- Dec 1 Angola admitted to the UN
Ziaur Rahman
Dec 1 Bangladeshi Army Chief of Staff Ziaur Rahman declares himself Chief Martial Law Administrator and de facto leader
Sex Pistols
Dec 1 Sex Pistols using profanity on TV, gets them branded as "rotten punks"
Castro President
Dec 2 Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
- Dec 3 Patrick J Hillery elected President of Ireland
Pieter Menten Arrested
Dec 6 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten arrested in Zurich, Switzerland
Security Council Endorses Waldheim
Dec 7 UN Security Council endorses Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General for second 5 year term
- Dec 8 Asylum Records releases The Eagles fifth studio album "Hotel California"; it spawns two #1 singles and sells over 30 million copies
- Dec 8 UN General Assembly re-elects Kurt Waldheim Secretary-General
- Dec 8 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
First Nobel Lecture in Mandarin
Dec 10 Samuel C. C. Ting is the first person to deliver a Nobel Prize lecture in Mandarin, during the ceremony to award him and Burton Richter the Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the J/ψ particle
- Dec 10 Wings release triple album "Wings Over America"
Namath's Last Game
Dec 12 Quarterback Joe Namath plays his last game with the NY Jets
- Dec 12 Spaniard Manuel Orantes beats Wojtek Fibak of Poland 5–7, 6–2, 0–6, 7–6, 6–1 to win his first and only season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix tennis title in Houston, Texas
- Dec 13 Golden Gate Bridge District starts ferry service to Larkspur
- Dec 13 Longest non-stop passenger airflight (Sydney to San Francisco 13h 14m)
- Dec 14 Dutch 1st Chamber condemns Dutch Liberal/social dem abortion laws
- Dec 15 Jamaica premier Manley wins elections
- Dec 15 Oil tanker Argo Merchant runs aground on the Nantucket Shoals, spilling 7.6 m million gallons of fuel oil - one of the largest oil spills at sea
- Dec 15 Samoa becomes a member of the UN
- Dec 16 Andrew Young named Ambassador & Chief US Delegate to UN
Finley vs. Kuhn Suit
Dec 16 Charlie Finley's $10 million damage suit against Bowie Kuhn begins
A Star is Born
Dec 18 Second remake of "A Star is Born" film, directed by Frank Pierson and starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, premieres
- Dec 18 Soviet dissident Viktor Bukovskiexchanged for Chile CP-leader Corvalan
- Dec 19 Davis Cup Men's Tennis, Santiago, Chile: Paolo Bertolucci & Adriano Panatta give Italy unassailable 3-0 lead; beat Patricio Cornejo & Jaime Fillol of Chile 6-3, 2-6, 9-7, 6-3; ends, 4-1
- Dec 19 John Lever takes 7-46 in 1st Test Cricket innings, v India Delhi
- Dec 19 Piper Cherokee plane crashes into Baltimore Memorial Stadium upper stands, 10 minutes after Colts lose 40-14 to Pittsburgh Steelers, no one seriously hurt
Brezhnev Honored
Dec 19 Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev receives his 5th Order of Lenin
Rabin Resigns
Dec 20 Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin resigns
- Dec 20 Richard Adler and Will Holt's musical "Music Is", based on William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", opens at St James Theater, NYC; runs for 8 performances
- Dec 21 20th Islander shut-out opponent-Billy Smith 3-0 vs Bruins
- Dec 21 Patricia R Harris named secretary of HUD
- Dec 21 UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
- Dec 21 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Dec 22 "Your Arm's Too Short..." opens at Lyceum NYC for 429 performances
- Dec 22 35 Unification church couples wed in NYC
- Dec 22 East Germany grants rock singer Nina Hagen her request to leave the country, after refusing her stepfather re-entry
- Dec 25 6th Fiesta Bowl: #8 Oklahoma beats Wyoming, 41-7
- Dec 25 Egyptian SS Patria sinks in Red Sea, about 100 killed
- Dec 25 Takeo Fukuda becomes Japanese premier
Raiders Beat Steelers
Dec 26 AFC Championship, Oakland Coliseum: Oakland Raiders beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-7
- Dec 26 NFC Championship, Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington: Minnesota Vikings beat Los Angeles Rams, 24-13
- Dec 26 Richard Adler and Will Holt's musical "Music Is" based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest", starring Christopher Hewitt, and directed by George Abbott, closes at St James Theater, NYC after 8 performances
- Dec 26 The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) is founded.
- Dec 27 Albania constitution goes into effect
Ballon d'Or
Dec 28 Ballon d'Or: Bayern Munich defender Franz Beckenbauer wins title of Europe's best football player for a 2nd time; beats Anderlecht winger Rob Rensenbrink and Dukla Prague goalkeeper Ivo Viktor
- Dec 28 Genie Francis joins "General Hospital" as Laura Vining
Music Premiere
Dec 28 Revival of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's musical "Fiddler on the Roof", starring Zero Mostel, opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 167 performances
- Dec 28 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Winnie Mandela Banished
Dec 28 Winnie Mandela banished in South Africa
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