Event of Interest
Dec 1 US President Gerald Ford visits People's Republic of China
Gerald Ford
- Dec 1 Kuwait and Gulf and BP agree on terms of nationalization
- Dec 2 7 South Moluccans hijack train at Wijster, Drente (NL), 3 killed
- Dec 2 Greg Chappell in his debut as Australian cricket captain completes a fine double in 8 wicket win in 1st Test v West Indies in Brisbane; scores 109no in 2nd innings to follow his 1st innings 123
- Dec 2 Laos king Sisavang Vatthana resigns, Lao People's Democratic Republic founded (National Day)
- Dec 3 Laos falls to communist forces; Lao People's Democratic Rep proclaimed
- Dec 4 6 South Molukkans occupy Indonesian consulate in The Hague, 1 dead
- Dec 5 "Me & Bessie" closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 453 performances
- Dec 5 NASA launches space vehicle S-196, it failed
- Dec 6 41st Heisman Trophy Award: Archie Griffin, Ohio State (RB)
- Dec 6 Balcombe Street Siege: for 6 days, four Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers hold two hostages at an apartment in London, England
- Dec 7 10th Islander shut-out opponent-Glenn Resch 3-0 vs Sabres
- Dec 7 Archbishop Makarios returns Cyprus
- Dec 7 Indonesian army occupies East Timor
- Dec 7 Romanian tennis star Ilie Năstase wins his 4th season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix title with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 rout of Björn Borg of Sweden in Stockholm
- Dec 8 "Raisin" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 847 performances
- Dec 9 Jelena Bonner receives Andrei Sacharov's Nobel Prize
- Dec 9 US President Gerald Ford signs $2.3 Bn loan authorization for NYC
- Dec 9 Iraq completes nationalization by taking over the BP, CFP, and Shell shares of the Basrah Petroleum Company
Nobel Prize
Dec 10 Andrei Sakharov's wife Yelena Bonner, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize
Andrei Sakharov
Event of Interest
Dec 11 Great Yankee trade getting Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis & Ken Brett from Pirates for George "Doc" Medich
Willie Randolph
- Dec 12 Gas stove explodes & starts fire killing 138 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
- Dec 12 Sara Jane Moore pleds guilty to trying to kill US President Gerald Ford
Event of Interest
Dec 13 1st time "Saturday Night Live" uses a time delay, Richard Pryor hosts
Richard Pryor
Lorne Michaels
Election of Interest
Dec 13 Australian Federal Election - Liberals with coalition under Malcolm Fraser win largest ever parliamentary majority
Malcolm Fraser
- Dec 13 Roy Fredericks hits 169 v Aust at WACA, hundred in 71 balls
- Dec 13 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Dec 14 "Treemonisha" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 64 performances
- Dec 14 6 So Moluccan terrorists surrender, holding 23 hostages for 12 days
- Dec 14 WCPR (Brooklyn New York pirate radio station) begins broadcasting on 1620 AM
- Dec 16 1st broadcast of "One Day at a Time" on CBS TV
- Dec 16 Bill Veeck buys 80% of White Sox from John Allyn
- Dec 17 1st time NY Islanders shut-out NY Rangers, 3-0-Billy Smith's 5th
- Dec 17 John Paul Stevens appointed to the US Supreme Court
- Dec 17 Lynette Fromme sentenced to life for attempt on US President Ford's life
- Dec 19 John Paul Stevens becomes a US Supreme Court Justice
Event of Interest
Dec 19 Ron Wood joined The Rolling Stones
Charlie Watts
- Dec 19 The Red Hand Commandos, a very secretive Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, explode a no-warning car bomb in Dundalk, killing 2 civilians and wounding 20
- Dec 20 Joe Walsh recruited to join Eagles
- Dec 20 Pope Paul VI named J Willebrands archbishop of Utrecht
- Dec 21 "Hello, Dolly" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 51 performances
- Dec 21 "Very Good Eddie" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 307 performances
- Dec 21 1st NY Jet to gain 1,000 yards rushing (John Riggins)
- Dec 21 64th Davis Cup: Sweden beats Czechoslovakia in Stockholm (3-2)
- Dec 21 Madagascar adopts constitution
- Dec 21 Buffalo Sabres set NHL record of 40 points beating Caps 14-2 scoring 5 goals vs Washington Caps in 4:57
- Dec 22 US President Gerald Ford signs the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA)
- Dec 23 Congress passes Metric Conversion Act
- Dec 23 Peter Seitz makes Andy Messersmith & Dave McNally free agents
- Dec 26 1st supersonic transport service (USSR-Tupolev-144)
- Dec 26 Crowd of 85,661 attend the 1st day of the Australia vs West Indies MCG cricket test
- Dec 26 5th Fiesta Bowl: #7 Arizona State beats #6 Nebraska, 17-14
- Dec 27 Explosion at Chasnala Colliery collapses drowning 350 in Dhanbad, India
- Dec 28 1st broadcast of radio Hilversum IV (classic music)
- Dec 28 Earthquake in Pakistan, 4,000 die
- Dec 28 Gary Cosier scores 109 v West Indies at MCG on Test Cricket debut
- Dec 28 Red Army beats NY Rangers 7-3 at Madison Square Garden
- Dec 28 "The Hail Mary", with 32 seconds left in the NFC Divisional Playoff Game, Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach throws a desperate 50-yard winning touchdown pass to Drew Pearson to defeat the Minnesota Vikings, and the "Hail Mary" play is born
- Dec 29 11 killed, 75 hurt by terrorist bomb at LaGuardia Airport in NYC
- Dec 30 "Boccaccio" closes at Edison Theater NYC after 7 performances
- Dec 30 Constitution of Democratic Republic of Madagascar comes into force
- Dec 30 Ballon d'Or: FC Dynamo Kyiv forward Oleg Blokhin claims award for best European football player ahead of former winners, Bayern Munich defender Franz Beckenbauer and Ajax forward Johan Cruyff
- Dec 31 42nd Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama beats #7 Penn State, 13-6