TODAY IN HISTORY – DEC. 7
Associated Press Worldstream
December 7, 2006 Thursday
Today is Thursday, Dec. 7, the 341st day of 2006. There are 24 days
left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
In 1988, a major earthquake in the Soviet Union devastated northern
Armenia; official estimates put the death toll at 25,000.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked American and British
territories and possessions in the Pacific, including the home base
of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
On this date:
In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the
U.S. Constitution.
In 1796, electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the
United States.
In 1836, Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the
United States.
In 1946, fire broke out at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta; the blaze
killed 119 people, including hotel founder W. Frank Winecoff.
In 1963, during the Army-Navy game, videotaped instant replay was
used for the first time in a live sports telecast as CBS re-showed
a one-yard touchdown run by Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh. (Navy
beat Army, 21-15.)
In 1972, America’s last moon mission to date was launched as Apollo
17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In 1972, Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand E.
Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant who was
then shot dead by her bodyguards.
In 1983, in Madrid, Spain, an Aviaco DC-9 collided on a runway with
an Iberia Air Lines Boeing 727 that was accelerating for takeoff,
killing all 42 people aboard the DC-9 and 51 aboard the Iberia jet.
In 1987, 43 people were killed after a gunman aboard a Pacific
Southwest Airlines jetliner in California apparently opened fire on
a fellow passenger and the two pilots, causing the plane to crash.
In 1988, a major earthquake in the Soviet Union devastated northern
Armenia; official estimates put the death toll at 25,000.
Ten years ago: The space shuttle Columbia landed at the Kennedy Space
Center, ending a nearly 18-day mission marred by a jammed hatch that
prevented two planned spacewalks.
Five years ago: Taliban forces abandoned their last bastion in
Afghanistan, fleeing the southern city of Kandahar. Americans held
services on the 60th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. The
space shuttle Endeavour docked with the international space station,
delivering a new three-member crew to relieve a crew in place since
August. The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 percent in November,
the highest in six years.
One year ago: Federal air marshals shot and killed an airline passenger
at Miami International Airport after he falsely claimed to have a bomb.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Eli Wallach is 91. Bluegrass singer Bobby
Osborne is 75. Actress Ellen Burstyn is 74. Senate Appropriations
Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is 69. Broadcast journalist
Carole Simpson is 66. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench is 59.
Country singer Gary Morris is 58. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 57.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chairwoman
Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, is 54. Actress Priscilla Barnes is
51. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird is 50. Former "Tonight Show"
announcer Edd Hall is 48. Rock musician Tim Butler (The Psychedelic
Furs) is 48. Actor C. Thomas Howell is 40. Pop singer Nicole Appleton
(All Saints) is 31. Actress Shiri Appleby is 28.
Singer Aaron Carter is 19.
Thought for Today: "Any frontal attack on ignorance is bound to fail
because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious
possession their ignorance." Hendrik Willem van Loon, Dutch-American
journalist and lecturer (1882-1944).
From: Baghdasarian