Today in History

Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, heiress apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Recording Industry Association of America files a copyright infringement suit against the file-sharing website Napster.

Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter after a 6-year journey.

Emily Browning, actress, singer, model; won AFI International Award for Best Actress as Violet Baudelaire in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The Reagan Administration predicts a record deficit in 1982 of $109 billion.

The crew of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon, lifts off at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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.

Larry Bird, basketball player for the Boston Celtics.

Tom Waits, singer, songwriter (“Jersey Girl,” “Downtown Train”), musician, actor (Down by Law).

Johnny Bench, pro baseball catcher; twice named National League Most Valuable Player, he was dubbed the greatest catcher in baseball history by ESPN.

The president of the United Mine Workers, John L. Lewis, orders all striking miners back to work.

The U.S. Navy launches USS New Jersey, the largest battleship ever built.

Japanese planes raid Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a surprise attack, bringing the US into WWII.

Ellen Burstyn, actress; won Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974); won Tony for Same Time, Next Year (1975).

A report indicates that Nazis would ensure “Nordic dominance” by sterilizing certain races.

Noam Chomsky, writer, linguist and political activist.

Spartacists call for a German revolution.

The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary with only one dissenting vote in Congress.

Stuart Davis, painter.

Sir Milton Margay, the first prime minister of Sierra Leone.

Ernst Toch, composer and pianist.

Willa Cather, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (O Pioneers!, My Antonia).

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.

Confederate forces surprise an equal number of Union troops at the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas.

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.

Theodor Schwann, German physiologist.

James Madison is elected president in succession of Thomas Jefferson.

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

Otto III takes the throne after his father’s death in Italy. A power struggle between magnates ensues.

Cicero, considered one of the greatest sons of Rome, is assassinated on the orders of Marcus Antonius.