Birthdays:
1967 ~ Carla Bruni (née Carla Bilberta Bruni Tedeschi), Italian-French model and singer and First Lady of France by virtue of her marriage to then President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. She was born in Turin, Italy.
1963 ~ Donna Tartt, American author. She is best known for her novels, A Secret History and The Goldfinch. She was born in Greenwood, Mississippi.
1962 ~ Stefan Hell (né Stefan Walter Hell), Romania-born German physicist and chemist and recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the super-resolved fluorescence microscope. He was born in Arad, Romania.
1952 ~ Bill Kristol (né William Kristol), American journalist and neoconservative political commentator. He had served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Dan Quayle from January 1989 until January 1993. He was born in New York, New York.
1946 ~ Susan Lucci (née Susan Victoria Lucci), American soap opera actress. She is best known for her role as Erica Kane on the soap opera All My Children. She was born in Scarsdale, New York.
1944 ~ Wesley Clark, Sr. (né Wesley Kanne Clark), American army general. His Jewish father, Benjamin Kanne, died when Wesley was two years old. His mother, who was not Jewish, re-married and his stepfather later adopted him. He was not raised Jewish. He was born in Chicago, Illinois.
1943 ~ Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov, Russian-born French mathematician. He is known for his work in group theory. He was born in Boksitogorsk, Russia.
1943 ~ Silvia of Sweden (née Silvia Renate Sommerlath), Queen consort of Sweden and wife of Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden. She was a commoner before her marriage to the King. She was born in Heidelberg, Germany.
1943 ~ Harry Shearer (né Harry Julius Shearer), American actor and voice actor. He was born in Los Angeles, California.
1941 ~ John Peterman, American businessman and founder of the J. Peterman Company. He was born in Nyack, New York.
1935 ~ Paul Hornung (d. Nov. 13, 2020), American Golden Boy who powered the Green Bay Packers. He played professional football from 1957 to 1966. He was born and died in Louisville, Kentucky. He died at age 84.
1933 ~ Emperor Akihito, Emperor of Japan. He reigned from January 1989 until he abdicated in favor of his eldest son in April 2019. In 1959, he married Michiko Shoda, who was a commoner. Akihito was the first monarch in the royal family’s 2,600 history to marry a commoner. He is the son of Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun. He is Shinto.
1926 ~ Robert Bly (né Robert Elwood Bly; d. Nov. 21, 2021), American anti-war poet who launched a men’s movement by urging men to reconnect with their “interior Warrior.” In 1990, he published Iron John: A Book About Men. In his book, he argued that men, without rites of initiation into manhood, had become feminized. He was born in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota. He died about a month before his 95th birthday in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1923 ~ James Stockdale (né James Bond Stockdale; d. July 5, 2005), American admiral, recipient of the Medal of Honor, and Vice-Presidential running mate of Ross Perot in the 1982 campaign. He was a prisoner of war for over 7 years during the Vietnam War. He was born in Abingdon, Illinois. He died at age 81 in Coronado, California.
1923 ~ Leonard B. Stern (né Leonard Bernard Stern; d. June 7, 2011), American TV writer who laughed all the way to the bank. He was known for writing and creating such shows as The Honeymooners and Get Smart. He was born in New York, New York. He died at age 87 in Beverly Hills, California.
1918 ~ José Greco (né Costanzo Greco Bucci; d. Dec. 31, 2000), Italian-born flamenco dancer. He was born in Montorio nei Frentani, Italy. He died 8 days after his 82nd birthday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1918 ~ Helmut Schmidt (né Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt; d. Nov. 10, 2015), 5th Chancellor of Germany. He was born and died in Hamburg, Germany. He died at age 96.
1912 ~ Anna J. Harrison (née Anna Jane Harrison; d. Aug. 8, 1998), American organic chemist. She was a professor at Mount Holyoke College for over 40 years. She was also the first female president of the American Chemical Society. She was born in Benton City, Missouri. She died at age 85 in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
1911 ~ Niels Kaj Jerne (d. Oct. 7, 1994), English-born Dutch immunologist and recipient of the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was born in London, England. He died at age 82 in Castillon-du-Gard, France.
1907 ~ Avraham Stern (d. Feb. 12, 1942), Polish Zionist leader. He founded the militant Zionist group that became known as the Stern Gang. He was murdered in Tel Aviv at age 34.
