December 8
December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining.
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2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and Observances |
Events
- 1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
- 1886 - American Federation of Labor founded.
- 1914 - Battle of the Falkland Islands fought.
- 1941 - World War 2: After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the previous day, the United States Congress passes a declaration of war against Japan, bringing the United States of America officially into World War 2; Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin casts the only "no" vote. In response, Hitler's Germany declares war on the United States.
- 1941 - Holocaust: First Nazi use of gas vans on Jews, at the Chelmno camp near Lodz.
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The capital of the Republic of China is moved from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan
- 1976 - The Eagles release one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Hotel California
- 1991 - Leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine met and signed an agreement ending the U.S.S.R and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Nature Reserve in Belarus
- 1993 - The North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton.
- 1994 - US President Bill Clinton signs a bill enacting United States participation in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT was formally signed on April 15 1994, in Marrakesh, Morocco by 124 nations).
Births
- 65 BC - Horace, poet († 8 BC)
- 1542 - Mary Queen of Scots († 1587)
- 1730 - Jan Ingenhousz, physiologist, botanist († 1799)
- 1765 - Eli Whitney, inventor († 1825)
- 1790 - Richard Carlille, reformer († 1843)
- 1813 - Adolf Kolping, theologian († 1865)
- 1815 - Adolph Menzel, painter and graphic artist († 1905)
- 1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, author and folklorist († 1908)
- 1861 - Aristide Maillol, sculptor († 1944)
- 1861 - William Durant, automobile pioneer († 1947)
- 1862 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright († 1921)
- 1864 - Camille Claudel, graphic artist († 1943)
- 1865 - Jean Sibelius, composer († 1957)
- 1886 - Diego Rivera, painter († 1957)
- 1890 - Bohuslav Martinu, composer († 1959)
- 1894 - James Thurber, writer († 1961)
- 1911 - Lee J. Cobb, actor († 1976)
- 1923 - Rudolph Pariser, chemist
- 1925 - Sammy Davis Jr, actor, singer († 1990)
- 1927 - Vladimir Shatalov, cosmonaut
- 1930 - Maximilian Schell, actor, film director, author
- 1933 - Flip Wilson, comedian († 1998)
- 1936 - David Carradine, actor
- 1937 - James MacArthur, actor
- 1939 - James Galway, flautist
- 1943 - Jim Morrison, singer (The Doors) († 1971)
- 1946 - John Rubinstein, actor, composer
- 1947 - Gregg Allman, musician
- 1950 - Rick Baker, film makeup artist
- 1953 - Kim Basinger, actress
- 1956 - Warren Cuccurullo, musician
- 1957 - Phil Collen Def Leppard guitarist
- 1964 - Teri Hatcher, actress
- 1966 - Sinead O'Connor, musician
- 1976 - Dominic Monaghan, actor
Deaths
- 1864 - George Boole, mathematician
- 1859 - Thomas De Quincey, author
- 1917 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, writer
- 1958 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer
- 1964 - William Bendix, actor
- 1978 - Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel
- 1980 - John Lennon, musician
- 1982 - Marty Robbins, country music singer
- 1983 - Slim Pickens, actor
- 1996 - Howard Rollins Jr, actor
- 2001 - Kurt Ruh, specialist in German studies
Holidays and Observances
- The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
See Also:
December 7 - December 9 - November 8 - January 8 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December