Events in History
- Dec 1 Nationalist China & US sign dike agreement
- Dec 2 Taiwan (ROC) & US sign the Mutual Defense Treaty, preventing Mainland China (PRC) from taking Taiwan between 1955-1979
- Dec 2 US Senate censures Joeseph McCarthy (Sen-R-Wisc) for "conduct that tends to bring Senate into dishonor & disrepute"
- Dec 4 The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, USA
Event of Interest
Dec 6 Simone de Beauvoir receives the Prix Goncourt prize in French literature
- Dec 7 Japanese government of Joshida resigns
Event of Interest
Dec 8 Maxwell Anderson's "Bad Seed" premieres in NYC
- Dec 10 Albert Schweitzer receives Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Prize
Dec 10 Linus Pauling wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its applications
- Dec 10 USAF Lt Col John Stapp travels at 632 mph in a rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico
- Dec 11 USS Forrestal aircraft carrier christened in Newport News, Virginia
Event of Interest
Dec 13 Elsa Schiaparelli's House of Schiaparelli at Place Vendôme in Paris closes
- Dec 15 Fordham University scraps football team for financial reasons
- Dec 15 Netherlands Antilles becomes co-equal part of Kingdom of Netherlands
- Dec 17 1st fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary, Indiana)
- Dec 23 The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts
- Dec 24 Council for the Protection of Children forms in Netherlands
- Dec 24 Laos gains its independence
- Dec 26 "The Shadow" airs for last time on radio
- Dec 29 Kingdom of Netherlands, with Netherlands & Netherlands Antilles as autonomous parts, comes into being
Birthdays in History
- Dec 3 Grace Andreacchi, American author
- Dec 7 Bertín Osborne, Italian entertainer, born in Madrid, Spain
- Dec 7 Gianfranco Jannuzzo, Italian entertainer, born in Agrigento, Italy
- Dec 7 Mark Hofmann, American forger, bomber and convicted murderer, born in Salt Lake City, Utah
- Dec 8 Harold Hongju Koh, Korean-American Dean of Yale Law School
- Dec 9 Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg politician, President of the European Commission (2014-), born in Redange, Luxembourg
- Dec 11 Santiago Creel, Mexican politician (Secretary of the Interior), born in Mexico City
- Dec 12 Liz Claman, American television anchor (Countdown to the Closing Bell), born in Beverly Hills, California
- Dec 13 Tamora Pierce, American author of fantasy fiction (The Song of the Lioness), born in South Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
- Dec 14 Steve MacLean, Canadian astronaut (STS 52), born in Ottawa, Ontario
- Dec 15 Alex Cox, English director (Repo Man), born in Bebington, England
- Dec 15 Mark Warner, American politician (Senator-D-Virginia 2009-), born in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Dec 17 Kenneth Frazier, American executive (1st African American to head major pharmaceutical company - Merck), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Dec 20 Sandra Cisneros, American writer, born in Chicago, Illinois
- Dec 22 Jayaseelan Naidoo, South African worker's union leader, born in Durban, South Africa
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán (68 years old)
Dec 25 Mexican drug lord and escape artist, born in La Tuna, Sinaloa, Mexico (or April 4th, 1957)
- Dec 26 Peter Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, philanthropist and son of Sir Edmund Hillary, born in Auckland, New Zealand
- Dec 29 Prince Takamado of Japan, born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 2002)
- Dec 30 Rodney Brooks, Australian roboticist (MIT, Roomba, Baxter), born in Adelaide, Australia
- Dec 31 Alex Salmond, Scottish politician (Scottish National Party) First Minister of Scotland (2007-14), born in Linlithgow, Scotland
- Dec 31 Hermann Tilke, German racing circuit architect, born in Olpe, Germany
Weddings in History
Buzz Aldrin
Dec 29 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (24) weds Joan Archer
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists