December 20

### Up to 1950

- 69 – Vespasian enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.
- 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria.
- 1522 – Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re–settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
- 1606 – The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and set sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
- 1803 – Louisiana Purchase is completed.
- 1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
- 1860 – South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States.
- 1870 – The Cape Blanco lighthouse goes into operation at the western tip of Oregon.
- 1915 – The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli during World War I.
- 1917 – Cheka, first Soviet secret police, is founded.
- 1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.
- 1942 – World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta.
- 1942 – A magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Erbaa, Turkey, kills around 3,000 people.
- 1946 – The popular Christmas movie _It's a Wonderful Life_ is first released in New York City.
- 1946 – The Tonankai earthquake in Japan kills around 1,300 people.

### 1951 – 2000

- 1951 – The EBR in Arco, Idaho, becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity.
- 1952 – United States Air Force C–124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87.
- 1955 – Cardiff is officially proclaimed as the capital city of Wales.
- 1957 – The European Nuclear Energy Agency is founded.
- 1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.
- 1960 – National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
- 1961 – The Dominican Republic holds its first elections.
- 1967 – A Pennsylvania Railroad metroliner reaches over the limit of 155 miles per hour in speed on its New York Division.
- 1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
- 1971 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes the 4th President of Pakistan.
- 1973 – Spanish Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated by a car bomb in Madrid.
- 1977 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the UN.
- 1984 – The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines, England.
- 1985 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day.
- 1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
- 1989 – Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
- 1991 – Paul Keating becomes the 24th Prime Minister of Australia.
- 1995 – The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
- 1995 – An American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757 crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
- 1999 – Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
- 1999 – Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
- 1999 – NASA starts the ACRIMSat satellite to study the Sun.

### From 2001

- 2002 – US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
- 2004 – A gang of thieves steal 26.5 million pounds from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- 2007 – Elizabeth II overtakes Queen Victoria as the UK's oldest–ever monarch, having reached an age of 81 years, 7 months and 29 days. As of December 2014, Elizabeth is 88 years of age.
- 2015 – Spain holds its parliamentary election, with no party winning overall control.
- 2016 – A fireworks market explosion near Mexico City kills at least 30 people.

