December 1 st

December 1,1135 – Henry I of England died

December 1, 1640 – A nationalist revolution in Portugal led to independence from Spain as the Spanish garrisons were driven out of Portugal.

December 1, 1822 – Dom Pedro, founder of the Brazilian Empire, was crowned as the first emperor of Brazil.

December 1,1835 – Hans Christian Andersen publishes first book of fairy tales

December 1,1885 – The soft drink Dr Pepper is served for the first time.

December 1,1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.

December 1, 1918 – Iceland was granted independence by the Danish parliament.

December 1, 1941 – The American Civil Air Patrol (CAP), a U.S. Air Force auxiliary, was founded as Director of Civilian Defense, former New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, signed the formal order. The CAP currently provides aerospace education, a CAP cadet program, and emergency services such as locating missing aircraft.

December 1, 1942 – The Beveridge Report was published in Britain envisioning the welfare state including insurance for the entire population.

December 1, 1955 – The birth of the modern American civil rights movement occurred as Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back section of a municipal bus. Her arrest resulted in a year-long boycott of the city bus system by African Americans and led to legal actions ending racial segregation on municipal buses throughout the South.

December 1, 1990 – England was connected to mainland Europe for the first time since the Ice Age as engineers digging a railway tunnel under the English Channel broke through the last rock layer.

December 1, 1994 – The head of the U.N. Commission on Rwanda estimated 500,000 deaths had resulted from genocide.

December 2nd

December 2, 1823 – President James Monroe introduced his “Monroe Doctrine” during his annual message to the Congress, prohibiting any further colonization of the American continents by European powers, stating, “we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety…”

December 2, 1942 – Physicists led by Enrico Fermi carried out the world’s first successful nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago.

December 2, 1971 – The United Arab Emirates was formed, consisting of seven Arab kingdoms on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula including the former Trucial states Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al Qaiwain and Fujairah. Ras al-Khaimah became a member in 1972. The area has some of the world’s largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas.

December 2,2005 – Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is launched in Europe.

December 3rd

December 3,1609 – Galileo builds an improved telescope after hearing of Hans Lippershey’s invention

December 3, 1931 – British dominions gained complete legislative independence as the Statute of Westminster gave equal status to the dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and Newfoundland.

December 3, 1962 – Edith Sampson was sworn in as the first African American female judge, after she was elected associate judge of the Municipal Court in Chicago.

December 3, 1967 – The first successful heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard at Cape Town, South African, on Louis Washkansky, who lived for 18 days.

December 4th

December 4,1783 – US General George Washington formally bids his officers farewell.

December 4, 1791 – The Observer, now the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, was first published in Britain.

December 4, 1918 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was proclaimed.

December 4,1969 – Surfer Greg Noll rides a 65-foot wave, the largest on record.

December 4,1991 – Pan Am ceases operations. The Pan American World Airways, the largest airline in the United States began operations in October 1927.

December 5th

December 5, 1492 – Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus.

December 5, 1791 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died a pauper at age 35 in Vienna, Austria. He had become seriously ill and rapidly declined, leading to speculation that he had been poisoned, although this was later proven false. During his brief life, he created over 600 musical compositions and is widely considered one of the finest composers who ever lived.

December 5, 1933 – The 18th Amendment (Prohibition Amendment) to the U.S. Constitution was repealed. For nearly 14 years, since January 29, 1920, it had outlawed the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the U.S.

December 5, 1955 – In Alabama, the Montgomery bus boycott began in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat on a municipal bus to a white man. Organized by the African American community, the boycott lasted until December 20, 1956, when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling integrated the public transportation system.

December 5, 1955 – The AFL-CIO was founded after two separate labor organizations, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, joined together following 20 years of rivalry, thus becoming the leading advocate for trade unions in the U.S.

December 6th

December 6, 1492 – The island of Hispaniola was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Today the island is divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

December 6,1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is published.

December 6,1790 – The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

December 6, 1865 – The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified abolishing slavery, stating, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, save as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

December 6,1917 – Finnish Declaration of Independence.

December 6, 1921 – The Irish Free State became an independent member of the British Commonwealth.

December 6,1922 – Establishment of the Irish Free State.

