September 21

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Luke Wilson, American actor.

1957 ~ Ethan Coen, American film director and screenwriter.

1950 ~ Bill Murray, American actor and comedian.

1947 ~ Stephen King, American suspense and horror author.  He is from Maine and graduated from the University of Maine.

1945 ~ Jerry Bruckheimer, American film and television producer.

1944 ~ Hamilton Jordan (né William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan, d. May 20, 2008), 8^th White House Chief of Staff.  He was the political advisor who had President Jimmy Carter’s ear.  He died of cancer at age 63.

1944 ~ Fanny Flagg (née Patricia Neal), American actress, comedian and writer.  She is best known for her novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.

1941 ~ R. James Woolsey, Jr. (né Robert James Woolsey, Jr.), 16^th Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency.  He served in the Bill Clinton administration from February 1993 until January 1995.

1940 ~ Bill Kurtis, American journalist.

1936 ~ Diane Rehm, American radio host.

1935 ~ Henry Gibson (né James Bateman, d. Sept. 14, 2009), American actor best known for his role in Laugh-In.  He died of cancer a week before his 74^th birthday.

1934 ~ Leonard Cohen (d. Nov. 7, 2016), Canadian songwriter.  He died at age 82.

1931 ~ Larry Hagman (d. Nov. 23, 2012), American actor best known for his role as J.R. Ewing on the TV series, Dallas.  His mother was the stage actress, Mary Martin.  He died at age 81.

1930 ~ Romulus Linney (d. Jan. 15, 2011), American playwright who drew on his Southern boyhood.  His daughter is the actress Laura Linney.  He died at age 80.

1926 ~ Donald Glaser (d. Feb. 28, 2013), American physicist and recipient of the 1960 Nobel Prize for Physics.  He died at age 86.

1917 ~ Phyllis Nicholson (d, Oct. 6, 1968), English mathematician.  She died of cancer less than 3 weeks after her 51^st birthday.

1914 ~ John Werner Kluge (d. Sept. 7, 2010), German-born American immigrant who build a media empire.  He died 2 weeks before his 96^th birthday.

1912 ~ Chuck Jones (né Charles Martin Jones, d. Feb. 22, 2002), American animator best known for his work with Warner Brothers on such cartoons as Loony Toons.  He died of congestive heart failure at age 89.

1903 ~ Preston Tucker (d. Dec. 23, 1956), American automobile designer.  He was the subject of the 1988 movie, Tucker: The Man and His Dreams, starring Jeff Bridges.  Preston Tucker died at age 59 of lung cancer.

1902 ~ Sir Allen Lane (d. July 7, 1970), British publisher and founder of Penguin Books.  He died at age 67.

1884 ~ Dénes Kőnig (d. Oct. 19, 1944), Hungarian mathematician.  He wrote the first textbook on graph theory.  He died less than a month after his 60^th birthday.

1874 ~ Gustav Holst (d. May 25, 1934), English composer.  He is best known for composing The Planets.  He died at age 59 of heart failure following ulcer surgery.

1867 ~ Henry L. Stimson (d. Oct. 20, 1950), 46^th United States Secretary of State.  He served in this Office during the Herbert Hoover administration from March 1929 until March 1933.  He previously served as the 45^th United States Secretary of War during the William Howard Taft administration from May 1911 until March 1913.  He served in this Office as the 54^th United States Secretary of War during the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman administration from July 1940 until September 1945.  He died a month after his 83^rd birthday.

1866 ~ H.G. Wells (né Herbert George Wells, d. Aug. 13, 1946), English science fiction writer.  He is best known for his novels such as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Doctor Moreau.  He died at age 79.

1866 ~ Charles Nicolle (d. Feb. 28, 1936), French bacteriologist and recipient of the 1928 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work in the identification of lice as transmitters of typhus.  He died at age 69.

1853 ~ Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (d. Feb. 21, 1926), Dutch physicist and recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 72.

