On This Day
What Happened on December 8 in History
9 events that happened on December 8, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1863
Abraham Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
The plan offered pardons and restored property to most Confederates who swore loyalty to the Union, excluding top officials and military leaders. A seceded state could form a new government once 10 percent of its voters had taken the oath.
Source: history.com; battlefields.org
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1914
The Royal Navy defeated Germany's East Asia Squadron at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
A month after beating a British squadron off Chile, Admiral Maximilian von Spee tried to raid the Falklands in the South Atlantic. Fast British battle cruisers under Admiral Doveton Sturdee chased down his ships.
Source: history.com
1941
Congress declared war on Japan, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked a joint session of Congress for the declaration, calling December 7 "a date which will live in infamy." Congress approved it within an hour with only one dissenting vote, and Roosevelt signed it that afternoon.
Source: history.com; archives.gov
The Cold War
1953
President Eisenhower gave his "Atoms for Peace" speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
Eisenhower proposed ways to transform atomic energy from a scourge into a benefit for humanity.
Source: eisenhowerlibrary.gov
1963
Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland, after being struck by lightning.
The Boeing 707, flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia with 81 people aboard, caught fire after a lightning strike while holding in stormy weather, and part of its left wing broke away in flight. Everyone on board was killed.
Source: faa.gov
1980
John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York City.
Mark David Chapman, an obsessed fan who had gotten Lennon's autograph earlier that day, shot the 40-year-old former Beatle four times at close range outside the Dakota. Hundreds of mourners kept a vigil outside the building for a week, and tributes were held around the world.
Source: history.com
1987
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty, the first pact to cut superpower nuclear arsenals.
Signed at a summit in Washington, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty banned ground-launched short- and medium-range missiles. Earlier arms deals had only tried to limit the growth of U.S. and Soviet arsenals.
Source: history.com
1991
Leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed an agreement that broke up the Soviet Union.
Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich met in the Belovezh Forest of Belarus and founded the Commonwealth of Independent States. Their agreement declared that the USSR no longer existed.
Source: nsarchive.gwu.edu
The Modern Era
1993
President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement into law.
NAFTA removed nearly all tariffs and trade barriers among the United States, Canada and Mexico. It took effect on January 1, 1994, creating what was then the world's largest free-trade zone.
Source: history.com; millercenter.org