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(Continued from page 17)
• Born from the Chicano civil rights movement, Pancho Claus is a mostly Texas thing, historians say, though there may be one somewhere in California. Lorenzo Cano, a Mexican-American studies scholar at the University of Houston, says Pancho was apparently conceived north of the border as Mexican-Americans looked to "build a place and a space for themselves" in the 1970s. His rise coincided with a growing interest in Mexican art, Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day and other cultural events.
• Now, Pancho is an adored Christmas fixture in many Texas cities.
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Today in History
The Associated Press
• Today is Monday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2013. There are eight days left in the year.
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• Today's Highlight in History:
• On Dec. 23, 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.
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• On this date:
• In 1788, Maryland passed an act to cede an area "not exceeding ten miles square" for the seat of the national government; about 2/3 of the area became the District of Columbia.
• In 1823, the poem "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" was published anonymously in the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel; the verse, more popularly known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," was later attributed to Clement C. Moore.
• In 1893, the Engelbert Humperdinck opera "Haensel und Gretel" was first performed, in Weimar, Germany.
• In 1928, the National Broadcasting Company set up a permanent, coast-to-coast network.
• In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored the civil rights of about 1,500 people who'd been jailed for opposing the (First) World War.
• In 1941, during World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.
• In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.
• In 1953, the Soviet Union announced the execution of Lavrentiy Beria, former (Continued on page 19)
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