Today in history

On Dec. 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the 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 1842 the New York Philharmonic gave its first concert.

In 1863 retailer R.W. Sears, co-founder of Sears, Roebuck & Co., was born in Stewartville, Minn.

In 1873 novelist Willa Cather was born near Winchester, Va.

In 1888 novelist Joyce Cary was born in Londonderry in present-day Northern Ireland.

In 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.

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 ArmyNavy 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 won, 21-15.)

In 1972 America’s last moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral. Also in 1972 Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant who was then shot dead by her bodyguards.

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