December is:

Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Universal Human Rights Month

- National Aplastic Anemia and MDS Awareness Week December 1 – 7, 2008

- World AIDS Day

- Rosa Parks Day honors Mrs. Rosa Parks, an African American woman who was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white patron. (1955)

- Martin Heinrich Klaproth, chemist and discoverer of uranium, was born. (1743)

- Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel A Study in Scarlet. (1887)

- Basketball was first played. (1891)

- World's Fair at St. Louis closed. (1904)

- Boys Town was opened by Father Edward Flanagan close to Omaha, Nebraska, as a farm village for wayward boys. (1917) Girls have attended since 1971.

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- Special Education Day

- Monroe Doctrine address was given by President James Monroe to protect the United States against colonization by other countries. (1823)

- George Seurat, pointillist painter, was born in Paris. (1859)

- First nuclear reactor was developed by Enrico Fermi and scientists at the University of Chicago. It caused the controlled release of nuclear energy and marked the beginning of the atomic age. (1942)

- Eight National Parks Established in Alaska (1980)

- In a move to save fuel, 99% of U.S. gas stations closed voluntarily. (1973)

- Barney B. Clark became the first artificial heart recipient. Clark survived with the artificial heart for over three months. (1982)

- Aaron Copland, U.S. composer, died. (1990)

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- United Nations International Day of Disabled Persons

- Illinois became the 21st state. (1818)

- Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad was born. (1857)

- Opera singer Maria Callas, internationally famous soprano, was born. (1923)

- First female officer in the regular army, Colonel Mary Agnes Hallaren, was sworn in. (1948)

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- James Monroe was elected fifth President of the United States . (1816)

- The Grange, a farmer's fraternal organization, was founded. (1867)

- "Boss" Tweed, notorious leader of New York City's Democratic political machine, escaped from prison and fled to Europe. (1875)

- Suriname was admitted to the United Nations. (1975)

- NASA’s first Mars rover launched at Cape Canaveral. (1996)

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- International Volunteer Day

- Discovery Day celebrates Haiti 's discovery by Christopher Columbus.

- Martin Van Buren, eighth U.S. President, was born. He was the first President born a citizen of the United States . (1782)

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died. (1791)

- Walt Disney was born. (1901)

- Davy Crockett TV series aired its first episode. (1954)

- The labor organization AFL-CIO was founded. (1955)

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- St. Nicholas Day marks the beginning of Christmas season for the several European countries.

- 13th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified, abolishing slavery in the United States . (1865)

- Harriet Tubman, a Maryland slave, escaped from her owners. She went to Pennsylvania and began her work on the Underground Railroad. (1849)

- On the Washington Monument, workers placed the 3,300-pound marble capstone. (1884)

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- National Handwashing Awareness Week December 7 – 13, 2008

- International Civil Aviation Day

- Delaware became the first state of the United States . (1787)

- James Madison was elected fourth U.S. President. (1808)

- The New York Philharmonic Society gave its first public concert. (1842)

- Willa Cather, author of many novels and short story collections, was born. (1873)

- The gas absorption refrigerator, with no moving parts, was patented by Electrolux Servel Corporation. (1926)

- Pearl Harbor Day, a "date which will live in infamy," brought about immediate U.S. entry into WWII. (1941)

- Jupiter probe from the spacecraft Galileo successfully entered the planet’s atmosphere. (1995)

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- Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, was born. (1765)

- Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and muralist, was born. (1886)

- Britain and the United States declared war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor the previous day. (1941)

- Chiang Kai-Shek's government moved to Formosa ( Taiwan ) after being driven out of mainland China by the Communists led by Mao Zedong. (1949)

- Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist. The Commonwealth of Independent States was created. (1991)

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- John Milton, British poet, best known for Paradise Lost, was born. (1608)

- New York's first daily newspaper, "The American Minerva," established by Noah Webster. (1793)

- Ball bearing roller skate was patented by Levant Richardson of Chicago, Illinois. (1884)

- The Cold War’s John Birch Society was founded in the United States , vowing to fight communism. (1958)

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- Human Rights Day

- Massachusetts colony bills of credit for soldiers were the first official currency in America . (1690)

- T. H. Gallaudet, teacher of hearing impaired, was born. (1787)

