Timeline December 6 to 8

December 6
343   Saint Nicholas died. (b. 270)
1876  Fred Duesenberg, German-born American automobile maker, was born.
1877  Thomas Edison, using his new phonograph, makes one of the earliest recordings of a human voice, reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
1896  Ira Gershwin, American lyricist of Broadway musicals and films, was born.
1917  Halifax Explosion: In Canada, a munitions explosion kills more than 1,900 people and destroys part of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1957  America's first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit blew up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
2001  The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.

December 7
1598  Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor, was born.
1836  Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth president of the United States.
1863  Richard W. Sears, American merchant and founder of Sears, Roebuck retail company, was born.
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.

December 8
65 BC Horace, Roman poet was born. (d. 8 BC)
1542  Mary Queen of Scots, was born.
1765  Eli Whitney, American inventor of the cotton gin, was born.
1925  Sammy Davis Jr., the American performer (song, dance and comedy), was born.
1941  The United States entered World War II as Congress declared war against Japan one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.