December 7 in History

Historical Events on December 7

1776 Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, arranges to enter the American military as a major general.

1787 Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1917 World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.

1936 Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton becomes the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.

1941 World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (For Japan's near-simultaneous attacks on Eastern Hemisphere targets, see December 8.)

1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously revoke mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.

1971 Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces the formation of a coalition government with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Deputy Prime Minister.

1972 Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.

1982 In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr., becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.

All Events

Famous Birthdays on December 7

1928 Noam Chomsky

1980 John Terry

1985 Dean Ambrose

1994 Yuzuru Hanyu

All Births

Famous Deaths on December 7

43 BC Cicero

1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor

1993 Félix Houphouët-Boigny

1997 Billy Bremner

All Deaths

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