- Dec 1 After just 3 seasons in MLB the Houston Colt .45s change name of the team to Astros; owners say move signals a step into the future for the franchise and the city of Houston
Event of Interest
Dec 1 Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to J. Edgar Hoover about his slander campaign
J. Edgar Hoover
Martin Luther King Jr.
Event of Interest
Dec 2 Ringo Starr's tonsils are removed
Ringo Starr
- Dec 3 KHQL (now KCAN) TV channel 8 in Albion, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Dec 3 Police arrests 800 sit-in students at University of California at Berkeley
- Dec 4 Baseball approves a free-agent draft
- Dec 4 The Beatles release their "Beatles For Sale" album
- Dec 4 Commissioner's office given full powers in baseball disputes
- Dec 4 Test Cricket debut of Ian Chappell, v Pakistan MCG, 11, 0-49, 0-31
- Dec 5 Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the Vietnam War for successfully repelling a large Viet Cong attack
- Dec 6 "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" 1st airs on TV
- Dec 6 KTVR TV channel 13 in La Grande, OR (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Dec 6 President Antonio Segni of Italy resigns
Event of Interest
Dec 7 George Harrison changes his company's name from Mornyork to Harrisongs
George Harrison
Music Recording
Dec 9 John Coltrane's Quartet records their greatest work "A Love Supreme" at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
John Coltrane
Nobel Prize
Dec 10 Nobel Peace Prize presented to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in Oslo
Martin Luther King Jr.
Nobel Prize
Dec 10 Dorothy Hodgkin is the first British woman to be awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry for work on penicillin and vitamin B12
Dorothy Hodgkin
United Nations Speech
Dec 11 Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fires a mortar shell at the building during the speech.
Che Guevara
Event of Interest
Dec 11 "Time" magazine calls Susan Sontag "one of Manhattan's brightest intellectuals" in a review of her groundbreaking essay "Notes on Camp"
Susan Sontag
- Dec 12 Cleveland Browns' Frank Ryan sets club record of 5 TD passes
Event of Interest
Dec 12 Shooting starts for "Star Trek" pilot "The Cage" (Menagerie)
George Takei
Event of Interest
Dec 13 In El Paso, Texas, LBJ & Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion diverting Rio Grande, to reshape US-Mexico border
Lyndon B. Johnson
Film Premier
Dec 17 "Goldfinger", 3rd James Bond film, starring Sean Connery and Honor Blackman premieres in London
Sean Connery
- Dec 18 "I Had a BaIl" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 199 performances
- Dec 18 "The Pink Panther" cartoon series premieres (Pink Phink)
- Dec 18 During funeral service held for soul singer Sam Cooke, fans cause damage to funeral home
- Dec 18 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Dec 19 "Gertrud", Danish film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, starring Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe and Ebbe Rode, is released in France
- Dec 20 Levi Eshkol forms 12th Israeli government
- Dec 22 First flight of the US aircraft Lockheed SR-71, reaches 3,530 kph (record for a jet)
- Dec 22 American comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity
- Dec 22 Ballon d'Or: Manchester United striker Denis Law wins award for best European football player; beats Inter midfielder Luis Suárez and Real Madrid winger Amancio Amaro; first Scotsman to win the award
- Dec 23 India & Ceylon hit by cyclone, about 4,850 killed
- Dec 24 Shooting begins on "The Cage" the pilot for Star Trek
- Dec 25 George Harrison's girlfriend Patti Boyd attacked by female Beatle fans
- Dec 26 Beatles' "I Feel Fine" single goes #1 & stays #1 for 3 weeks
- Dec 26 AFL Championship, War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo: Buffalo Bills beat San Diego Chargers 20-7; defending champions can't overcome 1st quarter injury to star RB Keith Lincoln
- Dec 26 Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley claim last victim
- Dec 27 National Football League Championship, Cleveland Stadium: Cleveland Browns shutout Baltimore Colts, 27-0; last championship win by a major-league pro sports team from Cleveland until 2016 NBA Cavaliers
Event of Interest
Dec 28 Premier of Dmitri Shostakovich's cantata "The Execution of Stepan Razin"
Dmitri Shostakovich
Event of Interest
Dec 28 Principal filming on film "Doctor Zhivago" begins
Ralph Richardson
Event of Interest
Dec 30 Edward Albee's "Tiny Alice" premieres in NYC
Edward Albee