Events in History
- Dec 1 US Justice Department sues Yonkers siting racial discrimination
- Dec 2 4 American Maryknoll nuns killed by death squads in El Salvador
- Dec 3 NY Federal jury finds Reps Thompson D-NJ & Murphy, D-NY, guilty
- Dec 5 Bank of Canada's Canadian Currency Museum opens
- Dec 6 NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 502
- Dec 9 61°F in Boston at 1 AM
- Dec 10 Soyuz T-3 returns to Earth
- Dec 10 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- Dec 11 Dirk Wellham scores 100 on 1st-class debut, NSW v Victoria
- Dec 11 The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
- Dec 12 Apple makes its initial public offering on the US stock market - 38 years later it would become the first US company valued at over $1 trillion
- Dec 12 US's copyright law amended to include computer programs
- Dec 14 "Onward Victoria" opens and closes at Martin Beck NYC after 1 performance
- Dec 14 Anders Kailur scores on 6th Islander penalty shot
- Dec 14 Massacre at Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Los Angeles with 3 people killed and 6 injured
- Dec 14 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Dec 15 Premier Queddei troops conquers Chad capital N'djamena
- Dec 15 ZBZ Sangha registered after 5 yrs of administrative hassles in Warsaw
Event of Interest
Dec 16 President-elect Ronald Reagan announces Alexander Haig Jr. as 59th Secretary of State
- Dec 17 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Dec 17 Mauritania provisional constitution published
- Dec 18 Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts minister Van Agts abortion laws
- Dec 18 IRA's Sean McKenna becomes critically ill, ends hunger strike
- Dec 18 Vietnam adopts constitution
- Dec 19 Anguilla becomes a British dependency separate from St Kitts
- Dec 19 Iran requests $24 billion in US guarantees to free hostages
- Dec 19 Mutual Broadcasting cancels Sears Radio Theater
Event of Interest
Dec 20 Soviet Union formally announces the death of past Premier Alexei Kosygin
- Dec 22 US President-elect Ronald Reagan appoints Jeanne Kirkpatrick (UN Ambassador) & James Watt (Secretary of the Interior)
- Dec 24 Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds
- Dec 26 Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
- Dec 28 Mexico terminated fishing agreements with US
- Dec 29 Shuttle STS-1 moves from Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) to Launch Complex 39A
- Dec 31 A Jewish owned hotel in Nairobi Kenya is bombed killing 18
- Dec 31 After being struck by an orange thrown from the crowd West Indian fast bowler Sylvester Clarke knocks out a spectator with a brick during 4th Test against Pakistan in Multan
- Dec 31 Senegal president Leopold Senghor resigns
Birthdays in History
Deaths in History
- Dec 2 Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b. 1914)
- Dec 3 Oswald Mosley, British politician and founder of British Union of Fascists, dies at 84
- Dec 4 Francisco Sá Carneiro, 109th Prime Minister of Portugal, dies at 46
- Dec 12 Jean Lesage, Canadian politician (19th Premier of Quebec), dies at 68
- Dec 14 Richard Gurley Drew, American inventor (created masking tape and cellophane at 3M), dies at 81
- Dec 15 Rudolph Cleveringa, Dutch anti-nazi lawyer and professor of Law at Leiden University, dies at 86
Colonel Sanders (1890-1980)
Dec 16 American founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, dies at 90
- Dec 16 Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
Alexei Kosygin (1904-1980)
Dec 18 Soviet statesman and Premier of the Soviet Union (1964-80), dies of a heart attack at 76
Marc Connelly (1890-1980)
Dec 21 American playwright (One Minute Please), dies at 90
Karl Dönitz (1891-1980)
Dec 24 German naval admiral and last leader of Nazi Germany, dies of a heart attack at 89
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)
Dec 31 Canadian writer and 'prophet of the digital age' (the medium is the message), dies at 69
- Dec 31 Raoul Walsh, American director (High Sierra), dies at about 88
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists