Today is Friday, Dec. 7, the 341st day of 2018. There are 24 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as part of its plan to conquer Southeast Asian territories; the raid, which claimed some 2,400 American lives, prompted the United States to declare war against Japan the next day.
On this date:
In 43 B.C., Roman statesman and scholar Marcus Tullius Cicero was slain at the order of the Second Triumvirate.
In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
In 1842, the New York Philharmonic performed its first concert.
In 1911, China abolished the requirement that men wear their hair in a queue, or ponytail.
In 1917, during World War I, the United States declared war on Austria-Hungary.
Today’s birthdays: Linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky is 90. Bluegrass singer Bobby Osborne is 87.
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).
— Associated Press
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