December 6, 1973 – Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president under Richard Nixon following the resignation of Spiro Agnew who pleaded no contest to charges of income tax evasion.

December 7th

December 7,1732 – Royal Opera House opens its doors. The popular performing arts venue in Covent Garden, London houses the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet.

December 7, 1787 – Delaware became the first state to adopt the new constitution of the United States of America.

December 7, 1941 – The U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese aircraft in a raid that lasted just over one hour and left nearly 3,000 Americans dead.

December 7,1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched

December 8th

December 8,1609 – Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room, the second public library of Europe.

December 8, 1941 – A day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan.

December 8, 1980 – Former Beatle musician John Lennon was assassinated in New York City.

December 8, 1987 – President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Russia’s General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty eliminating all intermediate-range and shorter-range nuclear missiles.

December 9th

December 9, 1941 – During World War II, China issued a formal declaration of war against Japan, Germany and Italy.

December 9,1965 – ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ premieres on television.

December 9,1979 – Smallpox declared eradicated. The World Health Organization officially certified that after a number of concentrated vaccination campaigns around the world smallpox had been eradicated. Only two infectious diseases have been completely eradicated in history; the other is Rinderpest, which is an infectious disease of cattle that was eradicated in 2011.

December 9, 1992 – Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Prince Charles and Princess of Wales, Dianna.

December 10th

December 10, 1684 – Isaac Newton’s paper on the theory of gravity is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley.

December 10, 1817 – Mississippi is admitted as the 20th U.S. state

December 10, 1868 – The first traffic lights are installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London.

December 10, 1896 – Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel died at San Remo, Italy. His will stipulated that income from his $9 million estate be used for awards recognizing persons who have made valuable contributions to humanity. Nobel recipients are chosen by a committee of the Norwegian parliament. Prizes for Peace, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economics are presented annually in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on the anniversary of his death. Each prize is valued at about $1 million.

December 10, 2001 – Release of the first film in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.

December 11th

December 11,1901 – The first transatlantic radio signal was transmitted by Guglielmo Marconi from Cornwall, England, to St. John’s, Newfoundland.

December 11,1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.

December 11, 1936 – King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England to marry “the woman I love,” a twice-divorced American named Wallis Warfield Simpson. They were married in France on June 3, 1937, and then lived in Paris.

December 11,2008 – Bettie Page (American model who gained notoriety in the 1950s for her pin-up photos) died

December 12th

December 12,1787 Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. It was the first of the larger states to vote to ratify the document.

December 12,1870 – Joseph Hayne Rainey of Georgetown, South Carolina, became the first African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. He filled a seat which had been declared vacant by the House and served until 1879.

December 12,1963 – Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

December 12, 1998 – The House Judiciary Committee approved a fourth and final article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with making false statements in his answers to written questions from Congress.

December 13th

December 13, 1577 – Francis Drake departed Plymouth, England, in the Golden Hind on his voyage around the world.

December 13, 1642 – New Zealand was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman of the Dutch East India Company.

December 13,1769 – Dartmouth College is founded

December 13,1978 – The first Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation.

December 14th

December 14,1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland at the age of only six days old.

December 14, 1799 – George Washington died at Mount Vernon.

December 14,1918 – British women voted for the first time in a general election and were allowed to run for office.

December 14,1819 – Alabama is admitted as the 22nd U.S. state.

December 14, 1861 – In Britain, Prince Albert died of typhoid at Windsor Castle. He was the consort and husband of Queen Victoria of England. Following his death, the Queen went into an extended period of mourning.

December 14, 1911 – Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole.

December 14, 1918 – British women voted for the first time in a general election and were allowed to run for office.

December 14, 1927 – Britain recognized independent Iraq and supported Iraqi admission to the League of Nations.

December 14, 1939 – The League of Nations expelled Soviet Russia for its aggression against Finland.

December 14,1943 – John Harvey Kellogg died

December 14,1947 – NASCAR is founded in Daytona Beach, Florida.

December 14,1958 – Soviets reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.

December 14,1959 – Berry Gordy founds the Motown record label in Detroit, Michigan.

