December - African and Malagasy Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OAMCE) (Organisation Africain et Malagache de Coopération Économique) is established. - Édith Piaf's recording of "Non, je ne regrette rien" is released in France.

December 1 - Patrice Lumumba, the deposed premier of the Republic of the Congo, is arrested by the troops of Colonel Joseph Mobutu. - A Soviet satellite containing live animals and plants is launched into orbit. Due to a malfunction it burns up during re-entry.

December 2 - The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talks with Pope John XXIII for about one hour in Vatican City. This is the first time that any chief of the Anglican Church had ever visited the Pope. - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1.0 million for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees, who had been arriving in Florida at the rate of about 1,000 per week.

December 4 - The admission of Mauritania to the United Nations vetoed by the Soviet Union.

December 5 - Pierre Lagaillarde, who led the insurrections in 1958 and 1960 in Algeria, fails to appear in court in Paris, France. He had reportedly fled with his four fellow defendants to Spain en route to Algeria. - Boynton v. Virginia: The Supreme Court declares that segregation in public transportation is illegal in the United States.

December 7 - The United Nations Security Council is called into session by the Soviet Union in order to consider Soviet demands for the Security Council to seek the immediate release of the former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.

December 8 - For the first time, the Mary Martin Peter Pan is presented as a stand-alone two-hour special on NBC instead of as part of an anthology series. This version, rather than being presented live, is shown on videotape, enabling NBC to repeat it as often as they wish without having to restage it. Although nearly all of the adult actors repeat their original Broadway roles, all of the original children have, ironically, outgrown their roles and are replaced by new actors.

December 9 - French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria is bloodied by European and Muslim rioters in Algeria's largest cities. These riots caused 127 deaths. - The classic British TV series Coronation Street premieres. Planned as a 13-part drama, it becomes such a success among viewers it continues to be shown five times per week through 2012.

December 11 - MGM's The Wizard of Oz is rerun on CBS only a year after its previous telecast, thus beginning the tradition of annual telecasts of the film.

December 12 - The Supreme Court of the United States upholds a lower Federal Court ruling that the State of Louisiana's laws on racial segregation laws are unconstitutional, and overturns them.

December 13 - While Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard leads a military coup against his rule, proclaiming that the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, is the new emperor. - The countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua announce the formation of the Central American Common Market. - The U.S. Navy's Commander Leroy Heath (pilot) and Lieutenant Larry Monroe (bombardier/navigator) establish a world flight-altitude record of 91,450 feet (27,874 m), with payload, in an A-5 Vigilante bomber carrying 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), and better the previous world record by over four miles (6 km).

December 14 - Antoine Gizenga proclaims in Republic of the Congo, that he has taken over as the premier.

December 15 - King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the democratic government there and he takes direct control himself. - King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.

December 16 - Secretary of State Christian Herter announces that the United States will commit five nuclear submarines and eighty Polaris missiles to the defense of the NATO countries by the end of 1963. - New York air disaster: a United Airlines DC-8 collides in mid-air with a TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island in New York City. All 128 passengers and crewmembers on the two airliners, and six people on the ground, are killed.

December 17 - Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia overcome the coup that began on December 13, returning the reins to the Emperor upon his return from a trip to Brazil. The Emperor absolves his own son of any guilt.

December 19 - Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, to become the U.S. Navy's largest aircraft carrier, while she is under construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 50 workers are killed and 150 are injured.

December 27 - France sets off its third A-bomb test at its nuclear weapons testing range near Reggane, Algeria.

December 31 - Last day on which the farthing, a coin first minted in England in the 13th century, is legal tender in the United Kingdom. (source: Wikipedia)