1881 ~ Juan Ramón Jiménez (d. May 29, 1958), Spanish writer and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in Moguer, Spain. He died at age 76 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1867 ~ Madam C. J. Walker (née Sarah Breedlove; d. May 25, 1919), African-American entrepreneur and philanthropist. She was the first female self-made millionaire in America. She made her fortune by developing and marking a line of hair products for black women. She was born in Delta, Louisiana. She died of kidney failure at age 51 in Irvington, New York.
1853 ~ William Moody (né William Henry Moody; d. July 2, 1917), Associate Justice of the United States. He was nominated to the United States Supreme Court by President Theodore Roosevelt. He replaced Henry Brown on the Court. He was succeeded by Joseph Lamar. He served on the Court from December 1906 until November 1910. He is known for serving in all three of the United States branches of government. He also served in President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration as the 45th United States Attorney General and the 35th United States Secretary of the Navy. He also served as a United States Representative from Massachusetts. He served in all three branches of the Federal government. He was born in Newbury, Massachusetts. He died in Haverhill, Massachusetts at age 63.
1805 ~ Joseph Smith, Jr. (d. June 27, 1844), founder of the Mormons. He and his brother, Hyrum Smith (Feb. 9, 1800 – June 27, 1844.), were murdered by a mob in an Illinois jail. He was born in Sharon, Vermont and died in Carthage, Illinois. Joseph died at age 38 and his brother was 44.
1790 ~ Jean-François Champollion (d. Mar. 4, 1832), French historian and linguist who is best known for deciphering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone. He died of a stroke at age 41 in Paris, France.
1777 ~ Alexander I, Tsar of Russia (d. Dec. 1, 1825). He was Tsar from March 1801 until his death 24 years later. He was married to Princess Louise of Baden, who, upon their marriage, became known as Elizabeth Alexeievna. He was of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov. He was the son of Paul I, Tsar of Russia and Maria Feodorovna (née Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg). He died of typhus 22 days before his 48th birthday.
1745 ~ John Jay (d. May 17, 1829), American statesman and 1st Chief Justice of the United States. He was nominated to the United States Supreme Court by President George Washington. He served on the Court from September 1789 until June 1795. He was succeeded by John Rutledge. He had previously served as the Acting Secretary of State in the Washington administration, from September 1789 until March 1790. He was born in New York, New York. He died at age 83 in Bedford, New York.
1605 ~ Tianqi Emperor (d. Sept. 30, 1627), 15th Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ruled from October 1620 until his death 7 years later. He died at age 21.
1544 ~ Anna of Saxony (d. Dec. 18, 1577), Princess consort of Orange and 2nd wife of William I, Prince of Orange. It was not a happy marriage. She was accused of adultery and William took steps to divorce her and had her imprisoned. She was of the House of Wettin. She was the daughter of Maurice, Elector or Saxony and Agnes of Hesse. She died in prison 5 days before her 33rd birthday.
968 ~ Zhen Zong (d. Mar. 23, 1022), 3rd Chinese emperor of the Song Dynasty. He ruled from May 997 until his death in March 25 years later. He died at age 53.
Events that Changed the World:
2016 ~ The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
1990 ~ By referendum, 88% of Slovenia’s electorate voted for independence from Yugoslavia.
1982 ~ The United States Environmental Protection Agency reported dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil at Times Beach, Missouri. The Center for Disease Control recommended that the town not be re-inhabited due to the toxicity of the area.
1972 ~ Sixteen survivors of the Andes flight disaster were rescued after 73 days. The Charter flight had initially been carrying 45 people, including the Uruguayan Old Christians Club rugby union team, who were scheduled to play a match in Santiago, Chile. The survivors resorted to cannibalism and ate their dead fellow passengers in order to stay alive. Piers Paul Read wrote about this event in his book, Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors.
1972 ~ A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck in Managua, Nicaragua and killed over 10,000 people.
1970 ~ The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City was completed. It was the tallest building in the world at the time, coming in at 1,368 feet. On September 11, 2001, terrorists destroyed both Towers after piloting two planes into them.
1968 ~ The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo were released by North Korea. The ship had been attacked and captured in January 1968 and its crew had been held in prison by the North Korean government for 11 months.
1954 ~ Doctors J. Hartwell Harrison (1909 ~ 1984) and Joseph Murray (1919 ~ 2012) performed the first successful kidney transplant. The procedure was performed on identical twins at the Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
1947 ~ The transistor was first demonstrated at the Bell Laboratories in New Jersey.
1938 ~ The first modern coelacanth was discovered in South Africa.
1913 ~ The Federal Reserve System was created after President Woodrow Wilson (1856 ~ 1924) signed into law the Federal Reserve Act.
