German physicist Albert Einstein is granted a visa to enter the United States, fleeing Nazi Germany.
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What Happened in December?
Victories, births, and treaties. Explore the significant historical events and milestones that occurred in December. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The 21st Amendment is passed on December 5, 1933, officially repealing the 18th amendment and ending Prohibition of alcohol in America. The 18th Amendment is the only Constitutional amendment to be repealed in United States history.
The abdication of King Edward VIII is formally enacted by Parliament and announced to the nation on December 11, 1936. He became the only British sovereign to voluntarily resign the crown.
Edward VIII had signed the Instrument of Abdication on the prior date, December 10, 1936, after failing to win acceptance for his desire to marry American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson.
The Massacre of Nanjing (Eng. Nanking) also known as the Rape of Nanjing takes place. A six week carnage as the Japanese Imperial Army marches into China's then capital city of Nanjing and murders 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city.
It is believed to be the single worst atrocity during the World War II era. Beijing became the national capital when China became the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949. More
The Irish Free State repeal of the 1922 Constitution and adoption of a new Constitution comes into effect following a statewide plebiscite held on July 1,1937 and the Irish Free State becomes known as Ireland. More
The Germans sent 136 bombers to the city of London dropping approximately 100,000 (mostly small incendiary) bombs. Fewer incendiaries were dropped than in the raids of 15 November or 8 December.
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Japan attacks the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. More than 2,400 U.S. servicemen were killed in the attack. Next day, Congress declares war on Japan. Germany and Italy declare war on the United States on December 11, 1941, the U.S reciprocates and officially enters WWII.
The Japanese attack was preceded by months of negotiations between the U.S. and Japan over the future of the Pacific. Japanese demands included that the U.S. end its sanctions against Japan, cease aiding China in the Second Sino-Japanese war, and allow Japan to access the resources of the Dutch East Indies. More
The United States Congress declares war against Imperial Japan on December 8, 1941, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States on December 11, 1941. The U.S reciprocates and officially enters WWII against the Axis Powers. On December 19, in a major shake-up of the German military, Adolf Hitler assumed the position of commander in chief of the German army high command.
Admiral Husband E. Kimmel is relieved of his fleet command following the the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and his rank is reverted to the rank of Rear Admiral. He retired in March 1942. Rear Admiral Kimmel died at Groton, Connecticut, on 14 May 1968. More
The Battle of Hong Kong starts as Japan attacks the British Colony of Honk Kong on December 8 1941. A Japanese force of around 35,000 strong was faced by a defending force of 13,500 British, Indian, Canadian, and local troops. Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day 1941 and Hong Kong remained under Japanese control until the end of WWII. More
Japanese forces defeat the U.S. troops at the Battle of Wake Islands. The battle began simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on the morning of December 8, 1941 (December 7 in Hawaii), and ended on December 23, with the surrender of American forces to the Empire of Japan.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday ending the confusion that had taken place since 1939 when FDR had changed the official Thanksgiving to the second to last Thursday of the month.
Since there were five Thursdays and the last Thursday of the month was the last day of the month and there was a worry that it would shorten the Christmas shopping season. Only 32 states had issued similar proclamations while 16 states refused to accept the change creating confusion. More
Physicist Enrico Fermi produces the world's first self-sustaining, controlled nuclear chain reaction, setting the stage for a variety of advancements in nuclear science. The experiment took place under Fermi's direction at the University of Chicago's football stadium.
Enrico Fermi was born in Rome in 1901 and had resided in Italy until 1938. He was awarded the the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938. More
A single-engine aircraft Noorduyn C-64 “Norseman” airplane carrying trombonist and Band leader Glenn Miller disappears over the English Channel. The Army Air Force Major was an unauthorized passenger aboard the flight and he was preparing to move his Army Air Forces Band (Special) from England to France for a congratulatory performance for American troops that had recently helped to liberate Paris. More
The German army launches a counteroffensive intended to cut through the Allied forces and turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor. The German offensive was code-named Wacht am Rhein (the “Watch on the Rhine”), but is better known in the United States as the “Battle of the Bulge". More
President Franklin Roosevelt, asserting wartime emergency powers, orders his secretary of commerce to seize the plants and facilities of Montgomery Ward which was in the middle of a labor strike affecting the flow of war supplies. Montgomery Ward appealed the government action in Federal Court, but lost. More
Flight 19, a Navy Aircraft squadron disappears in the Bermuda Triangle. The squadron, led by Lt. Charles C. Taylor, consisted of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers which departed the U.S. Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a routine navigational training.
All 14 Naval Aviators on the flight were lost, as were all 13 crew members of a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that subsequently launched from Naval Air Station Banana River to search for Flight 19. More
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established by the UN General Assembly on December 11, 1946.
The Children's emergency fund was initially created to meet the emergency needs of children in post-World War II devastation. It is now a permanent UN body focused on long-term child welfare globally. More
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris. A milestone document in the history of human rights, it sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. More