December 8

• 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.
• 1907 - King Gustav V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne
• 1914 - Battle of the Falkland Islands fought.
• 1941 - World War II: 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
• 1980 - Mark David Chapman kills former Beatle John Lennon.
• 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).
• 2003 - Following ratification by the party members, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada officially merge to create the new Conservative Party of Canada.

• 65 BC - Horace, poet (d. 8 BC)
• 1542 - Mary Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
• 1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
• 1730 - Jan Ingenhousz, physiologist, botanist (d. 1799)
• 1765 - Eli Whitney, inventor (d. 1825)
• 1790 - Richard Carlille, reformer (d. 1843)
• 1813 - Adolf Kolping, theologian (d. 1865)
• 1815 - Adolph Menzel, painter and graphic artist (d. 1905)
• 1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, author and folklorist (d. 1908)
• 1861 - Aristide Maillol, sculptor (d. 1944)
• 1861 - William Durant, automobile pioneer (d. 1947)
• 1862 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (d. 1921)
• 1864 - Camille Claudel, graphic artist (d. 1943)
• 1865 - Jean Sibelius, composer (d. 1957)
• 1886 - Diego Rivera, painter (d. 1957)
• 1890 - Bohuslav Martinu, composer (d. 1959)
• 1894 - James Thurber, writer (d. 1961)
• 1911 - Lee J. Cobb, actor (d. 1976)
• 1923 - Rudolph Pariser, chemist
• 1925 - Sammy Davis Jr., actor, singer (d. 1990)
• 1927 - Vladimir Shatalov, cosmonaut
• 1930 - Maximilian Schell, actor, film director, author
• 1933 - Flip Wilson, comedian (d. 1998)
• 1936 - David Carradine, actor
• 1937 - James MacArthur, actor
• 1937 - Arne Nęss Jr., Norwegian mountaineer, businessman (d. 2004)
• 1939 - James Galway, flautist
• 1943 - Jim Morrison, singer (The Doors) (d. 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
• 1961 - Ann Coulter, author, political commentator, attorney
• 1964 - Teri Hatcher, actress
• 1966 - Sinead O'Connor, musician
• 1976 - Dominic Monaghan, actor

• 1638 - Ivan Gundulic, poet, Croatia
• 1864 - George Boole, mathematician
• 1859 - Thomas De Quincey, author
• 1907 - King Oscar II of Sweden (b. 1829)
• 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

• Catholicism -Holy Day of Obligation The Feast of the Immaculate Conception