December 15th

December 15, 1791 – The Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution) became effective following ratification by Virginia

December 15, 1840 – Napoleon was buried in Les Invalides in Paris. He had died in exile on the island of Saint Helena after his fall from power.

December 15, 1890 – Sioux leader Sitting Bull (native name Tatanka-yatanka) was killed in a skirmish with U.S. soldiers along the Grand River in South Dakota as his warriors tried to prevent his arrest.

December 15, 1939 – Gone with the Wind had its world premiere in Atlanta, introduced by producer David O. Selznick and featuring appearances by Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

December 15, 1964 – Canada adopted a new national flag featuring a red maple leaf on a white background.

December 15,1966 – Walt Disney died

December 15, 1995 – European Union leaders announced their new currency would be known as the Euro.

December 16th

December 16, 1773 – The Boston Tea Party occurred as colonial activists disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded British ships anchored in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 containers of expensive tea into the water.

December 16, 1835 – A massive fire erupted in New York City, destroying more than 600 buildings, causing an estimated $20 million in damages.

December 16,1915 – Albert Einstein publishes the General Theory of Relativity

December 16, 1969 – The British House of Commons voted 343-185 to abolish the death penalty in England.

December 16,1991 – Kazakhstan gained independence.

December 17th

December 17, 1843 – Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is first published.

December 17, 1903 – After three years of experimentation, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first powered, controlled airplane flights. They made four flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the longest lasting about a minute.
December 17, 1971 – The war between India and Pakistan over East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) ended as 90,000 Pakistani troops surrendered.

December 17, 1989 – The first episode of ‘The Simpsons’ airs on television.

December 17, 2003 – ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ is released worldwide.

December 18th

December 18,1892 – The first performance of Tchaikovsky’s ballet ‘The Nutcracker’ is held
December 18,1932 – The 1st NFL Pro football playoff game takes place.

December 18,1964 – ‘The Pink Panther’ cartoon series premieres on television.

December 18,1966 – Saturn’s Moon, Epimetheus, discovered.

December 18,1976 – ‘Wonder Woman’ debuts on ABC

December 18, 2019 – Donald Trump, the 45th U.S. President, was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress. The charges alleged that Trump sought help from Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, to interfere with the 2020 presidential election, and that Trump attempted to obstruct the House’s impeachment inquiry by directing his aides to ignore subpoenas for documents and testimony. Trump was acquitted on February 5, 2020 when the U.S. Senate failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed for conviction.

December 19th

December 19, 1732 – Benjamin Franklin first published Poor Richard’s Almanac containing weather predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, eventually selling nearly 10,000 copies per year.

December 19, 1848 – Emily Bronte ( author) died

December 19, 1997 – The movie ‘Titanic’ based on the ship of the same name, is released.

December 19, 1998 – The House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton, approving two out of four Articles of Impeachment, charging Clinton with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice.

December 20th

December 20, 1606 – The Virginia Company expedition to America began as three small ships, the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, departed London under the command of Captain Christopher Newport. In May of 1607, the royally chartered company established the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown (Virginia).

December 20, 1699 – Czar Peter the Great changed the Russian New Year from September 1 to January 1 as part of his reorganization of the Russian calendar.

December 20,1803 – Louisiana Purchase completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

December 20,1957 – Elvis Presley given his draft notice to join U.S. Army

December 20,1968 – John Steinbeck (american writer ) died

December 20, 1989 – The U.S. invaded Panama attempting to capture Manuel Noriega on charges of narcotics trafficking. Operation Just Cause occurred seven months after Noriega had declared unfavorable election results in his country to be null and void. The invasion toppled the Noriega government and resulted in the installation of Guillermo Endara as president. Noriega temporarily eluded capture, but surrendered a few weeks later to U.S. troops. He was then tried, convicted, and imprisoned in the U.S.

December 20,2007 – Queen Elizabeth becomes the longest-living British monarch. The previous longest living monarch – Queen Victoria – died on Jan 22, 1901, when she was 81 years, 7 months, and 29 days old. Queen Elizabeth, who was born on 21 April 1926, turned 81 years, 7 months and 30 days on this day.

December 21st
December 21, 1620 – The Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock.

