Wikipedia: December 7

December 7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

December 7 is the 341st day (342nd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 24 days remaining.

Events:

History

1732 - The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London.
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 by the Bourbon Restoration government of Louis XVIII for his support of Napoleon Bonaparte during the Hundred Days.
1941 - The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor officially brings the United States into World War II.
1965 - Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054
1972 - Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched.
1975 - Indonesia invades East Timor.
1982 - First US execution by lethal injection is carried out.
1988 - In Armenia an earthquake 6.9 on the Richter scale killed nearly 25.000, injured 15.000 and left 400.000 persons homeless. Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
1989 - In the third and final installment of their historic boxing trilogy, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran fight in Las Vegas; Leonard retains the WBC Super Middleweight championship of the world with a 12 round decision.
1993 - South African transitional executive council established

Births:

521 - Saint Columba, Christian missionary (d. 597)
1598 - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, artist (d. 1680)
1637 - Bernardo Pasquini, composer (d. 1710)
1670 - John Aislabie, director of the South Sea Company (d. 1742)
1761 - Marie Tussaud, museum proprietres and waxwork modeller (d. 1850)
1784 - Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet (d. 1842)
1801 - Johann Nestroy, dramatist and actor (d. 1862)
1860 - Sir Joseph Cook, Australian prime minister (d. 1947)
1863 - Pietro Mascagni, composer (d. 1945)
1863 - Richard Sears, department store founder (d. 1914)
1873 - Willa Cather, novelist (d. 1947)
1879 - Rudolf Friml, American composer (d. 1972)
1887 - Ernst Toch, composer (d. 1964)
1888 - Joyce Cary, author (d. 1957)
1888 - Hamilton Fish, American politician (d. 1991)
1905 - Gerard Kuiper, astronomer (d. 1973)
1912 - Daniel Jones, composer
1912 - Louis Prima, musician (d. 1978)
1915 - Eli Wallach, actor
1924 - Mário Soares, President of Portugal 1986-96
1928 - Noam Chomsky, linguist, political writer
1932 - Ellen Burstyn, actress
1934 - Gordon Parks Jr, director (d. 1979)
1942 - Harry Chapin, musician (d. 1981)
1942 - Peter Tomarken, game show host
1944 - Daniel Chorzempa, organist
1947 - Johnny Bench, Baseball Hall of Famer
1948 - Gary Morris, singer, actor
1949 - Tom Waits, singer, composer, actor
1956 - Larry Bird, Basketball Hall of Famer
1966 - C. Thomas Howell, actor
1966 - Carl Ververs, also known as Carl August Simon, Dutch artist
1987 - Aaron Carter, singer
2003 - Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands

Deaths:

43 BC - Cicero, Roman politician and author
283 - St. Eutychian, Pope
1815 - Michel Ney, a marshal of the French army, executed by firing squad
1894 - Ferdinand Marie, French diplomat and engineer
1902 - Thomas Nast, cartoonist
1956 - Huntley Gordon, pioneer Hollywood actor
1970 - Rube Goldberg, cartoonist
1975 - Thornton Wilder, playwright
1985 - Potter Stewart, retired United States Supreme Court justice
1990 - Joan Bennett, actress
1993 - Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Côte d'Ivoire political leader
2003 - Carl F. H. Henry American Evangelical theologian, founder of Christianity Today magazine (90 years)

Holidays and Observances:

US: Pearl Harbor Day

See Also:

December 6 - December 8 - November 7 - January 7 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December