### Up to 1900

- 1537 – King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
- 1579 – John Fletcher, English dramatist (d. 1625)
- 1629 – Pieter de Hooch, painter (d. 1684)
- 1633 – Abbas II of Persia (d. 1666)
- 1648 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian poet and mathematician (d. 1736)
- 1717 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French politician and diplomat (d. 1787)
- 1740 – Arthur Lee, American diplomat (d. 1792)
- 1786 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
- 1792 – Nicolas Charlet, painter (d. 1845)
- 1805 – Thomas Graham, Father of colloid chemistry (d. 1869)
- 1833 – Samuel Mudd, physician, possible conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1883)
- 1838 – Edwin Abbott Abbott, schoolmaster/theologian/writer of Flatland (d. 1926)
- 1841 – Ferdinand Buisson, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1927 (d. 1932)
- 1856 – Ferdinand Avenarius, writer (d. 1923)
- 1858 – Kuno Meyer, German scholar (d. 1919)
- 1860 – Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
- 1861 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovene painter (d. 1926)
- 1865 – Elsie De Wolfe, aka Lady Mendl, actress & interior decorator (d. 1950)
- 1868 – Arturo Alessandri, President of Chile (d. 1950)
- 1868 – Harvey Firestone, automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
- 1873 – Mahmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, writer, academic and politician (d. 1936)
- 1876 – Walter Sydney Adams, American astronomer (d. 1956)
- 1881 – Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
- 1886 – Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis star (d. 1974)
- 1890 – Yvonne Arnaud, French actress (d. 1958)
- 1890 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1967)
- 1891 – Erik Almlöf, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1971)
- 1893 – Charlotte Bühler, psychologist
- 1894 – Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1898 – Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician (d. 1973)
- 1899 – Martin Lloyd-Jones, Welsh preacher and physician (d. 1981)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1901 – Robert Van de Graaff, physicist, inventor (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
- 1902 – Max Lerner, American educator (d. 1992)
- 1902 – George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
- 1904 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (d. 1977)
- 1908 – Dennis Morgan, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1914 – Harry F. Byrd, Jr., American politician (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Gonzalo Rojas, Chilean poet (d. 2011)
- 1917 – David Bohm, American–born philosopher, physicist and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
- 1918 – Audrey Totter, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1918 – Jean Marchand, Canadian trade union leader and politician (d. 1988)
- 1922 – George Roy Hill, American movie director (d. 2002)
- 1923 – James Leasor, mystery writer
- 1924 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian soldier, lawyer and politician (d. 1980)
- 1924 – Friederike Mayröcker, writer
- 1924 – Charlie Callas, American comedian (d. 2011)
- 1925 – Benito Lorenzo, Italian footballer (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Sir Geoffrey Howe (Lord Howe of Aberavon), British politician (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Kim Young-sam, President of South Korea (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Jim Simpson, American sportscaster (d. 2016)
- 1927 – Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark (d. 2016)
- 1930 – Noel Ferrier, producer and actress
- 1932 – John Hillerman, American actor (d. 2017)
- 1933 – Jean Carnahan, US Senator
- 1934 – Julius Darmaatmadja, Indonesian cardinal
- 1939 – Kathryn Joosten, American actress (d. 2012)
- 1942 – Jean-Claude Trichet, French economist and banker
- 1942 – Bob Hayes, track and field star, American football star (d. 2002)
- 1944 – Bobby Colomby, American drummer and producer
- 1945 – Peter Criss, American musician
- 1945 – Tom Tancredo, American politician
- 1945 – Pierre Bürcher, Swiss bishop
- 1946 – Dick Wolf, American TV drama series creator
- 1946 – Uri Geller, Israeli–British psychic TV presenter
- 1946 – Sonny Perdue, American politician, former Governor of Georgia and 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture
- 1946 – John Spencer, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1947 – Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Kate Atkinson, English writer
- 1951 – Lynne Featherstone, English politician
- 1951 – Peter May, Scottish author and screenwriter
- 1951 – Christopher Le Brun, English painter and sculptor
- 1952 – Jenny Agutter, English actress
- 1952 – Sky Gilbert, Canadian drag queen performer, actor and producer
- 1954 – Michael Badalucco, actor
- 1954 – Sandra Cisneros, American writer
- 1955 – Lonesome Bob, singer, songwriter
- 1955 – Binali Yildirim, Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1955 – Martin Schulz, German politician, President of the European Parliament
- 1956 – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania
- 1957 – Anna Vissi, Greek singer
- 1957 – Billy Bragg, English singer, songwriter
- 1957 – Mike Watt, bassist
- 1958 – Jürgen Raab, German footballer
- 1959 – Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, former Prime Minister of Poland
- 1960 – Nalo Hopkinson, science fiction writer
- 1963 – Infanta Elena of Spain
- 1963 – Mats Gren, Swedish footballer
- 1965 – Rich Gannon, American football quarterback
- 1970 – Nicole DeBoer, actress (_Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_, _The Dead Zone_)
- 1972 – Anders Odden, Norwegian musician
- 1975 – Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer

### From 1976

- 1976 – Aubrey Hoff, American baseball player
- 1976 – Nenad Vuckovic, Croatian footballer
- 1977 – Sonja Aldén, Swedish singer
- 1978 – Andrei Markov, Russian–Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Bouabdellah Tahri, French runner
- 1979 – George Lamb, English television presenter
- 1980 – Ashley Cole, English footballer
- 1980 – Martin Demichelis, Argentine footballer
- 1981 – Julien Benneteau, French tennis player
- 1982 – David Cook, American singer
- 1982 – David Wright, American baseball player
- 1982 – Keny Arkana, French singer and rapper
- 1982 – Mohammed Asif, Pakistani cricketer
- 1983 – Lara Stone, Dutch model
- 1983 – Jonah Hill, American actor
- 1983 – Lucy Pinder, English model and actress
- 1983 – Mapei, Swedish–American singer
- 1987 – Michihiro Yasuda, Japanese footballer
- 1990 – Joanna Levesque, AKA JoJo, American singer
- 1990 – Marta Xargay, Spanish basketball player
- 1991 – Hunter Gomez, American actor
- 1992 – Ksenia Makarova, Russian–American figure skater
- 1995 – Feliks Zembegs, Australian speed cuber
- 1997 – Suzuka Nakamoto, Japanese singer and model
- 1998 – Kylian Mbappé, French footballer

