Historical Events on December 8
- 1914: At the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the British Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron during World War I.
- 1941: Addressing a joint session of Congress, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares the day before – December 7th – to be a date that will live in infamy.
- 1941: Japanese forces invade the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines, all at the same time.
- 1963: A Boeing 707 – Pan Am Flight 214 – is hit by lightning and crashes in Maryland. 81 of the people on board are killed.
- 1972: A Boeing 737 -United Airlines Flight 553 – crashes and kills 45 people.
- 1980: John Lennon – former member of the Beatles – is murdered outside The Dakota in New York.
- 1988: A U.S Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment building in Remscheid, Germany. 50 people are injured and 5 people are killed.
Famous Birthdays on December 8
- American engineer and inventor of the cotton gin, Eli Whitney is born in 1765.
- German painter and illustrator, Adolph Menzel is born in 1815.
- Irish poet and author, Amanda McKittrick Ros is born in 1860.
- French playwright Georges Feydeau is born in 1862.
- French mathematician Jacques Hadamard is born in 1865.
- American actor Lee J. Cobb is born in 1911.
- American director and screenwriter, Ernest Lehman is born in 1915.
- American direcor and screenwriter, Richard Fleischer is born in 1916.
- American singer-songwriter and poet, Jim Morrison is born in 1943.
- American poet James Tate is born in 1943.
- Irish novelist John Banville is born in 1945.
- American makeup artist Rick Baker is born in 1950.
- Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor is born in 1966.
- Japanese voice actress and singer, Kotono Mitsuishi is born in 1967.
- American race car driver, Ryan Newman is born in 1977.
- French footballer, Frédéric Piquionne is born in 1978.
- American actor Ian Somerhalder is born in 1978.
- American singer-songwriter Chrisette Michele is born in 1982.
- Trinidadian-American rapper and actress, Nicki Minaj is born in 1982.