December 8

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December 8 in recent years 2008 (Monday)2007 (Saturday)2006 (Friday)2005 (Thursday)2004 (Wednesday)2003 (Monday)2002 (Sunday)2001 (Saturday)2000 (Friday)

December 8 is the 342nd day of the year (343rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining until the end of the year.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

Events

1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room, the second public library of Europe.
1659 - Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez is founded by Fray García de San Francisco.
1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
1864 - The Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon is officially opened.
1869 - Timothy Eaton founds T. Eaton Co. Limited in Toronto, Canada.
1886 - The American Federation of Labor is founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1904 - Konservativ Ungdom (Young Conservatives) in Denmark is founded by Carl F. Herman von Rosen. Still existing today, it is the oldest political youth organization in Denmark and believed to be one of the oldest in the world.
1907 - King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
1912 - First Balkan War: The Greek army captures Korçë that had been under Ottoman rule.
1914 - World War I: Battle of the Falkland Islands - The Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee is engaged by the Royal Navy.
1926 - Disappearance of Agatha Christie
1935 - The Japanese military police launches a violent suppression of the religious sect Oomoto, beginning with a crackdown on the sect's operational bases of Ayabe and Kameoka in Kyoto Prefecture and the arrest of its leader Onisaburo Deguchi.
1941 - World War II: The Japanese invade the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. They also invade the portions of Shanghai administered by European powers and bomb American bases in the Philippines. Because of the time difference, these events - which took place west of the International Date Line - happened while it was still December 7 to the east of this line.
1941 - World War II: Pacific War - After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S. Congress passes a declaration of war against Japan.
1941 - World War II: Pacific War - the Republic of China officially declares war against Japan.
1941 - World War II: Pacific War - The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in China issues a proclamation which declared war against Japan and Germany on behalf of Korean people, who were under Japanese occupation since 1910.
1941 - World War II: First Japanese attack on Wake Island.
1941 - Holocaust: Gas vans are first used as a means of execution, at the Chelmno extermination camp near Łódź in Poland.
1942 - Holocaust: in Ternopil, Ukraine, the German SS organizes the deportation of the last 1,400 Ternopil Jews to the death camp in Belzec. The chief of the Gestapo, SS-Sturmbannführer Hermann Müller, bore overall responsibility for the mass murder of the Jews of Ternopil and Berezhany county.
1949 - Chinese Civil War: The capital of the Republic of China is moved from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan.
1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the Atoms for Peace speech.
1966 - The Greek SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.
1969 - An Olympic Airways Douglas DC-6 crashes in Keratea during a storm, killing 93 people.
1972 - United Airlines Flight 553 crashes near Chicago Midway Airport, killing 45 people.
1974 - A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.
1980 - Mark David Chapman shoots and kills John Lennon in front of The Dakota apartment building with five bullets.
1982 - Activist Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.
1982 - In Suriname several opponents of the military government are killed.
1987 - The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed.
1987 - The Queen Street Massacre: Frank Vitkovic shoots and kills 8 people at the offices of Australia Post in Melbourne, Australia before being killed himself.
1987 - The Alianza Lima air disaster.
1991 - The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1991 - The Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
1993 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton.
1998 - Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
2002 - The Caribbean Community Heads of Government meet with the Government of Cuba and declare the date to be "CARICOM-Cuba Day" - To celebrate diplomatic ties between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba.
2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
2004 - The last Ford Taurus wagon rolls off of the assembly line.
2005 - Ante Gotovina, Croatian army general accused of war crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife by the Spanish police.

Births

65 BC - Horace, Roman poet (d. 8 BC)
1542 - Mary Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
1574 - Maria Anna of Bavaria, Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1616)
1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
1678 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, English diplomat (d. 1757)
1699 - Maria Josepha of Austria, queen of Poland (d. 1757)
1708 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
1730 - Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch-born British physiologist and botanist (d. 1799)
1765 - Eli Whitney, American inventor (d. 1825)
1795 - Peter Andreas Hansen, Danish astronomer (d. 1874)
1815 - Adolph Menzel, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1905)
1816 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born American financier (d. 1890)
1817 - Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish nobleman and politician (d. 1896)
1832 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author and Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, American author and folklorist (d. 1908)
1861 - William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (d. 1947)
1861 - Aristide Maillol, French sculptor (d. 1944)
1861 - Georges Méliès, French filmmaker (d. 1938)
1862 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (d. 1921)
1864 - Camille Claudel, French graphic artist and sculptor (d. 1943)
1865 - Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician (d. 1963)
1865 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
1874 - Ernst Moro, Austrian physician (d. 1951)
1886 - Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (d. 1957)
1890 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (d. 1959)
1894 - E.C. Segar, American cartoonist (Popeye) (d. 1938)
1894 - James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist (d. 1961)
1899 - John Qualen, Canadian actor (d. 1987)
1900 - Sun Li-jen, Chinese general (d. 1990)
1902 - Wifredo Lam, Cuban artist (d. 1982)
1908 - John A. Volpe, 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts, 2nd United States Secretary of Transportation (d. 1994)
1909 - Gratien Gélinas, French Canadian playwright, actor, director and producer (d. 1999)
1911 - Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
1911 - Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and lyricist (d. 1992)
1913 - Delmore Schwartz, American poet (d. 1966)
1915 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (d. 2005)
1916 - Richard Fleischer, American film director (d. 2006)
1918 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d. 2004)
1919 - Peter Tali Coleman, American politician (d. 1997)
1922 - Lucian Freud, English painter
1922 - Jean Ritchie, American folk singer
1923 - Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-born American chemist
1925 - Sammy Davis Jr., American actor and singer (d. 1990)
1925 - Carmen Martín Gaite, Spanish author (d. 2000)
1925 - Jimmy Smith, American jazz organist (d. 2005)
1927 - Ferdie Pacheco, the "Fight Doctor"
1927 - Vladimir Shatalov, Soviet cosmonaut
1930 - Julian Critchley, British politician (d. 2000)
1930 - Maximilian Schell, Austrian-born Swiss actor, film director, and author
1931 - Bob Arum, American boxing promoter
1933 - Flip Wilson, American comedian (d. 1998)
1935 - Dharmendra, Indian actor
1935 - Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Israeli chess player
1936 - David Carradine, American actor
1937 - James MacArthur, American actor
1937 - Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountain climber and businessman (d. 2004)
1939 - Red Berenson, Canadian ice hockey player
1939 - Jerry "The Iceman" Butler, American soul singer
1939 - Sir James Galway, Northern Irish flautist
1939 - Soko Richardson, American rhythm and blues drummer. (d. 2004)
1940 - Brant Alyea, American baseball player
1941 - Ed Brinkman, American baseball player
1941 - Bob Brown, American football player
1941 - Randall "Duke" Cunningham, US Navy fighter pilot and Congressman
1941 - Sir Geoff Hurst, English footballer
1943 - Jim Morrison, American poet, singer (The Doors) (d. 1971)
1943 - Mary Woronov, American actress
1945 - John Banville, Irish novelist and journalist
1946 - John Rubinstein, American actor, composer, director
1946 - Sharmila Tagore, Indian Actress
1947 - Gregg Allman, American musician
1947 - Thomas R. Cech, American chemist, Nobel laureate
1947 - Kati-Claudia Fofonoff, Skolt Sámi writer
1949 - Mary Gordon, American writer
1949 - Nancy Meyers, American film director, producer and screenwriter
1949 - Ray Shulman, English musician
1949 - Robert Sternberg, Proposed the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
1950 - Rick Baker, American film makeup artist
1950 - Tim Foli, American baseball player
1950 - Dan Hartman, American musician (Edgar Winter Group) (d. 1994)
1951 - Bill Bryson, American author
1951 - Jan Eggum, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1952 - Khaw Boon Wan, Singapore Health Minister
1953 - Kim Basinger, American actress
1953 - Roy Firestone, American sports announcer
1953 - Sam Kinison, American comedian (d. 1992)
1954 - Harold Hongju Koh, Korean-American Dean of Yale Law School
1956 - Warren Cuccurullo, American musician
1957 - Phil Collen, English guitarist (Def Leppard)
1958 - Bird McIntyre, Thai pop singer, musician
1960 - Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of the Malaysian Democratic Action Party (DAP)
1961 - Ann Coulter, American author, political commentator, and attorney
1962 - Marty Friedman, American guitarist
1963 - Toshiaki Kawada, Japanese professional wrestler
1964 - James Blundell, Australian country singer
1964 - Sandy Burnett, English record producer
1964 - Teri Hatcher, American actress
1965 - Carina Lau, Hong Kong actress
1966 - Sinéad O'Connor, Irish musician
1966 - Jeff Tremaine, American television and film director
1967 - Jeff George, American football player
1967 - Kotono Mitsuishi, Japanese seiyu (voice actress)
1967 - Darren Sheridan, English footballer and manager
1968 - Michael Cole, American professional wrestling commentator
1968 - Mike Mussina, American baseball player