On December 9, ...

... 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted and opened for signature the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Convention, which entered into force on January 12, 1951, now has 133 states parties. I"ve written about its drafting history, as well as the abiding problem of defining groups protected under the convention, here; IntLawGrrl Beth Van Schaack's discussed similar issues here.
... 1948, in an address that's depicted at right and can be read and heard here, former 1st Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, as head of the U.S. delegation, spoke to the U.N. General Assembly in favor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that she had helped to draft. She said in part:

This Declaration is based upon the spiritual fact that man must have freedom in which to develop his full stature and through common effort to raise the level of human dignity. We have much to do to fully achieve and to assure the rights set forth in this Declaration. But having them put before us with the moral backing of 58 nations will be a great step forward.
As we here bring to fruition our labors on this Declaration of Human Rights, we must at the same time rededicate ourselves to the unfinished task which lies before us. We can now move on with new courage and inspiration to the completion of an international covenant on human rights and of measures for the implementation of
human rights.

The text would be adopted the next day.
... 1954, U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) was born in Warrensburg, Missouri.