On this day in History - Dec. 8

• 65 BC - Horace was born (d. BC). Roman poet.
• 0899 - Arnulf of Carinthia dies (b. 0850)
• 1542 - Mary Queen of Scots was born (d. 1587). Six days later would become queen of Scotland.
• 1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden was born (d. 1689)
• 1626 - John Davies, English poet (b. 1569)
• 1632 - Philippe van Lansberge dies (b. 1561). Flemish astronomer
• 1638 - Ivan Gundulic dies (b. 1589). Croatian poet
• 1643 - John Pym dies (b. 1583). English statesman
• 1649 - Noël Chabanel dies (b. 1613). French Jesuit missionary.
• 1678 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton was born (d. English diplomat).
• 1680 - Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester dies (b. 1606). English politician.
• 1691 - Richard Baxter dies (b. 1615). English clergyman.
• 1695 - Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville dies (b. 1625). French orientalist.
• 1708 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor was born (d. 1765).
• 1709 - Thomas Corneille dies (b. 1625). French dramatist.
• 1720 - D. João V, Portuguese king, founded The Portuguese Academy of History.
• 1722 - Liselotte von der Pfalz dies (b. 1652). Duchess of Orléans and sister-in-law of King Louis XIV of France
• 1730 - Jan Ingenhousz was born (d. 1799). Dutch-born British physiologist and botanist.
• 1744 - Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle, Duchess de Châteauroux dies (b. 1717). French mistress of King Louis XV of France
• 1746 - Charles Radclyffe dies (b. 1693). British politician.
• 1756 - William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington dies. British statesman and diplomat
• 1765 - Eli Whitney was born (d. 1825). American inventor ( cotton gin ).
• 1768 - Jean Denis Attiret dies (b. 1702). French Jesuit missionary and painter.
• 1792 - Começo da construção do Teatro de São Carlos, em Lisboa.
• 1815 - Adolph Menzel was born (d. 1905). German painter and graphic artist.
• 1816 - August Belmont, Sr. was born (d. 1890). Prussian-born American financier.
• 1830 - Benjamin Constant dies (b. 1767). Swiss writer.
• 1832 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was born (d. 1910). Norwegian author and Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1848 - Joel Chandler Harris was born (d. 1908). American author and folklorist.
• 1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception which holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her own conception.
• 1859 - Thomas de Quincey was born (d. 1785). British author.
• 1861 - Aristide Maillol was born (d. 1944).French sculptor.
• 1862 - Georges Feydeau was born (d. 1921). French playwright.
• 1864 - Camille Claudel was born (d. 1943). French graphic artist.
• 1864 - George Boole dies (b. 1815). British mathematician and philosopher, inventor of Boolean algebra.
• 1865 - Jean Sibelius was born (d. 1957). Finnish composer.
• 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for the reconstruction of the South.
• 1869 - Timothy Eaton founds T. Eaton Co. Limited in Toronto, Canada.
• 1886 - The American Federation of Labor was founded at a convention of union leaders in Columbus, Ohio.
• 1886 - Diego Rivera was born (d. 1957). Mexican painter and muralist.
• 1890 - Bohuslav Martinů was born (d. 1959). Czech composer.
• 1894 - James Thurber was born (d. 1961). American writer (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty ).
• 1894 - Florbela Espanca was born in Vila Viçosa (d. 1930). Portuguese poetess - one of the greatest Portuguese poets - who commited suicide on the day of her 36th birthday.
• 1903 - Herbert Spencer dies (b. 27 Apr 1820). British writer and philosopher (The Synthetic Philosophy)
• 1906 - Britain announces intention to intervene in the Congo Free State if Belgian and German atrocities against natives continues
• 1907 - King Oscar II of Sweden dies (b. 1829)
• 1907 - King Gustav V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
• 1911 - Lee J. Cobb was born (d. 1976). American actor.
• 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.
• 1915 - Ernest Lehman was born (d. 2005). American screenwriter.
• 1916 - Richard Fleischer was born , Movie director.
• 1917 - Mendele Moykher Sforim dies (b. 1836). Russian writer.
• 1918 - Gérard Souzay was born (d. 2004). French baritone.
• 1919 - Peter Tali Coleman was born (d. 1997). American politician.
• 1921 - Leonor Maia was born. Portuguese actress.
• 1923 - Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-born American chemist.
• 1925 - Foi posto à venda na Alemanha o livro de Adolf Hitler «Mein Kampf» (A Minha Luta), escrito no pequeno período de tempo em que esteve na prisão
• 1925 - Sammy Davis Jr. was born (d. 1990). American actor and singer.
• 1927 - Vladimir Shatalov was born. Soviet Union-born cosmonaut.
• 1930 - Florbela'>Florbela Espanca dies (suicide) (b. 08 Dec 1894). Portuguese poetess - one of the greatest Portuguese poets.
• 1930 - Maximilian Schell was born. Austrian-born Swiss actor, film director, and author.
• 1933 - Flip Wilson was born (d. 1998). American comedian.
• 1936 - David Carradine was born. American actor.
• 1937 - James MacArthur was born. American actor .
• 1937 - Arne Næss Jr. was born (d. 2004). Norwegian mountain climber and businessman.
• 1939 - Sir James Galway was born. Northern Irish flautist .
• 1941 - Congress declared war on Japan and the U.S. entered World War II one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
• 1941 - World War II: Battle of Hong Kong - The Japanese invade the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong less than 8 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
• 1941 - Holocaust: First Nazi use of gas vans on Jews, at the Chelmno camp near Lodz.
• 1942 - Botafogo Futebol Clube funde-se com o Clube de Regatas Botafogo, dando origem ao atual Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas.
• 1943 - Jim Morrison was born (d. 1971). American singer (The Doors)
• 1943 - Mary Woronov was born. American actress.
• 1946 - John Rubinstein was born. Actor, composer.
• 1947 - Gregg Allman was born. American musician.
• 1947 - Thomas R. Cech was born. American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1949 - Communist attacks forced the Chinese Nationalist government to flee to the island of Formosa (Taiwan).
• 1950 - Rick Baker was born. American film makeup artist.
• 1951 - Jan Eggum was born. Norwegian singer-songwriter.
• 1952 - Charles Lightoller dies (b. 1874). British second officer on the Titanic.
• 1953 - Kim Basinger was born. American actress.
• 1956 - Warren Cuccurullo was born. American musician.
• 1957 - Phil Collen was born. British guitarist (Def Leppard)
• 1958 - Tris Speaker dies (b. 1888). American baseball player.
• 1961 - Ann Coulter was born. American author, political commentator, and attorney
• 1962 - Marty Friedman was born. American guitarist.
• 1963 - Field Marshal Sarit Dhanarajata dies (b. 1908). Prime Minister of Thailand.
• 1964 - Teri Hatcher was born. American actress.
• 1966 - The Greek ferry Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.
• 1966 - Sinéad O'Connor was born. Irish singer (Nothing compares 2 U)
• 1968 - NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.
• 1968 - Mike Mussina was born. American baseball player
• 1969 - An Olympic Airways DC-6B crashes near Athens during a storm, killing 93 people.
• 1973 - Corey Taylor was born. American singer (Slipknot)
• 1974 - A população da Grécia, via um referendo, vota contra a restauração da monarquia no país.
• 1975 - Kevin Harvick was born. American NASCAR driver
• 1976 - Dominic Monaghan was born. German-born British actor
• 1976 - Naimee Coleman was born. Irish singer and songwriter
• 1976 - The Eagles release one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Hotel California
• 1978 - Ian Somerhalder was born. American actor.
• 1978 - Vernon Wells was born. American baseball player.
• 1978 - Golda Meir dies in Jerusalem(b. 1898). Russian-born Prime Minister of Israel
• 1980 - Darby Crash dies (b. 1958). American singer and songwriter (The Germs)
• 1980 - John Lennon dies (b. 1940). Former member of the Beatles he was shot and killed in New York City by a deranged fan.
• 1982 - Michael Essien was born. Ghanaian international footballer.
• 1982 - Marty Robbins dies (b. 1925). American singer
• 1983 - Slim Pickens dies (b. 1919). American actor.
• 1984 - Luther Adler dies (b. 1903). American actor.
• 1986 - Amir Khan was born. British boxer
• 1987 - President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the first treaty - The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty - to reduce the nyclear arsenals of the two superpowers.
• 1987 - the "intefadeh" (Arabic for uprising) by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories began.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1992 - Willy Brandt dies. German politician.
• 1992 - William Shawn dies (b. 1917). American magazine editor.
• 1993 -President Bill Clinton signed The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law.
• 1994 - Bosnian Serbs released dozens of hostage peacekeepers, but continued to detain about 300 others.
• 1994 - Antônio Carlos Jobim dies (b. 1917). Brazilian composer and musician.
• 1995 - Macau International Airport is inaugurated.
  1995 - O estado báltico da Lituânia faz um pedido oficial para se tornar membro da União Européia.
  1998 - Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
• 1999 - Kuczka Péter dies (b. 1923). Hungarian writer, poet, and science fiction editor.
• 2001 - Don Tennant dies (b. 1992). American advertising executive
  2003 - Hans Hotter dies (b. 1909). German bass-baritone.
• 2003 - Rubén González dies. Cuban pianist, member of the Buena Vista Social Club
• 2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
• 2004 - Former Pantera guitarist Darrell Abbott is shot and killed on stage by Nathan Gale at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio.
• 2004 - Dimebag Darrell (Darrell Abbott) dies (b. 1966). American guitarist.
• 2004 - Mia Hamm, a leading figure in U.S. women's football (soccer), retired from the sport.
  Catholicism -R.C. Saints -a Holy Day of Obligation The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
• Buddhism - The Enlightenment of Gautama Buddha
• Romania - Constitution Day
• Bulgaria - Day of the Student (studentski praznik)
• Panama - Mother's Day