It was shortly after noon on this day in 1941 when Pres Franklin D Roosevelt went before Congress and asked for a declaration of war. The President’s 10-minute speech, which started out by stating “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” and ended with “So help us God”, was also broadcast to the nation via radio. Members of Congress responded with loud applause and the stamping of feet, and less than an hour later his request was passed with only one dissenting vote. As a tribute to the lives lost at Pearl Harbor, FDR wore a black armband while signing the declaration.
The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “1432 – The first battle between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis is fought near the town of Oszmiana (Ashmyany), launching the most active phase of the Lithuanian Civil War” and the most recent is “2010 – With the second launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.”
A few other things that also took place on this day are:
1886 – 25 unions band together and form the American Federation of Labor.
1961 – First single by the Beach Boys is released.
1993 – Pres Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement into law.
Happy birthday to Ian Somerhalder, Sinead O’Connor, Phil Collen, Kim Basinger, and Gregg Allman.