The Alpha Chi Sigma fraternity was founded on December 11, 1902, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron, inventor of the Mai Tai, among other drinks, was born on December 10, 1902.

Margaret Hamilton, the actress best known for her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" was born on December 9, 1902, in Cleveland, Ohio.

On December 8, 1902, Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical called Fin Dal Principio (On the Education of the Clergy)

Thomas Nast, America's greatest political cartoonist, who popularized images of the Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, Uncle Sam, and Santa Claus, died on December 7, 1902, in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Alice Elvira Freeman Palmer, an American educator and president of Wellesley College, died on December 6, 1902, in Paris.

U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) was born on December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina.