At any moment, groundbreaking events could happen, thus becoming historic. On December 7, there were numerous events that made it to the books of history. Check them out!
- 1787 – Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. constitution.
- 1836 – Martin Van Buren was elected the 8th President of the United States.
- 1907 – Eugene Corri became the first referee to officiate from inside a boxing ring.
- 1909 – Inventor Leo Baekeland patented the first thermo-setting plastic, Bakelite.
- 1912 – Bust of Queen Nefertiti was found in El-Amarna, Egypt.
- 1925 – Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 150-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 25 and 2/5 seconds.
- 1937 – Red Sox acquired the contract of 19-year-old baseball player Ted Williams.
- 1941 – Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.
- 1965 – Pope Paul VI & Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously lifted mutual ex-communications that led to the split of 2 churches in 1054.
- 1971 – Libya announced the nationalization of British Petroleum’s assets.
- 1972 – Last U.S. moon mission, Apollo 17 was launched at Cape Canaveral.
- 1990 – The founder of CNN Ted Turner & Jane Fonda announced their engagement.
- 1992 – The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Mississippi abortion law which, required women to get counseling and then wait 24 hours before terminating their pregnancies.
- 1993 – Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders suggested that the U.S. government study the impact of drug legalization.
- 1994 – Radio personality Howard Stern talked a man out of attempting suicide.
- 1995 – American rock band “The Grateful Dead” broke up.
- 1996 – The longest-ever space shuttle Columbia flight of 17 days, 15 hours, and 54 minutes returned.
- 1999 – A U.S. federal grand jury indicted a former convict in the 1995 disappearance of atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair.
- 2002 – Two Van Gogh paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- 2003 – A 12-inch by 26-inch painting of a river landscape and sailing vessel by Martin Johnson Heade was sold for $1 million.