December 29

President Andrew Johnson born (1808); Texas becomes the 28th US state (1845); US Army kills over 250 Lakota people at Wounded Knee (1890); Actress Mary Tyler Moore born (1936); Soccer legend Pelé dies (2022). 

December 30

Author Rudyard Kipling born (1865); The Soviet Union formed (1922); Tiger Woods born (1975); LeBron James born (1984); Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed (2006); Oscar-winning actress Luise Rainer dies (2014)

December 28

President Woodrow Wilson born (1856); Comic book writer Stan Lee born (1922); British actress Dame Maggie Smith born (1934); Denzel Washington born (1954); Indonesia AirAsia flight crashes, killing 162 (2014).

December 27

Chemist Louis Pasteur born (1822); Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich born (1901); Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City (1932); Pakistan politician Benazir Bhutto assassinated (2007); Carrie Fisher dies (2016).

December 23

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith born (1805); Businesswoman Madam CJ Walker born (1867); Vincent van Gogh cuts off his ear (1888); Voyager aircraft is first to fly around the world without refueling (1986).

December 22

Beethoven’s "Fifth Symphony" premieres (1808); Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson born (1912); Maurice and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees born (1949); Colo becomes first gorilla born in captivity (1956); “Don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy repealed (2010).

December 21

 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres (1937); F. Scott Fitzgerald dies (1940); Track and field star Florence Griffith Joyner born (1959); French President Emmanuel Macron born (1977); Bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 (1988).

December 20

Louisiana Purchase finalized (1803); Sacagawea dies (1812); "It’s a Wonderful Life" released (1946); Astronomer Carl Sagan dies (1996); Space Force becomes sixth US armed forces branch (2019).

December 19

First edition of "The American Crisis" published by Thomas Paine (1776); French entertainer Édith Piaf born (1915); First National Hockey League game played (1917); President Eisenhower’s Christmas message is first radio broadcast from space (1958); President Clinton is impeached (1998).

December 18

Mayflower arrives at Plymouth Harbor (1620); 13th Amendment formally adopted in Constitution, abolishing slavery (1865); Steven Spielberg born  (1946); Brad Pitt born (1963); Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor dies (2016).

December 15

US Bill of Rights ratified, becomes law (1791); Eiffel Tower builder Gustave Eiffel born (1832); Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull killed (1890); Walt Disney dies (1966); Actress Joan Fontaine dies (2013).

December 16

Ludwig van Beethoven born (1770); Boston Tea Party occurs (1773); Author Jane Austen born (1775); Anthropologist Margaret Mead born (1901); World War II’s Battle of the Bulge begins (1944).

December 14

President George Washington dies (1799); Author Shirley Jackson born (1916); Actress Patty Duke born (1946); Eugene Cernan is last person to walk on the moon (1972); 20 children and six staff murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012).

December 13

Diplomat George Shultz born (1920); Actor Dick Van Dyke born (1925); Taylor Swift born (1989); 10 new countries announced to join European Union (2002); Saddam Hussein captured by American forces (2003).

December 12

US Founding Father John Jay born (1745); First transatlantic radio signal sent by Guglielmo Marconi (1901); Frank Sinatra born (1915); Singer Dionne Warwick born (1940); Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore certifies George W. Bush as president (2000).

December 11

King Edward VIII abdicates throne to younger brother King George VI (1936); Germany and Italy declare war on the US (1941); John Kerry born (1943); Musician Sam Cooke dies (1964); Model Bettie Page dies (2008).

December 8

Mary, Queen of Scots born (1542); The US declares war on Japan (1941); Musician Jim Morrison born (1943); John Lennon murdered outside his residence in New York City (1980); Astronaut and senator John Glenn dies (2016).

December 9

Actor Kirk Douglas born (1916); Actress Dame Judi Dench born (1934); “A Charlie Brown Christmas” debuts (1965); Diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche dies (1971); World Health Organization declares smallpox eradicated (1979).

December 7

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award winner Ellen Burstyn born (1932); Pearl Harbor naval base bombed by Japan, killing 2,403 US personnel (1941); Basketball legend Larry Bird born (1956); Apollo 17, the final Apollo moon mission, is launched (1972); Sound barrier-breaking pilot Chuck Yeager dies (2020).

December 6

13th Amendment of the US Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery (1865); Washington Monument completed (1884); Hollywood actress Agnes Moorehead born (1900); NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo born (1994); NASA photographs suggest presence of liquid on Mars (2006).

December 5

Mozart dies (1791); Walt Disney born (1901); Rosa Parks helps lead Montgomery bus boycotts (1955); 21st Amendment ratified in the US, repealing the nationwide ban on alcohol (1933); Nelson Mandela dies (2013).

December 4

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes dies (1679); President Woodrow Wilson travels to Versailles for WWI peace talks, is first US president to travel to Europe while in office (1918); Jay-Z born (1969); Tyra Banks born (1973); American journalist Terry Anderson released after more than six years as hostage in Lebanon (1991).

December 2

Abolitionist John Brown dies (1859); US Environmental Protection Agency formed (1970); Britney Spears born (1981); Benazir Bhutto becomes first female prime minister of Pakistan (1988); Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is killed (1993).

December 1

First moving assembly line introduced by Ford Motor Company (1913); Rosa Parks arrested in Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat (1955); Author and activist James Baldwin dies (1987); World AIDS Day commemorated for first time (1988).