August 17

Birthdays:

1960~ Sean Penn (né Sean Justin Penn), American actor.

1959~ David Koresh (né Vernon Wayne Howell, d. Apr. 19, 1993), leader of the Branch Davidians.  He was 33.

1959~ Jonathan Franzen (né Jonathan Earl Franzen), American author.

1958~ Belinda Carlisle (née Belinda Jo Carlisle), American singer and lead singer of The Go-Go’s.

1953~ Herta Müller, Romanian-born German poet and author.  She was the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1947~ Francine Hughes Wilson (d. Mar. 22, 2017), American domestic violence victim who inspired The Burning Bed.  In March 1977, after suffering years of abuse, she set fire to her husband while he was sleeping.  She immediately recognized the horror of her actions and turned herself in to police.  Although she was charged with first-degree murder, she was acquitted by the jury. She died of pneumonia at age 69.

1943~ Robert De Niro (néRobert Anthony De Niro, Jr.), American actor.

1932~ Sir V.S. Naipaul (né Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, d. Aug. 11, 2018), Indo-Trinidadian-British writer and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died 6 days before his 86^th birthday.

1930~ Ted Hughes (né Edward James Hughes, d. Oct. 28, 1998), English poet and husband of Sylvia Plath.  He died of a heart attack at age 68.

1929~ Francis Gary Powers (d. Aug. 1, 1977), American pilot who was shot down while on a reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union in 1960.  He was captured and served in a hard labor camp before being released in in a prisoner exchange 1962.  This event is depicted in the film Bridge of Spies.  He was killed in a helicopter crash just 16 days before his 47^th birthday.

1927~ F. Ray Keyser, Jr. (né Frank Ray Keyser, Jr., d. Mar. 7, 2015), 72^nd Governor of Vermont.  He served as Governor from January 1961 until January 1963.  He died at age 87.

1926~ Valerie Eliot (née Esme Valerie Fletcher, d. Nov. 9, 2012), British loyal wife who guarded T.S. Eliot’s legacy.  She was his second wife and was 38 years younger than her husband.  She died at age 86.

1922~ James Gower (d. Dec. 17, 2012), American priest and peace activist.  He was the co-founder, along with Les Brewer, of the College of the Atlantic, a private liberal arts college in Mount Desert Island, Maine.  He died at age 90.

1920~ Nancy Talbot (née Nancy Orr, d. Aug. 30, 2009), American women’s clothier who sold classic looks.  She and her husband established Talbot’s in 1947 to sell timeless, fashionable clothing.  She died 2 weeks after her 89^th birthday.

1920~ Maureen O’Hara (née Maureen FitzSimons, d. Oct. 24, 2015), Irish actress who shone in Technicolor. She died at age 95.

1913~ Mark Felt, Sr. (né William Mark Felt, d. Dec. 18, 2008), American FBI agent and the infamous “Deep Throat” of the Watergate Scandal, who leaked information to reporters, who then informed the citizens of the United States of the activities of the Richard Nixon presidency.  He died at age 95.

1893~ Mae West (née Mary Jane West, d. Nov. 22, 1980), American actress.  She died at age 87.

1890~ Harry Hopkins (né Harry Lloyd Hopkins, d. Jan. 29, 1946), 8^th United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration from December 1938 until September 1940.  He died of stomach cancer at age 55.

1879~ Samuel Goldwyn (né Szmuel Gelbfizs, d. Jan. 31, 1974), Polish-born film studio executive and co-founder of Goldwyn Pictures.  He died at age 94.

1786~ Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. Mar. 16, 1861), German-born mother of England’s Queen Victoria.  She died at age 74.

1786~ Davy Crockett (né David Crockett, d. Mar. 6, 1836), American frontiersman.  He was killed at the Alamo.  He was 49 years old.

Events that Changed the World:

2017~ A terrorist driving a van drove into a group of pedestrians in La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain.  Fourteen people were killed and over 100 others were injured.

2005~ The first forced evacuation of Israelis from the Gaza strip began as a part of Israel’s unilateral disengagement.  Unfortunately, this did not result in peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

1999~ A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck in Turkey killing over 17,000 people and injuring over 44,000 people.

1998~ President Bill Clinton (b. 1946) admitted in taped testimony that he had an “improper” physical relationship with Monica Lewinsky (b. 1973) and that he had mislead the American people about his relationship.

1982~ The first Compact Discs were released to the public in Germany.

1980~ Azaria Chamberlain (June 11, 1980 ~ Aug. 17, 1980) disappeared on a family camping trip nears Ayers Rock in Australia.  Her body was never found and her parents reported that the baby was taken by a dingo.  Lindy Chamberlain, the baby’s mother, however, was tried for murder and spent more than three years in jail for murder.  Lindy was exonerated in 2012.

1969~ Hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi coast killing nearly 250 people. Hurricane Camille was a Category 5 storm.

1962~ Eighteen-year-old Peter Fechter (1944 ~ 1962) became one of the first victims of the Berlin Wall after he attempted to cross into West Berlin.  He was shot and killed by an East German border guard.

1945~ George Orwell’s Animal Farm was first published.

1915~ A massive hurricane hit Galveston, Texas, wiping out major portions of the town and killing hundreds of people.  This hurricane is believed to have been a Category 4 storm.

1907~ Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington opened.  It is now a registered historic district.

1896~ Bridget Driscoll (1951 ~ 1896) became the first know pedestrian fatality in the United Kingdom when she was struck by a car as she was crossing the street near the Crystal Palace in London.  She was 44 years old.

1862~ During the American Civil War, former Union Major General J.E.B. Stuart (1833 ~ 1864) was assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

1807~ Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat headed to Albany from NYC on the Hudson River, thereby initiating the first commercial steamboat service.

1740~ Pope Benedict XIV (né Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, 1675 ~ 758) became the 247^th Pope in the Catholic Church.

1668~ An estimated 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck Anatolia, in what is now Turkey.  Over 8,000 people died.

1498~ Cesar Borgia (1475 ~ 1507), illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI (1431 ~ 1503), became the first person to resign his position as cardinal.  King Louis XII of France immediately named him Duke of Valentinois.

Good-Byes:

2015~ Yvonne Craig (née Yvonne Joyce Craig, b. May 16, 1937), American ballerina who played Batgirl in the 1960s television series Batman.  She died of breast cancer at age 77.

2011~ George Hendry (né George Jack Hendry, b. Sept. 2, 1920), American comeback kid of table tennis. He died 16 days before his 91^st birthday.

2010~ Sir Frank Kermode (né John Frank Kermode, b. Nov. 29, 1919), British literary critic considered a giant in his field.  He died at age 90.

1993~ Feng Kang (b. Sept. 9, 1920), Chinese mathematician.  He died 3 weeks before his 73^rdbirthday.

1990~ Pearl Bailey (née Pearl Mae Bailey, b. Mar. 29, 1918), African-American singer and actress.  She died at age 72.

1987~ Shaike Ophir (né Yeshayahu Goldstein-Ophir, b. Nov. 4, 1928), Israeli actor, comedian and mime.  He died of lung cancer at age 58.

1987~ Rudolf Hess (b. Apr. 26, 1894), Nazi official and convicted war criminal. He hanged himself in prison at age 93.

1983~ Ira Gershwin (né Israel Gershowitz, b. Dec. 6, 1896), American lyricist.  He died at age 86.

1979~ Vivian Vance (née Vivian Roberta Jones, b. July 26, 1909), American actress and side-kick Ethel to Lucille Ball on the I Love Lucy television show.  She died of cancer 22 days after her 70^th birthday.

1973~ Conrad Aiken (né Conrad Potter Aiken, b. Aug. 5, 1889), American writer. He died 12 days after his 84^th birthday.

1969~ Otto Stern (b. Feb. 17, 1888), German-Jewish physicist and recipient of the 1943 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 81.

1969~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (né Maria Ludwig Muhuta Michael William Mies, b. Mar. 27, 1886), German-borne architect.  His philosophy towards buildings was “Less is More.”  He died at age 83 in Chicago, Illinois.

1955~ Fernand Léger (né Joseph Fernand Henri Léger, b. Feb. 4, 1881), French painter. He died at age 74.

1935~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman (b. July 3, 1860), American sociologist, feminist activist, and author.  She was born in Hartford, Connecticut.  She died at age 75.

1917~ Umberto Boccioni (b. Oct. 19, 1882), Italian sculptor and painter.  He died at age 33 after being thrown from a horse during military training.

1915~ Leo Frank (né Leo Max Frank, b. Apr. 17, 1884), American-Jewish factory superintendent who was falsely accused and convicted of murder of a 13-year old girl in Marietta, Georgia.  He was hanged by a lynch mob in Georgia.  This case drew attention to the rising anti-Semitism in America.  He was murdered at age 31.  Years later the actual murderer confessed.

1850~ José de San Martín y Matorras (b. Feb. 25, 1778), Argentine general and 1^stPresident of Peru.  He died at age 72.

1786~ King Frederick II, also known as Frederick the Great (b. Jan. 24, 1712), Prussian king. He died at age 74.

1785~ Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. (b. Oct. 12, 1710), Governor of Connecticut.  He was Governor from 1776 until 1784.  He died at age 74.