June 7

Birthdays:

1988 ~ Michael Cera, Canadian actor.

1959 ~ Michael Richard “Mike” Pence, 48^th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President Donald Trump.

1958 ~ Prince (né Prince Rogers Nelson, d. Apr. 21, 2016), American singer-songwriter and actor.  He died of an accidental drug overdose at age 57.

1954 ~ Louise Erdrich, American author.

1952 ~ Liam Neeson, Irish actor.

1952 ~ Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Laureate for Literature.

1947 ~ Thurman Munson (d. Aug. 2, 1979), American baseball player.  He was killed while practice landing in a small plane.  He was 32 years old.

1942 ~ Muammar Gaddafi (d. Oct. 20, 2011), Libyan dictator.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but this is often given as the date.  He was murdered by a revolutionary mob.

1940 ~ Tom Jones (né Thomas John Woodward), Welsh singer.

1928 ~ James Ivory, American movie director.

1917 ~ Dean Martin (né Dino Paul Crocetti, d. Dec. 25, 1995), American singer and actor.  He was 78 years old.

1909 ~ Virginia Apgar (d. Aug. 7, 1974), American physician who developed the Apgar test for newborns.  She died at age 65.

1909 ~ Jessica Tandy (née Jessie Alice Tandy, d. Sept. 11, 1994), English-American actress.  She died at age 85.

1909 ~ Peter Rodino (d. May 7, 2005), American politician and congressman from New Jersey who presided over President Nixon’s impeachment.  He died a month before his 96^th birthday.

1896 ~ Imre Nagy (d. June 16, 1958), Prime Minister of Hungary.  He was executed for treason as a result of his participation in the 1956 Hungarian uprising.  He was killed 9 days after his 62^nd birthday.

1896 ~ Robert Sanderson Mulliken (d. Oct. 31, 1986), American chemist and recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 90.

1862 ~ Philipp Lenard (d. May 20, 1947), German physicist and recipient of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on cathode rays.  He died 17 days before his 85^th birthday.

1848 ~ Paul Gauguin (né Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, d. May 8, 1903), French painter.  He died a month before his 55^th birthday.

1770 ~ Robert Jenkinson, 2^nd Earl of Liverpool (d. Dec. 4, 1828), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served in that office from June 1812 through April 1927.  He died at age 58 of a stroke.

1660 ~ King George I of Great Britain (d. June 22, 1727).  He was king from August 1714 until his death 13 years later.  He died 15 days after his 67^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

1991 ~ The volcanic Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted.

1982 ~ Elvis Presley’s home, Graceland, opened to the public.

1981 ~ During Operation Opera, the Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor.  This facility could have been used to make nuclear weapons.

1977 ~ Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Silver Jubilee.

1971 ~ In the case of Cohen v. California, the United States Supreme Court overturned Paul Cohen’s conviction for disturbing the peace.  This case set the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

1967 ~ Israeli forces entered Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.

1965 ~ The US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, which legalized contraceptive use by married couples.

1948 ~ Edvard Beneš (1884 ~ 1948) resigned is office as President of Czechoslovakia rather than sign the Ninth-of-May Constitution, which made the country become a Communist state.

1944 ~ During World War II, a steamer, The Danae, which was carrying 600 individuals, 350 of whom were Jews, sank off the shore of Santorini.  There were no survivors.

1942 ~ World War II’s Battle of Midway ended in an American victory.

1929 ~ The sovereign State of the Vatican City was established by the Lateran Treaty.

1906 ~ The Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania was launched from Glasgow, Scotland.

1905 ~ Norway dissolved its union with Sweden.

1899 ~ Carry Nation (1846 ~ 1911) began her temperance campaign by vandalizing saloons in an effort to stop drinking.

1892 ~ Homer Plessy (1862 ~ 1925) was arrested for refusing to leave his seat in a “whites-only” section of a train in Louisiana, leading to what would ultimately become the US Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that “separate but equal” was constitutional.

1892 ~ US President Benjamin Harrison (1833 ~ 1901) became the first US President to attend a baseball game while in office.  He attended a game, hosted by the Washington Senators against the Cincinnati Reds.  The home team lost.

1692 ~ A massive earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica killing over 1,600 people and injuring another 3,000 people.

1654 ~ King Louis XIV (1638 ~ 1715) was crowned King of France.

1494 ~ Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesilla, which divided the New World between the two countries.

1099 ~ During the First Crusade, the Siege of Jerusalem is believed to have begun.

Good-Byes:

2015 ~ Sir Christopher Lee (b. May 27, 1922), British actor who brought monsters to life.  He was known for his portrayal of Dracula and for being a Bond villain.  He died 11 days his 93^rd birthday.

2012 ~ Phillip Tobias (b. Oct. 14, 1925), South African paleoanthropologist, best known for his work at South Africa’s hominid fossil sites.  He died at age 86.

2008 ~ Jim McKay (né James Kenneth McManus, b. Sept. 24, 1921), American sportscaster.  He died at age 86.

1980 ~ Henry Miller (b. Dec. 26, 1891), American writer.  He died at age 88.

1978 ~ Ronald George Wreyford Norrish (b. Nov. 9, 1897), English chemist and recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 80.

1970 ~ E.M. Forster (né Edward Morgan Forster, b. Jan. 1, 1879), English author.  He died at age 91.

1967 ~ Anatoly Maltsev (b. Nov. 27, 1909), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 57.

1967 ~ Dorothy Parker (b. Aug. 22, 1893), American writer.  She died at age 73.

1966 ~ Jean Arp (b. Sept. 16, 1886), German-born painter and artist.  He died at age 79.

1965 ~ Judy Holliday (b. June 21, 1921), American actress.  She died of breast cancer 2 weeks before her 44^th birthday.

1954 ~ Alan Turing (b. June 23, 1912), British mathematician and computer scientist.  He was the subject of the 2014 movie The Imitation Game.  He died committed suicide by cyanide poisoning 16 days before his 42^nd birthday.

1937 ~ Jean Harlow (née Harlean Harlow Carpenter, b. Mar. 11, 1911), American actress.  She married three times.  She died of kidney disease at age 26.

1876 ~ Josephine of Leuchtenberg (b. Mar. 14, 1807), Queen of Sweden and Norway.  She was married to King Oscar I of Sweden.  She died at age 69.

1394 ~ Anne of Bohemia (b. May11, 1394), Queen of Richard II of England.  She died of the plague a month after her 28^th birthday.  She was the first wife of King Richard II.  They were married for 12 years before she died of the plague at age 28.  The couple had no children.

1329 ~ Robert the Bruce (b. July 11, 1274), King of Scotland.  He died at age 54.

555 ~ Pope Vigilius (b. 500).  He was Pope from March 537 until his death on this date 18 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.