On December 1, 1959, representatives of 12 countries, including the United States, signed a treaty in Washington setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, free from military activity.
On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R Wis., for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
On December 3, 1984, more than 4,000 people died after a cloud of gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.
On December 4, 1945, the Senate approved U.S. participation in the United Nations.
On December 5, 1492, Christopher Columbus and his group of adventurers arrived or saw the Island of Hispaniola/Haiti for the first time. They went on to kill all the Indians for their gold.
On December 5, 1933, national Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.
On December 6, 1923, a presidential address was broadcast on radio for the first time as President Coolidge spoke to a joint session of Congress.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, an act that led to America's entry into World War II.
On December 8,1941, the United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan, a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On December 9, 1992, Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation.
On December 10, 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded in kind.
On December 12, 1963, Kenya gained its independence from Britain.
On December 13, 1981, authorities in Poland imposed martial law in a crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. Martial law formally ended in 1983.
On December 14, 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967.
On December 15, 1916, the French defeated the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun. On December 16, 1950, President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism."
On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright took the first successful man-powered airplane flights, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
On December 18, 1957, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went online.
On December 19, 1984, Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
On December 20, 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of General Manuel Noriega.
On December 21, 1988, a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.
On December 22, 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to President Lincoln from Georgia, saying, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."
On December 23,1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
On December 24, 1992, President Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.
On December 25,1991, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a Communist superpower.
On December 25 of each year, Christians across the globe celebrate the birth of Christ.
On December 26,1941, Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.
On December 27,1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal replaced President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed.
On December 28,1981, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Va.
On December 29,1940, during World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.
On December 30,1972, the United States terminated its heavy bombing of North Vietnam. On December 31, 1946, President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
