December 7

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

Events:

• 1787 - Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution
• 1903 - Orville Wright flies the first heavier-than-air aircraft.
• 1941 - The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings the United States officially 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, last Apollo moon mission, launched.
• 1975 - Indonesia invades East Timor.
• 1982 - first US execution by lethal injection
• 1988 - 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, nine years after their second fight, meet again, this time in Las Vegas. Both boxers were considered past their primes and the fight wasn't considered to be their best by most observers and critics, but 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
• 1598 - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, artist (+ 1680)
• 1670 - John Aislabie[?], director of the South Sea Company[?]
• 1761 - Marie Tussaud[?], waxwork modeller (+ 1850)
• 1801 - Johann Nestroy[?], dramatist and actor (+ 1862)
• 1863 - Richard Sears[?], department store founder (+ 1914)
• 1873 - Willa Cather, novelist (+ 1947)
• 1887 - Ernst Toch[?], composer (+ 1964)
• 1888 - Joyce Cary[?], author (+ 1957)
• 1905 - Gerard Kuiper, astronomer (+ 1973)
• 1912 - Louis Prima, musician (+ 1978)
• 1915 - Eli Wallach, actor
• 1924 - Mário Soárez[?], politician and President of Portugal 1986-1996
• 1928 - Noam Chomsky, linguist, political writer
• 1932 - Ellen Burstyn, actress
• 1934 - Gordon Parks Jr.[?], director (+ 1979)
• 1942 - Harry Chapin, musician (+ 1981)
• 1947 - Johnny Bench, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1948 - Gary Morris[?], singer, actor
• 1949 - Tom Waits, singer, composer, actor
• 1956 - Larry Bird, basketball player
• 1966 - C. Thomas Howell, actor
• 1987 - Aaron Carter, singer

Deaths:

• 43 BC - Cicero, Roman politician and author
• 283 - St. Eutychian, Pope
• 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

Holidays and Observances:

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

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