December 7

Events

• 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.
• 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.
• 1941 - World War II: The Japanese attack Hong Kong
• 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 formerly autocratic power to several 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.
• 1988 - In Armenia an earthquake 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25.000, injures 15.000 and leaves 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 Africa transitional executive council established
• 2004 - Hamid Karzai is inaugurated as president of Afghanistan.
• 2004 - John Kufuor is re-elected as president of Ghana.
  

  Births

• 521 - Saint Columba, Irish Christian missionary to Scotland (d. 597)
• 1598 - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian artist (d. 1680)
• 1637 - Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (d. 1710)
• 1670 - John Aislabie, director of the South Sea Company (d. 1742)
• 1761 - Marie Tussaud, museum proprietress and waxwork modeller (d. 1850)
• 1784 - Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet (d. 1842)
• 1801 - Johann Nestroy, dramatist and actor (d. 1862)
• 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, department store founder (d. 1914)
• 1873 - Willa Cather, American 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)
• 1903 - Danilo Blanusa, Croatian mathematician (d. 1987)
• 1904 - Konstantin Sokolsky, Russian singer
• 1905 - Gerard Kuiper, astronomer (d. 1973)
• 1910 - Louis Prima, musician (d. 1978)
• 1912 - Daniel Jones, composer
• 1915 - Eli Wallach, actor
• 1924 - Mário Soares, President of Portugal
• 1927 - Helen Watts, Welsh contralto
• 1928 - Noam Chomsky, American linguist and 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
• 1945 - Marion Rung, Finnish singer
• 1947 - Johnny Bench, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1948 - Gary Morris, singer and actor
• 1949 - Tom Waits, singer, composer, and actor
• 1956 - Larry Bird, Basketball Hall of Famer
• 1966 - C. Thomas Howell, actor
• 1972 - Hermann Maier, Austrian ski driver
• 1973 - Chasey Lain, actress
• 1973 - Terrell Owens, American football star
• 1987 - Aaron Carter, singer
• 1988 - Emily Browning, Australian actress
• 2003 - Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands

  Deaths

• 43 BC - Cicero, Roman politician and author (b. 106 BC)
• 283 - St. Eutychian, Pope
• 1254 - Pope Innocent IV
• 1632 - Sissinios, Emperor of Ethiopia
• 1683 - John Oldham, English poet (b. 1653)
• 1793 - Joseph Bara, French Revolution child-hero (b. 1780), executed by enemies
• 1815 - Michel Ney, a marshal of the French army, executed by firing squad
• 1817 - William Bligh, British naval officer
• 1874 - Constantin von Tischendorf, German Biblical scholar (b. 1815)
• 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, United States Supreme Court justice
• 1985 - Robert Graves, author
• 1990 - Joan Bennett, actress
• 1993 - Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d'Ivoire political leader
• 2003 - Carl F. H. Henry American Evangelical theologian, founder of Christianity Today magazine
• 2003 - Azie Taylor Morton, Treasurer of the United States
• 2003 - Raúl Vale, Venezuelan-Mexican entertainer
• 2004 - Jerry Scoggins, country singer (b. 1913)
  

  Holidays and observances

• United States: Pearl Harbor Day (observance)
  

  External links

• BBC: On This Day

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