December 1981 in History

Events in History

Event of Interest

Dec 4 Reagan Executive Order on Intelligence (No 12333) that allows CIA to engage in domestic counter-intelligence

Dec 5 France performs nuclear test
Dec 7 Spain becomes a member of the NATO
Dec 8 France performs nuclear test
Dec 9 Porn star John Holmes charged with Laurel Canyon murders
Dec 10 -13] El Salvador army kills 900
Dec 10 Jules Feiffer's "Grownups" premieres in NYC
Dec 10 The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan's proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia.
Dec 11 Argentine President General Roberto Viola flees
Dec 11 El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.
Dec 11 Spacelab I arrives at Kennedy Space Center
Dec 11 UN Security Council chooses Javier Pérez de Cuélla of Peru as the 5th Secretary-General of the United Nations
Dec 12 Gambia & Senegal sign agreement to be known as Senegambia in Feb 1982
Dec 13 Poland's authoritarian communist government declares martial law and arrests Solidarity activists in a failed attempt to crush the opposition
Dec 14 Israel annexes Golan Heights (seized from Syria in war of 1967)
Dec 15 NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 503
Dec 16 Dutch Van Agt's 2nd government falls
Dec 17 Members of Red Brigades kidnap Brigadier General James L Dozier
Dec 19 Romuald Spasowski, Polish ambassador to the United States defects to show support for the Solidarity movement amid a crackdown
Dec 19 Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee, Cornwall, lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
Dec 20 Browns set team records for most fumbles (9) & most turnovers (10)

Event of Interest

Dec 22 Argentine general Leopoldo Galtieri sworn in as military dictator and President of Argentina

Dec 22 Belgium's 5th government of Martens forms
Dec 24 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
Dec 27 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
Dec 28 1st American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr is born in Norfolk, Virginia
Dec 28 Cleveland Metroparks Administrative offices move from downtown to Zoo (Cleveland, Ohio)
Dec 28 Warner-Elektra-Atlantic raises price of 45 records from $1.68 to $1.98
Dec 31 Lt Jerry Rawlings becomes head of Ghana, suspends constitution
Dec 31 Netherlands unemployment stands at record 475,000

Birthdays in History

Dec 1 Francia Elena Márquez Mina, Colombian human rights activist, environmentalist and politician (Vice-President of Colombia), born in Yolombó, Colombia
Dec 11 Paul Medhurst, Australian rules footballer, born in Western Australia, Australia
Dec 15 Creighton Lovelace, American Baptist minister, born in Shelby, North Carolina
Dec 16 Took Leng How, Malaysian criminal (d. 2006)
Dec 28 Elizabeth Jordan Carr, 1st American test tube baby, born in Norfolk, Virginia

Weddings in History

Chris Hadfield

Dec 23 Astronaut Chris Hadfield (22) weds high-school girlfriend Helene Walter

Dec 24 Guardian Angels Curtis Sliwa & Lisa Evers marry

Deaths in History

Dec 2 Alexis Kagame, Rwandan philosopher, historian, poet and Tutsi intellectual and cultural leader, dies at 69
Dec 2 Herman Jan Scheltema [NEM Pareau], Dutch jurist and poet, dies at 74
Dec 3 (Nicolaas) "Cola" Debrot, Dutch lawyer, doctor.author and politician (Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, 1962-70), dies at 79

Walter Knott (1889-1981)

Dec 3 American farmer who created the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in California and introduced the boysenberry to America, dies at 91

Dec 9 Daniel Faulkner, Philadelphia police officer (b. 1955)
Dec 17 Edwin Erich Dwinger, German writer (General Vlassov), dies at 83
Dec 18 Mehmet Shehu, PM Albania (1954-81)/"US-Russ spy", commits suicide
Dec 26 Amber Reeves, feminist writer (b. 1887)
Dec 26 Henry Eyring, Mexican-American chemist (chemical reaction rates), dies at 80
Dec 29 Guido Provoost, Belgian historian, dies at 41
Dec 29 Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (b. 1893)