November 2

Birthdays:

1966 ~ David Schwimmer, American actor.

1929 ~ Richard E. Taylor, American physicist and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1918 ~ Alexander Vraciu (d. 2015), American US Navy flying ace who dominated the Pacific during World War II.

1914 ~ Ray Walston (d. 2001), American actor best known for his role as the Martian on the television show, My Favorite Martian.

1913 ~ Burt Lancaster (d. 1994), American actor.

1911 ~ Raphael M. Robinson (d. 1995), American mathematician.

1911 ~ Odysseas Elytis (d. 1996), Greek poet and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1865 ~ Warren G. Harding (d. 1823), 29^th President of the United States.  He died in office.

1815 ~ George Boole (d. 1864), English mathematician and philosopher.

1799 ~ Titian Peale (d. 1885), American photographer.

1795 ~ James Knox Polk (d. 1849), 11^th President of the United States.

1755 ~ Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (d. 1793).

1734 ~ Daniel Boone (d. 1820), American frontiersman.

1470 ~ King Edward V of England (d. 1483).  He was one of the two princes in the Tower of London.

Events that Changed the World:

1983 ~ President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a national holiday.

1964 ~ Saudi Arabian King Saud was deposed by a family coup.  He was replaced by his half-brother, King Faisal (1906 ~ 1975).

1959 ~ Game show contestant, Charles Van Doren (b. 1926), admitted to cheating on the Twenty One.

1936 ~ The British Broadcasting Corporation began the BBC Television Service.

1936 ~ The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was established.

1930 ~ Haile Selassie was crowned emperor of Ethiopia.  He would rule the country until November 2, 1974.

1920 ~ The first commercial radio station in the US, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, began broadcasting.  The first broadcast was the result of the US presidential election.

1917 ~ The Balfour Declaration was issued, which proclaimed British support for the establishment in Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people.

1898 ~ Cheerleading was started at the University of Minnesota.  Johnny Campbell lead the crowd in cheering on the football team.

1889 ~ North Dakota became the 39^th State of the Union.

1889 ~ South Dakota became the 40^th State of the Union.

1783 ~ General George Washington gave his “Farewell Address to the Army” in Rocky Hill, New Jersey.

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ Milt Campbell (b. 1933), African-American superb athlete who won the 1952 Olympic decathlon.

2012 ~ Shreeram Shankar Abhyankar (b. 1930), Indian-American mathematician.

2008 ~ Madelyn Dunham (b. 1922), American grandmother of President Barack Obama.

2008 ~ Henry Loomis (b. 1919), American physicist who led the Voice of America and Public Broadcasting.

2004 ~ Theo van Gogh (b. 1957), Dutch filmmaker.

1970 ~ Cardinal Richard Cushing (b. 1895), Cardinal and archbishop of Boston, Massachusetts.

1966 ~ Peter Debye (b. 1884), Dutch chemist and recipient of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1963 ~ Ngô Đinh Diêm (b. 1901), 1^st President of South Vietnam, was assassinated following a military coup.

1961 ~ James Thurber (b. 1894), American writer and humorist.

1950 ~ George Bernard Shaw (b. 1856), Irish playwright and recipient of the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1887 ~ Jenny Lind (b. 1820), Swedish soprano.