| 43 BC |
|
Cicero, considered one of the greatest sons of Rome, is assassinated on the orders of Marcus Antonius. |
| 983 |
|
Otto III takes the throne after his father's death in Italy. A power struggle between magnates ensues. |
| 1787 |
|
Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States. |
| 1808 |
|
James Madison is elected president in succession of Thomas Jefferson. |
| 1861 |
|
USS Santiago de Cuba, under Commander Daniel B. Ridgely, halts the British schooner Eugenia Smith and captures J.W. Zacharie, a New Orleans merchant and Confederate purchasing agent. |
| 1862 |
|
Confederate forces surprise an equal number of Union troops at the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas. |
| 1863 |
|
Outlaw George Ives, an alleged member of an outlaw gang known as the "Innocents," robs and then kills Nick Thiebalt in the Ruby Valley of what would become Montana. |
| 1917 |
|
The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary with only one dissenting vote in Congress. |
| 1918 |
|
Spartacists call for a German revolution. |
| 1931 |
|
A report indicates that Nazis would ensure "Nordic dominance" by sterilizing certain races. |
| 1941 |
|
Japanese planes raid Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack. |
| 1942 |
|
The U.S. Navy launches USS New Jersey, the largest battleship ever built. |
| 1946 |
|
The president of the United Mine Workers, John L. Lewis, orders all striking miners back to work. |
| 1949 |
|
The A.F.L. and the C.I.O. organize a non-Communist international trade union. |
| 1970 |
|
Poland and West Germany sign a pact renouncing the use of force to settle disputes, recognizing the Oder-Neisse River as Poland's western frontier, and acknowledging the transfer to Poland of 40,000 square miles of former German territory. |
| 1972 |
|
The crew of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon, lifts off at Cape Canaveral, Florida. |
| 1981 |
|
The Reagan Administration predicts a record deficit in 1982 of $109 billion. |
| 1988 |
|
An earthquake in Armenia kills an estimated 100,000 people. |
| Born on December 7 |
| 1810 |
|
Theodor Schwann, German physiologist. |
| 1873 |
|
Willa Cather, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (O Pioneers!, My Antonia). |
| 1888 |
|
Joyce Cary, Irish-born novelist (The Horse's Mouth). |
| 1888 |
|
Ernst Toch, composer and pianist. |
| 1895 |
|
Sir Milton Margay, the first prime minister of Sierra Leone. |
| 1896 |
|
Stuart Davis, painter. |
| 1928 |
|
Noam Chomsky, writer, linguist and political activist. |
| 1956 |
|
Larry Bird, basketball player for the Boston Celtics. |
Loading ...