December 21, 1846 – Anesthesia was used for the first time in Britain during an operation at University College Hospital in London performed by Robert Liston who amputated the leg of a servant.

December 21, 1872 – Phileas Fogg wins his wager. The fictional character created by French writer Jules Verne for his book, Around the World in Eighty Days, finished circumnavigating the world and reached London to win the wager he had set with his friends. The date also coincides with the publication of the last of the series that ended up becoming the now popular science fiction novel.

December 21, 1913 – The first crossword puzzle is published

December 21, 1937 – The film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ first premiers.

December 21, 1972 – East and West Germany established diplomatic ties, ending nearly two decades of Cold War hostility and paving the way for international recognition of East Germany.

December 21, 1988 – Pan American Flight 103 exploded in midair as the result of a terrorist bomb and crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 passengers and crew members along with 11 persons on the ground were killed.

December 21, 1993 – The KGB (Soviet Secret Police) organization was abolished by Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

December 22nd

December 22, 1783 – Following a triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis, Maryland, George Washington, victorious Commander-in-Chief of the American Revolutionary Army, appeared before Congress and voluntarily resigned his commission.

December 22,1882 – First Christmas tree to be illuminated by electric lights displayed. Edward H. Johnson, an associate of inventor Thomas Edison and the Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, became the first person to decorate a Christmas tree with electric lights at his home in New York City.

December 22,1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.

December 23rd

December 23, 1888 – Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear during a fit of depression.

December 23,1913 – The U.S. Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act establishing the Federal Reserve System to serve as the nation’s central bank. Chief responsibilities include: execution of monetary policy; influencing the lending and investing activities of commercial banks; and overseeing the cost and availability of money and credit.

December 23, 1947 – The transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley, who shared the Nobel Prize for their invention which sparked a worldwide revolution in electronics.

December 23, 1948 – Hideki Tojo was hanged for war crimes. He had been Japanese prime minister from 1941-44. Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, he was arrested as a war criminal, tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to death. He was hanged along with six other Japanese wartime military leaders at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, with the sentence carried out by the U.S. 8th Army.

December 23,1954 – The first successful human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray

December 23,1958 – Tokyo Tower opened to the public. At 333 meters tall, it is world’s tallest, self-supported steel tower. It is based on the Eiffel Tower and is used for communication purposes.

December 23,1975 – Metric Conversion Act signed by U.S. President Gerald Ford.

December 23,1986 – The Voyager becomes the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world.

December 24th

December 24, 1814 – The Treaty of Ghent between America and Britain was signed, officially ending the War of 1812.

December 24, 1818 – The classic Christmas song, Silent Night, is composed by Franz Xaver Gruber.

December 24, 1865 – Ku Klux Klan created. The extremist white supremacist organization, also known as the Klan, was created in Pulaski, Tennessee by Confederate Army veterans.

December 24, 1893 – Henry Ford completes the first productive gas motor

December 24, 1990 – On Christmas Eve, the bells of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow rang for the first time since the death of Lenin.

December 24, 1992 – Caspar Weinberger and five other Reagan aides involved in the Iran-Contra scandal were pardoned by President George Bush.

December 25th

December 25th – Christmas Day, commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Although the exact date of his birth is not known, it has been celebrated on December 25th by the Western (Roman Catholic) Church since 336 A.D.

December 25, 1066 – William the Conqueror was crowned King of England after he had invaded England from France, defeated and killed King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, then marched on London.
December 25,1223 – St. Francis of Assisi builds the first Nativity scene.

December 25, 1926 – Hirohito became Emperor of Japan.
December 25,1977 – Charlie Chaplin ( comic actor, filmmaker, and composer for silent film) died

December 25, 1989 – In Romania, a television broadcast of a Christmas symphony was interrupted with the announcement that Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife had been executed following a popular uprising. A pro-democracy coalition then took control. Ceausescu, a hard-line Communist, had been ousted from power after ordering his black-shirted state police to suppress a disturbance in the town of Timisorara, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 4,500 persons.

December 25,2006 – James Brown (american musican) died

December 26th

December 26th – Boxing Day in the United Kingdom and many other countries, a day of gift giving when boxes of food, clothing and other gifts are traditionally given to employees, tradespeople and other service providers.

