December 7
December 7 is the 341rd day (342th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 24 days remaining.
Events
- 1732 - The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London.
- 1776 - Marquis de Lafayette enters the American military as a major general.
- 1787 - Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1815 - Michel Ney, Marshal of France, is executed by firing squad, after been convicted of treason for his support of Napoleon Bonaparte.
- 1917 - World War I: United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1941 - The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor officially brings the United States into World War II.
- 1946 - A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia kills 119 people.
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The government of the Republic of China moves from Nanking to Taipei.
- 1962 - Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his power to advisory and legislative councils.
- 1965 - Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.
- 1966 - A fire at an army barracks in Erzurum, Turkey kills 68 people.
- 1972 - Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew take The Blue Marble image as they leave the Earth.
- 1975 - Indonesia invades East Timor.
- 1982 - First US execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas.
- 1983 - Two jetliners collide at a Madrid airport, killing 93 people.
- 1987 - PSA Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.
- 1988 - In Armenia an earthquake 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
- 1988 - Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
- 1989 - In their third and final fight, Sugar Ray Leonard retains the WBC Super Middleweight championship of the world over Roberto Duran.
- 1993 - South Africa transitional executive council established
- 1995 - The Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.
- 2003 - The Conservative Party of Canada is officially recognized after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
- 2004 - Hamid Karzai is inaugurated as president of Afghanistan.
- 2004 - John Kufuor is re-elected as president of Ghana.
- 2006 - Windows Vista is scheduled to be released.
Births
- 521 - Saint Columba, Irish Christian missionary to Scotland (d. 597)
- 1545 - Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary I of Scotland (d. 1567)
- 1561 - Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (d. 1625)
- 1598 - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian artist (d. 1680)
- 1637 - Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (d. 1710)
- 1670 - John Aislabie, English director of the South Sea Company (d. 1742)
- 1761 - Marie Tussaud, museum proprietress and waxwork modeler (d. 1850)
- 1764 - Claude Victor-Perrin, duc de Belluno, French marshal (d. 1841)
- 1784 - Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet (d. 1842)
- 1801 - Johann Nestroy, Austrian dramatist and actor (d. 1862)
- 1810 - Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (d. 1882)
- 1810 - Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist (d. 1894)
- 1823 - Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (d. 1891)
- 1847 - George Grossmith, English actor and comic writer (d. 1912)
- 1860 - Sir Joseph Cook, sixth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1947)
- 1863 - Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (d. 1945)
- 1863 - Richard Sears, American department store founder (d. 1914)
- 1873 - Willa Cather, American novelist (d. 1947)
- 1879 - Rudolf Friml, American composer (d. 1972)
- 1887 - Ernst Toch, Austrian composer (d. 1964)
- 1888 - Joyce Cary, Irish author (d. 1957)
- 1888 - Hamilton Fish, American politician (d. 1991)
- 1903 - Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician (d. 1987)
- 1904 - Konstantin Sokolsky, Russian singer
- 1905 - Gerard Kuiper, Dutch-born astronomer (d. 1973)
- 1910 - Louis Prima, American musician (d. 1978)
- 1912 - Daniel Jones, Welsh composer
- 1915 - Eli Wallach, American actor
- 1922 - Howard Zinn, American historian and activist
- 1924 - Mário Soares, President of Portugal
- 1927 - Helen Watts, Welsh contralto
- 1928 - Noam Chomsky, American linguist and political writer
- 1932 - Ellen Burstyn, American actress
- 1942 - Harry Chapin, American musician (d. 1981)
- 1942 - Peter Tomarken, American game show host
- 1943 - Bernard C. Parks, former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.
- 1944 - Daniel Chorzempa, American organist
- 1945 - Marion Rung, Finnish singer
- 1947 - Johnny Bench, baseball player
- 1948 - Gary Morris, singer and actor
- 1948 - Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
- 1949 - Tom Waits, American singer, composer, and actor
- 1954 - Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
- 1956 - Larry Bird, American basketball player
- 1966 - C. Thomas Howell, American actor
- 1967 - Tino Martinez, baseball player
- 1972 - Hermann Maier, Austrian ski diver
- 1971 - Chasey Lain, American actress
- 1973 - Terrell Owens, American football star
- 1974 - Nicole Appleton, Canadian singer, member of british band all saints
- 1975 - Jamie Clapham, English footballer
- 1980 - John Terry, English footballer
- 1987 - Aaron Carter, American singer
- 1988 - Emily Browning, Australian actress
- 1993 - Anna-sophia Robb, American actress
Deaths
- 43 BC - Cicero, Roman politician and author (b. 106 BC)
- 283 - Pope Eutychian
- 1254 - Pope Innocent IV
- 1279 - King Boleslaus V of Poland (b. 1226)
- 1295 - Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, English politician (b. 1243)
- 1498 - Alexander Hegius von Heek, German humanist
- 1562 - Adrian Willaert, Flemish composer
- 1632 - Emperor Sissinios of Ethiopia (b. 1607)
- 1649 - Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1606)
- 1672 - Richard Bellingham, Massachusetts colonial magistrate (b. 1592)
- 1683 - John Oldham, English poet (smallpox) (b. 1653)
- 1683 - Algernon Sydney, English politician (b. 1623)
- 1723 - Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect (b. 1677)
- 1725 - Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor (b. 1661)
- 1775 - Charles Saunders, British admiral
- 1793 - Joseph Bara, French Revolution child-hero (b. 1780)
- 1815 - Michel Ney, French marshall (executed) (b. 1769)
- 1817 - William Bligh, British naval officer (b. 1745)
- 1874 - Constantin von Tischendorf, German biblical scholar (b. 1815)
- 1902 - Thomas Nast, German cartoonist (b. 1840)
- 1906 - Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1833)
- 1947 - Nicholas M. Butler, American president of Columbia University, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1862)
- 1956 - Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887)
- 1970 - Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
- 1975 - Thornton Wilder, American playwright (b. 1897)
- 1978 - Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist (b. 1886)
- 1985 - Robert Graves, English author (b. 1895)
- 1985 - Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1915)
- 1990 - Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1993 - Félix Houphouët-Boigny, President of Côte d'Ivoire (b. 1905)
- 1993 - Wolfgang Paul, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
- 2003 - Carl F. H. Henry American theologian and publisher (b. 1913)
- 2003 - Azie Taylor Morton, Treasurer of the United States (b. 1936)
- 2003 - Raúl Vale, Venezuelan entertainer (b. 1944)
- 2004 - Frederick Fennell, American conductor (b. 1914)
- 2004 - Jerry Scoggins, American singer (b. 1913)
Holidays and observances
- United States: Pearl Harbor Day (observance)
External links
December 6 - December 8 - November 7 - January 7 -- listing of all days