Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
December 7
| 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. | |
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