1893 ~ Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, Hänsel und Gretel, was first performed.
1823 ~ A Visit from St. Nick, also known as The Night Before Christmas, by Clement Clark Moore (1779 ~ 1863), was first published anonymously.
1815 ~ Jane Austen’s novel, Emma, was first published.
1783 ~ George Washington (1732 ~ 1799) resigned as commander-in-chief of the Army and retired to Mount Vernon.
1688 ~ James II, King of England (1633 ~ 1701) fled to Paris after being deposed in favor of his nephew, William of Orange (1650 ~ 1702) and his daughter Mary (1662 ~ 1694) during the Glorious Revolution.
562 ~ The Hagia Sophia, an Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Constantinople, reopened after a series of earthquakes damaged the original dome, causing a collapse. It had originally been constructed and completed in December 537. In 1261 it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral. It was converted into a mosque in 1453 and remained so until 1931. The Hagia Sophia still stands. It was a museum until early July 2020 when the Turkish president, Recep Erdoğan (b. 1954) ordered its reclassification as a mosque.
558 ~ Chlothar I (497 ~ 561) was crowned King of the Franks.
Good-Byes:
2021 ~ Joan Didion (b. Dec. 5, 1934), American novelist and screenwriter. She was the keen-eyed social critic who chronicled decadence and grief. She was born in Sacramento, California. She died in Manhattan, New York 18 days after her 87th birthday.
2015 ~ Alfred Gilman (né Alfred Goodman Gilman, b. July 1, 1941), American pharmacologist and recipient of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He died of pancreatic cancer at age 74.
2013 ~ Mikhail Kalashnikov (b. Nov. 10, 1919), Russian general and weapons designer. He designed the AK-47. He died at age 94.
2012 ~ Jean Harris (née Jean Struven; b. Apr. 27, 1923), American educator who murdered her lover. She was the headmistress of the Madeira School for girls in Virginia. She was in a relationship with Herman Tarnowner. After she discovered that he had another girlfriend, she killed him. She was convicted of his murder and sent to prison. She died in New Haven, Connecticut at age 89.
2000 ~ Victor Borge (né Børge Rosenbaum; b. Jan. 3, 1909), Danish-born comedian and pianist. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He died at age 91, just 11 days before his 92nd birthday, in Greenwich, Connecticut.
1982 ~ Jack Webb (né John Randolph Webb; b. Apr. 2, 1920), American actor. He is best known for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday from the television series Dragnet. He died of a heart attack at age 62.
1979 ~ Peggy Guggenheim (née Marguerite Guggenheim; b. Aug. 26, 1898), American art collector. She died at age 81.
1973 ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel (b. Jan. 11, 1907), Polish-born American rabbi, theologian, and philosopher. Heschel was a leader in the American Civil Rights movement in the United States. He was born in Warsaw, Poland. He died in New York, New York 19 days before his 66th birthday.
1972 ~ Charles Atlas (né Angelo Siciliano; b. Oct. 30, 1892), Italian-American bodybuilder and model. He was born in Acri, Cosenza, Italy. He died at age 80 in New York, New York.
1962 ~ James P. McGranery (né James Patrick McGranery, b. July 8, 1895), 61st United States Attorney General. He served under President Harry S Truman from April 1952 until January 1953. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He died at age 67 in Palm Beach, Florida.
1944 ~ Charles Dana Gibson (b. Sept. 14, 1867), American illustrator. He is best known for the creation of the Gibson Girls. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He died at age 77 in New York, New York.
1907 ~ Pierre Janssen (né Pierre Jules César Janssen; b. Feb. 22, 1824), French mathematician and astronomer. He was born in Paris, France. He died at age 83 in Meudon, France.
1873 ~ Sarah Moore Grimké (b. Nov. 26, 1792), American author and abolitionist. She is considered the mother of the women’s suffrage movement. She was born in Charleston, South Carolina. She died less than a month after her 81stbirthday in Hyde Park, Massachusetts.
1722 ~ Pierre Varignon (b. 1654), French mathematician. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 68 at the time of his death.
1652 ~ John Cotton (b. Dec. 4, 1585), English-American minister who served in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was born in Derby, Derbyshire, England. He died 19 days after his 67th birthday in Boston, Massachusetts.
1230 ~ Berengaria of Navarre (b. 1165), Queen consort of England and wife of King Richard I. The exact date of her birth is not known.
423 ~ Ming Yuan Di (b. 392), Chinese emperor of Northern Wei. He ruled from November 409 until his death 14 years later. The date of his birth is not known.
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