TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT Dec. 7, 1941

The Empire of Japan launched an air raid on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as well as targets in Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippines and Wake Island; the United States declared war against Japan the next day.

ON THIS DATE 1909

Chemist Leo H. Baekeland received a U.S. patent for Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic.

2018

The man who drove his car into counterprotesters at a 2017 white nationalist rally in Virginia was convicted of first-degree murder; a state jury rejected defense arguments that James Alex Fields Jr. acted in self-defense.