Updated December 6, 2012, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II. More than 2,300 Americans were killed.
On Dec. 7, 1873, Willa Cather, the American novelist famous for her descriptions of life on the American frontier, was born. Following her death on April 24, 1947, her obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1787 Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1796 Electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States. 1836 Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States. 1842 The New York Philharmonic gave its first concert. 1963 Videotaped instant replay was used for the first time in a live sports telecast during the Army-Navy football game on CBS. 1972 America’s last moon mission was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral. 1982 A U.S. prisoner was executed by injection for the first time, in Huntsville, Texas. 1985 Retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart died at age 70. 1988 An earthquake in northern Armenia claimed an estimated 25,000 lives. 1993 A gunman opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing six people and wounding 17. (Colin Ferguson was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison.) 1995 A 746-pound probe from the Galileo spacecraft hurtled into Jupiter’s atmosphere, sending back data to the mothership before it was destroyed. 2001 Taliban forces abandoned their last bastion in Afghanistan, fleeing the southern city of Kandahar. 2002 Iraq denied it had weapons of mass destruction in a declaration to the United Nations. 2004 Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president. 2011 Ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Football player Terrell Owens turns 39 years old today.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, turns 60 years old today.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
1915 Eli Wallach, Actor, turns 97 1932 Ellen Burstyn, Actress, turns 80 1937 Thad Cochran, U.S. senator, R-Miss., turns 75 1940 Gerry Cheevers, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 72 1940 Carole Simpson, Broadcast journalist, turns 72 1947 Johnny Bench, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 65 1949 Tom Waits, Rock singer, actor, turns 63 1956 Larry Bird, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 56 1958 Edd Hall, Actor, announcer, turns 54 1965 Jeffrey Wright, Actor, turns 47 1966 C. Thomas Howell, Actor, turns 46 1979 Sara Bareilles, Singer, turns 33 Historic Birthdays
Willa Cather 12/7/1873 – 4/24/1947 American novelist. Go to obituary »
81 Gian Lorenzo Bernini 12/7/1598 – 11/28/1680
Italian sculptor57 Allan Cunningham 12/7/1784 – 10/30/1842
Scottish poet86 Sir Joseph Cook 12/7/1860 – 7/30/1947
Australian prime minister (1913-14)81 Pietro Mascagni 12/7/1863 – 8/2/1945
Italian operatic composer50 R.W. Sears 12/7/1863 – 9/28/1914
American merchant and founder of Sears, Roebuck retail company92 Rudolf Friml 12/7/1879 – 11/12/1972
American operetta composer102 Hamilton Fish 12/7/1888 – 1/18/1991
American politician51 Joyce Cary 12/7/1888 – 12/18/1957
English novelist51 Heywood Broun 12/7/1888 – 12/18/1939
American journalist
