This Year in History:
2007
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
On January 4, 2007, John Boehner handed the speaker of the House gavel over to Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic Representative from California. With the passing of the gavel, she became…
On January 9, 2007, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone—a touchscreen mobile phone with an iPod, camera and Web‑browsing capabilities, among other features—at the Macworld convention in San…
On January 19, 2007, Beijing, China, the capital city of the planet’s most populous nation, gets its first drive‑through McDonald’s restaurant. The opening ceremony for the new two‑story fast‑food eatery,…
In a long‑anticipated challenge to sites like YouTube, two entertainment giants—News Corporation and NBC Universal—announce a high‑stakes internet venture on March 22, 2007. According to the terms of the deal,…
On April 4, 2007, syndicated talk radio host Don Imus ignites a firestorm after making racially disparaging remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, insulting their appearance and tattoos…
On April 16, 2007, 32 people died after being gunned down on the campus of Virginia Tech by Seung‑Hui Cho, a student at the college who later died by suicide.…
On May 3, 2007, less than two weeks before her fourth birthday, Madeleine McCann of Rothley, England, vanishes during a family vacation at a resort in southern Portugal. McCann’s disappearance…
On May 20, 2007, Fox’s long‑running animated series The Simpsons airs its 400th episode. The Simpsons was created by Matt Groenig, whose comic strip Life Is Hell caught the attention…
Almost 12 million people tune in for the series finale of HBO’s critically acclaimed, multi‑award‑winning Mob‑family drama The Sopranos on June 10, 2007. The mastermind behind The Sopranos was David…
On June 28, 2007, the United States removes one of its most commonly‑used national symbols from its List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The de‑listing of the bald eagle, which…
On July 21, 2007, the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released, with an initial print run of 12 million copies in the…
On August 27, 2007, Michael Vick, a star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, formally pleads guilty before a Richmond, Virginia, judge to a federal felony charge related to running a…
Richard Jewell, the hero security guard turned Olympic bombing suspect, dies at age 44 of natural causes at his Georgia home. On July 27, 1996, during the Summer Games in…
On September 9, 2007, the NFL catches the New England Patriots illegally videotaping coaching signals of the New York Jets from an unauthorized location in a Week 1 game in…
On September 13, 2007, the United Nations adopts the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The declaration, which defines the rights of the planet’s Indigenous peoples to their respective…
Music producer Phil Spector’s trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson ends in a mistrial when the jury cannot come to a unanimous verdict. On February 3, 2003, police…
On October 12, 2007, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to increase…
Members of the Writers Guild of America, East, and Writers Guild of America, West—labor organizations representing television, film and radio writers—go on strike in Los Angeles and New York after…
On December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto, a former Pakistani prime minister and the first democratically elected female leader of a Muslim country, is assassinated at age 54 in the Pakistani…