December 26,1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

December 26,1933 – FM (frequency modulation) radio is patented.

December 26-January 1,1966 Kwanzaa, an African American family observance established in 1966 celebrating traditional African harvest festivals, focusing on family unity, with a community harvest feast on the seventh day. Kwanzaa means “first fruit” in Swahili.

December 26,1972 – Harry S. Truman ( American President) died

December 26,1974 – Jack Benny (American actor, comedian) died

December 26, 2004 – An estimated 230,000 persons were killed and 1.5 million left homeless when a magnitude 9.3 earthquake on the seafloor of the Indian Ocean set off a series of giant tsunami waves that smashed into the shorelines of a dozen countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and Somalia.

December 26,2006 – Gerald Ford (American politician, 38th President of the United States) died

December 27th

December 27, 1831 – Charles Darwin set out from Plymouth, England, aboard the ship HMS Beagle on his five-year global scientific expedition. Darwin collected fossils and studied plants and animals, gradually beginning to doubt that many diverse species of living things had sprung into existence at one moment (creationism). In 1859, he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

December 27, 1845 – Anesthesia used for the first time for childbirth. Dr. Crawford W. Long, an American physician, gave ether to his wife during the birth of their second child. The event revolutionalized the use of anesthesia in medicine and surgery.

December 27, 1904 – ‘Peter Pan’ a play by James Barrie, premieres in London.

December 27, 1932 – Radio City Music Hall opens for the first time.

December 27, 1945 – The International Monetary Fund was established in Washington, D.C.

December 27, 1947 – ‘Howdy Doody’, a children’s television program, makes its debut

December 27, 1958 – Harry Warner (Polish/American businessman, co-founded Warner Bros) died

December 28th

December 28,1065 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

December 28,1945 – The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance.

December 28, 1947 – Victor Emmanuel III, the last King of Italy, died while in exile in Alexandria, Egypt. He had become king upon the assassination of his father in 1900. Following World War I, he named Benito Mussolini to form a cabinet and then failed to prevent Mussolini’s Fascists from seizing power. In 1946, he abdicated and went into exile.

December 28,2015 – Lemmy (English singer-songwriter, bass player, actor) died

December 29th

December 29, 1170 – Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated.

December 29,1845 – Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.

December 29,1891 – Thomas Edison patents the radio.

December 29,1937 – Ireland established. A new constitution, established by a national referendum, changed the name of the Irish Free state to Ireland. The Irish Free State was a part of the British Commonwealth and was established in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty singed in 1921.

December 30th

December 30, 1803 – The Stars and Stripes flag was raised over New Orleans as the United States took formal possession of the territory of Louisiana, an area of 885,000 square miles, nearly doubling the size of the U.S. The territory had been purchased from France for approximately $15 million.

December 30, 1924 – Astronomer Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies.

December 30, 1953 – The first color television set goes on sale

December 30, 1993 – Israel and the Vatican signed an agreement on mutual recognition, seeking to end 2,000 years of unfriendly Christian-Jewish relations.

December 30, 2004 – Highest barometric pressure recorded. At 2 am local time, the atmospheric pressure in Tosontsengel, Mongolia rose to 846.5 hPa (adjusted for height above sea level).

December 31st

December 31st – New Year’s Eve, the final evening of the Gregorian calendar year, traditionally a night for merry-making to welcome in the new year.

December 31,1781 – The first bank in the U.S., the Bank of North America, received its charter from the Confederation Congress. It opened on January 7, 1782, in Philadelphia.

December 31, 1879 – Thomas Edison provided the first public demonstration of his electric incandescent lamp at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

December 31,1891 – A new immigration depot is opened on Ellis Island, New York.

December 31,1904 – The first New Year‘s Eve celebration is held in Times Square

December 31,1907 – The first annual ball drop at Times Square. The annual tradition of dropping a ball at 11:59 pm to mark the start of the New Year was organized for the first time by Adolph Ochs, the owner of the New York Times.

December 31,1909 – Manhattan Bridge opens for traffic.

December 31,1985 – Ricky Nelson (American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor) died

December 31,1991 – The Soviet Union is officially dissolved.