Today in History: December 7, Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

On Dec. 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched an air raid on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The United States declared war against Japan the following day.

Also on this date:

In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1972, America’s last crewed moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral.

In 1982, convicted murderer Charlie Brooks Jr. became the first U.S. prisoner to be executed by lethal injection, at a prison in Huntsville, Texas.

In 1988, a major earthquake in the Soviet Union devastated northern Armenia, killing at least 25,000 people.

In 1993, six people were killed and 19 wounded in a mass shooting aboard a Long Island Rail Road train in New York.

In 2004, Hamid Karzai (HAH’-mihd KAHR’-zeye) was sworn in as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president.

In 2018, James Alex Fields Jr., who drove his car into a crowd of counterdemonstrators at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Virginia, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Heather Heyer, an anti-racism activist. He was later sentenced on that and other convictions to life in prison plus 419 years.

In 2024, the newly-restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was reopened to the public after a devastating blaze nearly destroyed the beloved Gothic masterpiece in 2019. World leaders attended the reopening ceremony amid great fanfare and celebration.

Today’s Birthdays: Linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky is 97. Actor Ellen Burstyn is 93. Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench is 78. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 76. Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins of Maine is 73. Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird is 69. Actor Jeffrey Wright is 60. Actor C. Thomas Howell is 59. Football Hall of Famer Terrell Owens is 52. Football Hall of Famer Alan Faneca is 49. Actor Shiri Appleby is 47. Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (bah-REHL’-es) is 46. Actor Nicholas Hoult is 36. MLB All-Star Pete Alonso is 31. Olympic swimming gold medalist Torri Huske is 23.