TODAY IN HISTORY

Saturday, December  07, 2013 AP Highlight in History:  On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked the home base of the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, drawing the United States into World War II. More than 2,300 Americans were killed.   AP Photo/U.S. Navy
On this date in: 1787 Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1796 Electors chose John Adams to be the second president of the United States. 1836 Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States. 1842 The New York Philharmonic gave its first concert. 1963 Videotaped instant replay was used for the first time in a live sports telecast during the Army-Navy football game on CBS. 1972 America's last moon mission was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral. 1982 A U.S. prisoner was executed by injection for the first time, in Huntsville, Texas. 1985 Retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart died at age 70. 1988 An earthquake in northern Armenia claimed an estimated 25,000 lives. 1993 A gunman opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing six people and wounding 17. (Colin Ferguson was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison.) 1995 A 746-pound probe from the Galileo spacecraft hurtled into Jupiter's atmosphere, sending back data to the mothership before it was destroyed. AP Photo 2001 Taliban forces abandoned their last bastion in Afghanistan, fleeing the southern city of Kandahar. 2002 Iraq denied it had weapons of mass destruction in a declaration to the United Nations. 2004 Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan's first popularly elected president. 2011 Ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption.		Video HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS DAY IN HISTORY Today's Birthdays: Football player Terrell Owens turns 40 years old today. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Name Profession Age Eli Wallach Actor 98 Ellen Burstyn Actress 81 Thad Cochran U.S. senator, R-Miss. 76 Gerry Cheevers Hockey Hall of Famer 73 Carole Simpson Broadcast journalist 73 Johnny Bench Baseball Hall of Famer 66 Tom Waits Rock singer, actor 64 Larry Bird Basketball Hall of Famer 57 Edd Hall Actor, announcer 55 Jeffrey Wright Actor 48 C. Thomas Howell Actor 47 Sara Bareilles Singer 34 Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, turns 61 years old today. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite