Today is Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025 — the 341st day of the year. There are 24 days left in 2025.
On this date in history:
2024 — Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris was reopened to the public on Dec. 7 after a major restoration that followed the devastating 2019 fire. The ceremony drew world leaders and widespread celebration as the Gothic landmark welcomed visitors again.
Other notable events on Dec. 7:
1787 — Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1941 — Japan carried out a surprise air attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing more than 2,300 Americans; the United States declared war on Japan the next day.
1972 — Apollo 17, the most recent U.S. crewed lunar mission to date, launched from Cape Canaveral.
1982 — Charlie Brooks Jr. became the first person executed by lethal injection in the United States, at a prison in Huntsville, Texas.
1988 — A powerful earthquake struck northern Armenia (the Spitak quake), killing at least 25,000 people and causing widespread destruction.
1993 — A mass shooting on a Long Island Rail Road train in New York left six dead and 19 injured.
2004 — Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan’s first president chosen by a popular vote.
2018 — James Alex Fields Jr., who drove his car into counterprotesters at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Virginia, was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of Heather Heyer and later received a sentence of life plus additional years.
Notable birthdays observed today:
Noam Chomsky, 97; Ellen Burstyn, 93; Johnny Bench, 78; Tom Waits, 76; Sen. Susan M. Collins of Maine, 73; Larry Bird, 69; Jeffrey Wright, 60; C. Thomas Howell, 59; Terrell Owens, 52; Alan Faneca, 49; Shiri Appleby, 47; Sara Bareilles, 46; Nicholas Hoult, 36; Pete Alonso, 31; Torri Huske, 23.
