On This Day
What Happened on December 21 in History
8 events that happened on December 21, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1861
A new law created the Medal of Honor for Navy and Marine Corps enlisted men.
Until then the United States had no medal regularly awarded for valor. A similar award for Army enlisted men followed on July 12, 1862, and was extended to officers in 1863.
Source: archives.gov; nps.gov
1866
Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors wiped out William Fetterman's command near Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming.
The warriors drew the soldiers into an ambush during Red Cloud's War, a conflict over the Bozeman Trail through their hunting grounds. With 81 dead, it was the Army's worst defeat in the West until Little Bighorn in 1876.
Source: history.com; places.wyo.gov
The Cold War
1958
Charles de Gaulle was elected the first president of France's Fifth Republic.
The vote came three months after French voters approved a new constitution. De Gaulle, the leader of the Free French in World War II, had been called out of retirement that June during a crisis over Algeria.
Source: history.com
1965
The UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Approved through Resolution 2106, the treaty set a global framework for ending discrimination based on race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin. It has since been ratified by the vast majority of countries.
Source: un.org
1967
The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, opened in New York.
Based on a 1963 novel by Charles Webb, the film followed a young college graduate adrift in the world of his parents. It became a major hit and spoke to a generation coming of age in a time of upheaval.
Source: history.com
1968
Apollo 8 launched from Florida on the first crewed mission to the Moon.
Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders rode the first crewed Saturn V rocket. Three days later they became the first people to orbit the Moon.
Source: history.com; nasa.gov
1970
Elvis Presley met President Richard Nixon at the White House.
That morning Presley had hand-delivered a letter at the White House gate asking for a meeting and offering to help the government's anti-drug campaign. He gave Nixon a World War II-era Colt .45 pistol, and the two were photographed shaking hands.
Source: history.com; archives.gov
1988
A terrorist bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.
The bomb, hidden in a cassette player in the cargo hold, killed all 259 people aboard the London to New York flight and 11 residents on the ground. Of the victims, 189 were Americans.
Source: history.com