| 137071 | December 4 | Event | 1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the British brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged. |
| 137072 | December 4 | Event | 1875 – Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison. He will later be recaptured in Spain. |
| 137073 | December 4 | Event | 1881 – The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published. |
| 137074 | December 4 | Event | 1893 – First Matabele War: A patrol of 34 British South Africa Company soldiers is ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors on the Shangani River in Matabeleland. |
| 137075 | December 4 | Event | 1909 – In Canadian football, the First Grey Cup game is played. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeat the Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club, 26–6. |
| 137076 | December 4 | Event | 1909 – The Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, the oldest surviving professional hockey franchise in the world, is founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association. |
| 137077 | December 4 | Event | 1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office. |
| 137078 | December 4 | Event | 1921 – The first Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial against Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle ends in a hung jury. |
| 137079 | December 4 | Event | 1937 – The first issue of the children's comic The Dandy is published. |
| 137080 | December 4 | Event | 1939 – World War II: HMS Nelson is struck by a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940. |
| 137081 | December 4 | Event | 1942 – World War II: Carlson's patrol during the Guadalcanal Campaign ends. |
| 137082 | December 4 | Event | 1943 – World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile. |
| 137083 | December 4 | Event | 1943 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States. |
| 137084 | December 4 | Event | 1945 – By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate approves United States participation in the United Nations. (The UN had been established on October 24, 1945.) |
| 137085 | December 4 | Event | 1954 – The first Burger King is opened in Miami. |
| 137086 | December 4 | Event | 1956 – The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time. |
| 137087 | December 4 | Event | 1967 – Vietnam War: U.S. and South Vietnamese forces engage Viet Cong troops in the Mekong Delta. |
| 137088 | December 4 | Event | 1969 – Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers. |
| 137089 | December 4 | Event | 1971 – The United Nations Security Council calls an emergency session to consider the deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan. |
| 137090 | December 4 | Event | 1971 – The Indian Navy attacks the Pakistan Navy and Karachi. |
| 137091 | December 4 | Event | 1971 – The Montreux Casino in Switzerland is set ablaze by someone wielding a flare gun during a Frank Zappa concert the incident would be noted in the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water". |
| 137092 | December 4 | Event | 1971 – "The Troubles": The Ulster Volunteer Force bombs a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, killing 15 civilians and wounding 17. It was the city's highest death toll from a single incident during the conflict. |
| 137093 | December 4 | Event | 1975 – Suriname joins the United Nations. |
| 137094 | December 4 | Event | 1977 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire. |
| 137095 | December 4 | Event | 1977 – Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing 100. |
| 137096 | December 4 | Event | 1978 – Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco's first female mayor. (She will serve until January 8, 1988.) |
| 137097 | December 4 | Event | 1979 – The Hastie fire in Hull kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee. |
| 137098 | December 4 | Event | 1980 – English rock group Led Zeppelin officially disbands, following the death of drummer John Bonham on September 25. |
| 137099 | December 4 | Event | 1981 – South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei "homeland" (not recognized by any government outside South Africa). |
| 137100 | December 4 | Event | 1982 – The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution. |