Historical Events
Conference of Interest
Dec 4 US President Woodrow Wilson sails for Versailles Peace Conference in France, 1st President to travel outside US while in office
Woodrow Wilson
Music Premiere
Dec 14 Giacomo Puccini's opera "Il Trittico" premieres in NYC
Giacomo Puccini
- Dec 14 David Loyd George's coalition Government wins a clear majority in the UK general election
- Dec 14 Sinn Fein candidates win 73 of 105 Irish seats in UK general election, though all will refuse to take seats in Westminster, instead meeting at a Dail Eireann in Dublin
- Dec 15 American Jewish Congress holds its 1st meeting
Boxing Title Fight
Dec 16 Jack Dempsey KOs Carl Morris in 14 seconds
Jack Dempsey
- Dec 16 German troops evacuate Finland, give over Kiev in the Ukraine to revolutionary forces and pull back from Estonia as Bolshevik forces move in
- Dec 17 A conference of workers' and soldiers' councils take control of German government in Berlin, until elections in January selects new national assembly
- Dec 19 Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column (NY Globe)
- Dec 20 Eugene O'Neill's "Moon of the Caribees" premieres in NYC
- Dec 20 The Allies turn their attention to Bolshevik expansion in the East, landing troops in Crimea and Latvia
- Dec 21 Red Sox trade Dutch Leonard, Ernie Shore & Duffy Lewis to Yankees for Ray Caldwell & Slim Love, Frank Gilhooey, Al Walters & $15,000
- Dec 26 1st day of 1st-class cricket in Aust after WW I (Vic v NSW)
- Dec 26 After spending Christmas with American troops in France, Wilson goes to London for preliminary discussions about the forthcoming peace conference
- Dec 27 The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
Event of Interest
Dec 30 John E Hoover decides to be called J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
- Dec 31 Kid Gleason replaces Pants Rowland as White Sox manager
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Kirby Laing, English contractor/multi-millionaire
- Dec 2 Milton Delugg, orchestra leader (Tonight Show), born in Los Angeles, California
- Dec 3 Abdul Haris Nasution, Indonesian general (d. 2000)
- Dec 6 Granville James Leveson Gower, land owner
- Dec 6 Harold Horace Hopkins, inventor (Endoscope)
- Dec 6 Peter A Juten, office clerk/resistance fighter
- Dec 6 Willem Oosterheers, resistance fighter
- Dec 7 Jórunn Viðar, Icelandic composer, born in Reykjavík, Iceland (d. 2017)
- Dec 8 Ian Johnson, cricketer (Australian Test captbetween Hassett & Craig)
- Dec 8 Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d. 2004)
- Dec 9 Jerome Beatty Jr., American author
- Dec 10 Anne Gwynne [Marguerite Gwynne Trice], American model and actress (Ride 'em Cowboy, House of Frankenstein), born in Waco, Texas (d. 2003)
- Dec 10 Anatoly Tarasov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (considered as the father of Russian ice hockey), born in Moscow (d. 1995)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Dec 11 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer (Cancer Ward, Nobel 1970), born in Kislovodsk, Russia (d. 2008)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- Dec 12 Joe Williams [Joseph Goreed], American jazz singer (Everyday I have the Blues), born in Cordele, Georgia (d. 1999)
- Dec 12 Nilda Pinto, Curacao writer (Nanzi), born in Otrobanda (d. 1954)
- Dec 13 Bill Vukovich, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1953-4), born in Fresno, California (d. 1955)
- Dec 14 James T. Aubrey, American television executive (President of the CBS television network 1959-65), born in LaSalle, Illinois (d. 1994)
- Dec 14 B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian yoga advocate, born in Bellur, Kolar district, Kingdom of Mysore (d. 2014)
- Dec 15 Jeff Chandler [Ira Grossel], American actor (Broken Arrow), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1961)
- Dec 16 Henry Clarke, fashion photographer
- Dec 16 Pierre Delanoë, French songwriter and lyricist (d. 2006)
- Dec 19 Professor Longhair [Henry Roeland Byrd], American blues singer and pianist, born in Bogalusa, Louisiana (d. 1980)
- Dec 21 Donald Regan, White House staffer/US Secretary of Treasury (1981-85)
- Dec 21 Kurt Waldheim, Austrian 4th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1972-81) and 9th President of Austria (1986-92), born in Sankt Andrä-Wördern, Austria (d. 2007)
- Dec 22 Frankie Darro [Frank Johnson], American actor (Radio Ranch, Wild Boys of the Road, Valley of Wanted Men), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1976)
- Dec 22 William Kennedy, baseball player
- Dec 23 Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany (SPD, 1974- 82), born in Hamburg (d. 2015)
- Dec 23 Jose Greco, Italian flamenco dancer (Holiday for Lovers)
- Dec 23 Kumar Pallana, Indian character actor and vaudevillian (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore), born in Indore, India (d. 2013)
Anwar Sadat
Dec 25 Anwar Sadat, 3rd President of Egypt (1970-81, Nobel 1978), born in Monufia, Egypt (d. 1981)
Anwar Sadat
- Dec 25 Eddie Safranski, orchestra leader (Jonathan Winters Show), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Dec 25 Ahmed Ben Bella, Maghnia, Algeria, politician, first President of Algeria, (d. 2012)
- Dec 26 George Rallis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
- Dec 27 John Celardo, American comic strip artist
- Dec 30 W Eugene Smith, US photographer (Saipan, Walk to Paradise Garden)
Famous Weddings
Wedding of Interest
Dec 17 Philippine Senator (and later 2nd President) Manuel L. Quezon (40) weds first cousin Aurora Aragon (30) in Hong Kong
Manuel L. Quezon
Famous Deaths
- Dec 2 Margit Kaffka, Hungarian writer, dies in the flu pandemic at 38
- Dec 2 Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist (b. 1868)
- Dec 11 Ivan Cankar, Slavic author (Hlapec Jernej), dies at 42
- Dec 14 Sidonio Pais, prince of Portugal, murdered
- Dec 18 Henryk Jarecki, Polish composer, dies at 72
- Dec 22 Albijn van de Abeele, Flemish author and painter, dies at 83
- Dec 26 Bertram Luard-Selby, composer, dies at 65
- Dec 28 George H White, last post Reconstruction congressman (Penn), dies
- Dec 28 Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b. 1865)