- Mississippi became the 20th U.S. state. (1817)

- Emily Dickinson, American poet, was born. (1830)

- Melvil Dewey, American librarian and inventor of the Dewey decimal system, was born. (1851)

- Spanish American War ended by the Treaty of Paris. (1898)

- First Nobel Prize was awarded. (1901)

- Reverend Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the youngest person to receive this award. (1964)

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- Hector Berlioz, the French composer of "Symphonie Fantastique" and "Romeo et Juliette," was born. (1803)

- Indiana became the 19th U.S. state. (1816)

- Annie Jump Cannon, astronomer, was born. (1863)

- Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, Russian-American author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, was born. (1918)

- Boll Weevil Monument was dedicated by the citizens of Enterprise, Alabama. (1919)

- UNICEF, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, was established. (1946)

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- Poinsettia Day. The poinsettia was named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, who died on December 12, 1851.

- First transatlantic wireless message was sent by Guglielmo Marconi, who used a wired kite as a receiving antenna. (1901)

- The Mona Lisa was recovered after being stolen two years earlier. (1913)

- Frank Sinatra, Italian-American singer, actor, and entertainer with a career spanning more than 50 years, was born. (1915)

- Japanese aircraft sank the USS Panay in Yangtze River near Nanking, China . (1937)

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- The Geminid meteor shower will peak around December 13, 2008.

- Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England , on his round-the-world voyage (1577)

- Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States , was born. (1818)

- The Susan B. Anthony coin, the first coin with the likeness of an American woman, was issued. (1978)

- Al Gore concedes Presidential Election to George Bush (2000)

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- Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe was born. (1546)

- George Washington, first U.S. President, died. (1799)

- Alabama became the 22nd U.S. state. (1819)

- South Pole was finally reached by Roald Amundsen. (1911)

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- Bill of Rights Day celebrates the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791.

- Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, French engineer famous for his tower, was born. (1832)

- Gone With the Wind premiered in Atlanta, Georgia . (1939)

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- Posadas begins. Posadas is an annual Mexican celebration in which processions of "pilgrims" knock at doors asking for posada, or shelter.

- Ludwig von Beethoven, composer, was born in Germany . (1770)

- Boston Tea Party occurred, in which Americans expressed their dislike for a new tea tax by dumping tea into Boston Harbor. (1773)

- Jane Austen, English novelist of Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, was born. (1775)

- Chief Sitting Bull of the Oglala Sioux was killed. (1890)

- WWII’s Battle of the Bulge began. (1944)

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- Deborah Sampson, who fought in the Revolutionary War disguised as a man, was born. (1760)

- Ludwig Van Beethoven, world-famous composer, was baptized. (1770)

- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was published in London. (1843)

- Orchestra conductor Arthur Fiedler was born. (1894)

- The Wright brothers completed the first successful powered flight. (1903)

- Radiocarbon dating inventor Willard Frank Libby was born. (1908)

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- Greatest clown in history, Joseph Grimaldi, was born. (1778)

- New Jersey became the third U.S. state. (1787)

- Tyrus Raymond (Ty) Cobb, the famed American baseball player, was born. (1886)

- The first giant panda to come to the U.S. from China , Su-Lin, arrived in San Francisco. (1936)

- Japan was admitted to the United Nations. (1956)

- Alaska Native Claims Act returned 40 million acres of land and $1 billion to native Alaskan tribes. (1971)

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- Sir William Edward Parry, Arctic explorer, was born. (1790)

- Corrugated paper was patented. (1871)

- The Williamsburg Bridge, America’s first major suspension bridge, opened in New York City. (1903)

- The National Hockey League played its first games. (1917)

- Richard Leakey, anthropologist from a famous family, was born. (1944)

- First radio broadcast from space was transmitted from the U.S. satellite Atlas. It was a recorded message from President Dwight D. Eisenhower: "I convey to you and to all mankind America 's wish for peace on Earth and good will toward men everywhere." (1958)

- First personal computer, the Altair 8800, became available for sale. (1974)

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- Three small ships left England and eventually colonized what is now Jamestown, Virginia. (1606)

- Russian calendar was reorganized by Peter the Great, decreeing that the new year would begin on January 1 and not September 1. (1699)

- Louisiana Purchase became final as representatives from the United States and France signed the original documents. (1803)

- Sacagawea, Native American guide and interpreter for Lewis and Clark on their trip west to the Pacific Ocean, died. (1812)

- South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. (1860)

- First incandescent light bulb, although perfected in October, was demonstrated by Thomas Alva Edison. (1879)

- U.S. Poet Laureate established. (1985)

- Astronomer, educator, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan died. (1996)

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- Hanukkah, begins 2008

- Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter. (2008)

- Forefathers’ Daycelebrates the anniversary of the Pilgrims landing in America in 1620.

- Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor, authorized by Congress, originally for only naval accomplishments. (1861)

- Joseph Stalin, totalitarian Soviet Union ruler, was born. (1879)

- The first junior high schools in the United States , McKinley and Washington Schools in Berkeley, California, were established. (1909)

- The first crossword puzzle was published in the New York World. (1913)

- Apollo 8 was launched. The astronauts were the first men to orbit the moon and see the side facing away from Earth. (1968)

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- Frank Kellogg, U.S. Secretary of State who tried to outlaw war, was born. (1856)

- Giacomo Puccini, romantic opera composer, was born. (1858)

- Connie Mack, major league baseball player, was born. (1862)

- Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, was born. (1912)

- Beatrix Potter, English author of children’s books, died. (1943)

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- "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" (the poem now known as "The Night Before Christmas") was published anonymously in the Troy, New York, Sentinel. (1823)

- Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter, removed part of his own ear. (1888)

- The Federal Reserve System was established with the responsibility for execution of monetary policy for the United States . (1913)

- The transistor was invented. (1947)

- Metric Conversion Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. It declared that "SI (International System of Units) will be the basic system of measurement." (1975)

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- Kit Carson, one of the most famous mountain men and scouts in the West, was born. (1809)

- Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812. (1814)

- "Silent Night" was performed for the first time in Oberndorf, Austria , by Gruber and Mohr. (1818)

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- Christmas is observed by many as a celebration of the birth of Jesus. The holiday has roots in pagan celebrations such as Yule and the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was also a time of gift-giving and merry-making. Today Kris Kringle, Santa Claus, and Father Winter are said to visit children around the world with gifts.

- Clara Barton, American nurse, philanthropist, founder, and president of the American Red Cross, was born. (1881)

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- Kwanzaa begins on this date, and the African American celebration continues until January 1. It's based on the East African harvest festival Kwanzaa, meaning "first fruits" in Swahili.

- Boxing Day was originally a day when gifts (boxes) were given to servants and tradespeople. In Canada , England , and certain other English-speaking countries, this day is set aside to thank people who provide services.

- Washington crossed the Delaware River. (1776)

- Charles Babbage, British inventor and mathematician who pioneered modern computers, was born. (1792)

- Commodore George Dewey, naval hero of the Spanish-American War, was born in Montpelier, Vermont. (1837)

- Mao Zedong, first leader of the People's Republic of China , was born. (1893)

- Radium discovery announced by scientists Pierre and Marie Curie. (1898)

- Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami (2004)

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- Johannes Kepler, the father of modern astronomy, was born in Wurttemberg , Germany . (1571)

- Louis Pasteur, French chemist-bacteriologist, was born. His experiments disproved the theory of spontaneous generation, showing that life only comes from life, and developed the technique of pasteurization for food safety. (1822)

- Charles Darwin began his voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. (1831)

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- Iowa became the 29th U.S. state. (1846)

- Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. President, was born. (1856)

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- Andrew Johnson, 17th U.S. President, was born. (1808)

- Texas became the 28th U.S. state. (1845)

- The Wounded Knee massacre occurred, in which unarmed Sioux, including women and children, were killed by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. (1890)

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- Robert Boyle, Irish chemist and physicist, died. Boyle’s Law states that the pressure and volume of gas are inversely proportional. (1691)

- Gadsden Purchase, defining the Mexico-U.S. border, was signed. (1853)

- Rudyard Kipling, English poet and novelist famous for The Jungle Book and Captains Courageous, was born. (1865)

- The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operetta, had its first performance. (1879)

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- Henri Matisse, the painter, was born. (1869)

- "Auld Lang Syne" was played by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians as a New Year’s Eve song for the first time. (1929)

- WWII was proclaimed over by President Truman. (1946)

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