### Up to 1900

- 69 – Vitellius, Roman Emperor
- 217 – Pope Zephyrinus
- 860 – Ethelbald of Wessex (b. 834)
- 910 – King Alfonso III of Leon (b. 848)
- 1022 – Elvira Mendes, Queen of Castile (b. 996)
- 1295 – Margaret of Provence (b. 1221)
- 1355 – Stefan Dusan, Emperor of Serbia (b. 1308)
- 1494 – Matteo Maria Boiardi, Italian poet (b. 1434)
- 1524 – Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician (b. 1460)
- 1539 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506)
- 1552 – Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (b. 1499)
- 1722 – Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
- 1765 – Louis, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XV of France (b. 1729)
- 1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (b. 1692)
- 1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (b. 1729)
- 1812 – Sacagawea, Native American member of the Lewis and Clark expedition (b. 1788)
- 1856 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian revolutionary (b. 1820)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian writer, painter and composer (b. 1863)
- 1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French racing cyclist (b. 1882)
- 1927 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1872)
- 1929 – Emile Loubet, French statesman (b. 1838)
- 1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
- 1941 – Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
- 1944 – Abbas II of Egypt (b. 1874)
- 1950 – Enrico Mizzi, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1885)
- 1961 – Earle Page, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
- 1961 – Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)
- 1968 – Max Brod, Austrian–Israeli writer and composer (b. 1884)
- 1968 – John Steinbeck, American writer (b. 1902)
- 1971 – Roy O. Disney, American entertainment industry executive (b. 1893)
- 1971 – Shigeyoshi Suzuki, Japanese footballer (b. 1902)
- 1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
- 1973 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish politician (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Richard J. Daley, American politician (b. 1902)
- 1982 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish pianist (b. 1887)
- 1989 – Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
- 1994 – Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
- 1997 – Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
- 1998 – Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1909)
- 1998 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist (b. 1916)
- 2000 – Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Bangladeshi statesman and philanthropist (b. 1920)

### From 2001

- 2001 – Leopold Sedar Senghor, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906)
- 2009 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
- 2010 – Brian Hanrahan, British journalist (b. 1949)
- 2011 – Hana Andronikova, Czech writer (b. 1967)
- 2012 – Jimmy McCracklin, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1921)
- 2013 – Nelly Omar, Argentine actress and singer (b. 1911)
- 2014 – John Freeman, English politician, diplomat and broadcaster (b. 1915)
- 2014 – Bob Lanier, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Houston (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Ray Mathews, American football player (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Patricia Elliott, American actress (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Michèle Morgan, French actress (b. 1920)
- 2017 – William Agee, American business executive (b. 1938)
- 2017 – Florence Bjelke-Petersen, Australian politician (b. 1920)
- 2017 – Henryk Cioch, Polish lawyer and politician (b. 1951)
- 2017 – Annie Goetzinger, French comic artist (b. 1951)
- 2017 – Bernard Francis Law, American cardinal (b. 1931)
- 2017 – Red Murrell, American basketball player (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Stan Pilecki, Polish–born Australian rugby player (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Randolph Quirk, British linguist and life peer (b. 1920)
- 2018 – F. W. Bernstein, German poet and cartoonist (b. 1938)
- 2018 – Klaus Hagerup, Norwegian author (b. 1946)
- 2018 – Donald Moffat, English–American actor (b. 1930)
- 2019 – Fazle Hasan Abed, Bangladeshi philanthropist (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Matti Ahde, Finnish politician (b. 1945)
- 2019 – Zilda Cardoso, Brazilian actress (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Thomas Chandy, Indian politician (b. 1947)
- 2019 – Junior Johnson, American racing driver (b. 1931)
- 2019 – Eduard Krieger, Austrian footballer (b. 1946)
- 2019 – Roland Matthes, German swimmer (b. 1950)
- 2019 – Yuri Pshenichnikov, Uzbek–Russian handball player (b. 1940)
- 2019 – Daniel Selvaraj, Indian writer (b. 1938)
- 2020 – Nicette Bruno, Brazilian actress (b. 1933)
- 2020 – Doug Anthony, Australian politician (b. 1929)
- 2020 – Fanny Waterman, British pianist (b. 1920)
- 2020 – Ezra Vogel, American sociologist (b. 1930)

## Observances

- Earliest possible date for the December Solstice (usually on December 21 or 22)
- International Day of Human Solidarity