October 28

Birthdays:

1967 ~ Julia Roberts, American actress.

1966 ~ Andy Richter, American actor and sidekick to Conan O’Brien.

1963 ~ Lauren Holly, American actress.

1960 ~ Landon Curt Noll, American mathematician.

1956 ~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 6^th President of Iran.

1955 ~ Bill Gates (né William Henry Gates, III), American computer executive of Microsoft.

1952 ~Annie Potts, American actress.

1945 ~ Sandy Berger (né Samuel Richard Berger, d. Dec. 2, 2015), American 19^th United States National Security Advisor.  He served from March 1997 until January 2001 during the Bill Clinton administration.  He died of cancer at age 70.

1944 ~ Dennis Franz, American actor.

1938 ~ Anne Perry (née Juliet Marion Hulme), British author of historical detective novels.  As a teenager, she and her friend Pauline Parker, were convicted of the murder of Parker’s mother.

1933 ~ Anne Louise Morrissy Merick (d. May 2, 2017), American pioneering journalist who covered Vietnam.  She is best known for persuading the Pentagon to reverse an order, known as the Westmoreland Edict, which had prevented female reporters from accompanying troops on the front lines during the Vietnam War.  She died at age 83

1932 ~ Suzy Parker (née Cecilia Ann Renee Parker, d. May 3, 2003), American actress and model.  She died of kidney failure at age 70.

1929 ~ Joan Plowright, Baroness Olivier, British actress.  Laurence Olivier was her second husband.

1926 ~ Bowie Kuhn (d. Mar. 15, 2007), American lawyer and businessman.  He served as the 5^th Commissioner of Major League Baseball.  He was the Baseball Commissioner from February 1969 until September 1984.  He died at age 80.

1919 ~ Gerhard Ringel (d. June 24, 2008), Austrian mathematician.  He died at age 88.

1914 ~ Richard Laurence Millington Synge (d. Aug. 18, 1994), British biochemist and recipient of the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 79.

1914 ~ Jonas Salk (b. June 23, 1995), American biologist and physician.  He was best known for his discovery and development of a polio virus.  He died at age 80.

1908 ~ Arturo Frondizi (d. Apr. 18, 1995), 32^nd President of Argentina.  He served as President from May 1958 until March 1962.  He died at age 86.

1905 ~ Tatyana Pavlovna Ehrenfest (d. Nov. 29, 1984), Dutch mathematician.  She about a month after her 79^th birthday.

1903 ~ Evelyn Waugh (d. Apr. 10, 1966), English writer.  He died at age 62.

1897 ~ Edith Head (d. Oct. 24, 1981), American costume designer for Hollywood.  She died 4 days before her 84^th birthday.

1879 ~ Channing H. Cox (d. Aug. 20, 1968), 49^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1921 until January 1925.  He was born in Manchester, New Hampshire.  He died at age 88.

1804 ~ Pierre François Verhulst (d. Feb. 15, 1849), Belgian mathematician.  He died at age 44.

1793 ~ Eliphalet Remington (d. Aug. 12, 1861), American inventor and designer of the Remington rifle.  He was the founder of the Remington Arms company.  He died at age 67.

1718 ~ Ignacije Szentmartony (d. Apr. 15, 1793), Croatian mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 74.

1703 ~ Antoine Deparcieux (d. Sept. 2, 1768), French mathematician.  He died at age 64.

1466 ~ Desiderius Erasmus (d. July 12, 1536), Dutch theologian and philosopher.  He was 69 years old.

1017 ~ Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Oct. 5, 1056).  He died 23 days before his 39^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2007 ~ Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (b. 1953) became the first woman elected President of Argentina.  She became President upon the death of her husband.

1965 ~ Construction of the St. Louis Arch in Missouri was completed.  Construction on the Arch, which was designed by Eero Sarrinen, had begun on February 12, 1963.

1965 ~ The Second Vatican Council promulgated the Nostra aetate, or the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions, which absolved the Jews of the responsibility for the death of Jesus.

1962 ~ The Cuban Missile Crisis ended after Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (1894 ~ 1971) ordered the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.

1958 ~ Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli (1881 – 1963) was elected Pope.  He would be known as Pope John XXIII.

1948 ~ Paul Müller (1899 ~ 1965) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.  DDT was later banned due to its carcinogenic effect.

1942 ~ The Alaska Highway, which ran though Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, was completed.

1929 ~ The Wall Street Crash of 1929, which saw a major stock market upheaval.  This date has been called Black Monday.

1919 ~ The United States Congress passed the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, thus paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.

1886 ~ President Grover Cleveland (1837 ~ 1908) dedicated the Statute of Liberty.  It also marked the first ticker-tape parade.  Office workers spontaneously threw ticker tape into the streets during the dedication.

1775 ~ During the American Revolutionary War, a British proclamation was issued that forbade residents from leaving the City of Boston.

1726 ~ Jonathan Swift’s novel, Gulliver’s Travels, was first published.

1636 ~ Harvard University (initially known as Harvard College) was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  It was the first college in what would become the United States.

1628 ~ The Siege of La Rochelle, which had been going on for 14 months, ended when the Huguenots surrendered.

1449 ~ Christian I (1426 ~ 1481) was crowned King of Denmark.

1420 ~ Beijing was officially designated as the capital of the Ming dynasty.

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ Kevin Reilly (b. July 22, 1928), American politician who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but served from Louisiana.  He died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at age 84.

2010 ~ Ehud Netzer (b. May 13, 1934), Israeli archaeologist.  He died at age 76.

2006 ~ Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach (b. Sept. 20, 1917), American basketball coach of the Boston Celtics.  He died at age 89.

2005 ~ Richard Smalley (b. June 6, 1943), American chemist and recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died of leukemia at age 62.

1998 ~ Ted Hughes (né Edward James Hughes, b. Aug. 17, 1930), English poet and husband of Sylvia Plath.  He died of a heart attack at age 68.

1983 ~ Otto Messmen (d. Aug. 16, 1892), American cartoonist and co-creator of Felix the Cat.  He died at age 91.

1968 ~ Harold Hitz Burton (b. June 22, 1894), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Harry S Truman.  He served on the Court from September 1945 until October 1958.  He had previously served as the 45^th Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.  He was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  He died at age 76.

1944 ~ Helen Magill White (b. Nov. 28, 1853), first American woman to earn a Ph.D.  She earned her degree in Greek in 1877 from Boston University.  She died a month before her 91^st birthday in Kittery Point, Maine.

1930 ~ Mary Scott Harrison (b. Apr. 3, 1858), American daughter of President Benjamin Harrison.  She served as First Lady during her father’s presidency after her mother, Caroline died.  She assumed the role of First Lady at age 34 and served from October 1892 until March 1893.  She died at age 72.

1918 ~ Ulisse Dini (b. Nov. 14, 1845), Italian mathematician.  He died 17 days before his 73^rd birthday.

1818 ~ Abigail Adams (b. Nov. 22, 1744), 2^nd First Lady and wife of President John Adams.  She died about a month before her 74^th birthday.

1704 ~ John Locke (b. Aug. 29, 1632), English philosopher.  He died at age 72.

1412 ~ Margaret I of Denmark (b. March 1353).  The exact date of her birth is not known.  She died at age 59.