his pleas to be reassigned to noncombat status were rejected. Eisenhower ordered that Slovik’s execution be carried out to avoid further desertions in the late stages of the war.  Eddie Slovik Read more |
| December 23, 1946 University of Tennessee refused to play Duquesne University, because they might have used a black player, Chuck Cooper, in the basketball game [see July 14, 1887]. Cooper went on to be drafted (the first black player ever) by the Boston Celtics, playing his first NBA game on the same day as the debut of head coach Red Auerbach, guard Bob Cousy, and center “Easy” Ed Macauley.  Chuck Cooper, graduate of Duquesne University |
December 23, 1961 James Davis James Davis of Livingston, Tennessee, was killed by the Viet Cong, the insurgents in South Vietnam, and became the first of some 58,000 U.S. soldiers killed during the Vietnam War. Lyndon Johnson later referred to him as “the first American to fall in defense of our freedom in Vietnam.” Over two million Vietnamese would die before the end of the war. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december23
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