1849 ~ Maurice Barrymore (né Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe, d. Mar. 25, 1905), American actor and patriarch of the Barrymore acting family.  He died at age 55.  Drew Barrymore can thank her lucky stars for him!

1788 ~ Margaret Taylor (d. Aug. 14, 1853), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Zachary Taylor.  She served as First Lady during her husband’s Presidency from March 1849 until her husband’s death July 9, 1850.  During her time in the White House, she was in ill health and the hostessing duties of being First Lady fell heavily upon her youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor (1824 ~ 1909).  Margaret Taylor died at age 63.

1758 ~ Christopher Gore (d. Mar. 1, 1827), 8^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from May 1898 until June 1810.  He died at age 68.

1756 ~ John McAdam (d. Nov. 26, 1836).  Scottish engineer, road builder and inventor.  Without his invention would we still be driving on dirt roads?  He died at age 80.

1645 ~ Louis Joliet (d. 1700), Canadian explorer.  He was last seen in May 1700 as he went out on an expedition in what is now Quebec, Canada.  He is believed to have died shortly thereafter at about age 54 or 55.

1452 ~ Girolamo Savonarola (d. May 23, 1498), Italian-Dominican priest, philosopher and ruler of Florence.  He tried to reform the Church ans was subsequently excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI. He was burned at the stake.  He was 45 years old at the time of his death.

1415 ~ Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Aug. 19, 1493).  He died a month before his 78^th birthday.

580 ~ Pope Vitalian (d. Jan. 27, 672).  He was Pope from July 657 until his death in January 672.  He died at age 81.

Events that Changed the World:

2005 ~ Hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast.

1999 ~ A massive earthquake, called the Chi-Chi earthquake, in Taiwan kill approximately 2500 people.

1996 ~ The Defense of Marriage Act was passed by a vote of 342 – 67 by the United States House of Representative, and by 85-14 by the United States Senate.  The law prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriage, but allowed the states to adopt any marital definition which might permit such marriages.

1981 ~ Sandra Day O’Connor (b. 1930) was unanimously approved by the US Senate as the first female Supreme Court Justice.  She served on the Court from 1981 until her retirement in 2006.

1972 ~ Ferdinand Marcos (1917 ~ 1989) placed The Philippines under martial law.

1970 ~ The New York Times began the first modern op-ed page.  Who know that was so recent!

1942 ~ This date marked Yom Kippur.  Jews throughout Poland and the Ukraine were either sent to concentration camps or were executed.  While this was a common practice by the Nazis, it was particularly horrific as it occurred on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

1938 ~ The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 made landfall in New England.  Hurricanes rarely have a direct impact on the northern States.  This was the first recorded major hurricane to strike in New York and New England.  It was the costliest hurricane to hit the northeast until Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

1937 ~ The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1892 ~ 1973) was first published.

1898 ~ The Empress Dowager Cixi (1935 ~ 1908) seized power in China, becoming the de facto ruler over the Manchu Qing Dynasty.  Her actions on this date ended the Hundred Days’ Reform in China.

1897 ~ The famous Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus editorial was published in The New York Sun newspaper.  Virginia O’Hanlon (1889 ~ 1971), began to question the existence of Santa Claus, so she wrote to her newspaper.  The paper responded in the affirmative, addressing the philosophical rational for believing in St. Nick.

1843 ~ John Williams Wilson (1798 ~ 1857) took possession of the Strait of Magellan on behalf of the Chilean government.

1792 ~ During the period of the French Revolution, the French National Convention declared France a republic and abolished the absolute monarchy.

1780 ~ Benedict Arnold (1741 ~ 1801) gave the British the plans to West Point.

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ Gideon Gadot (b. Apr. 1, 1941), Israeli journalist and politician.  He died at age 71.

2012 ~ Sven Hassel (né Børge Willy Redsted Pedersen, b. Apr. 19, 1917), Danish novelist who humanized German soldiers from the World War II era.  He died at age 95.

1998 ~ Florence Griffith Joyner (b. Dec. 21, 1959), American athlete.  She was known as Flo-Jo.  She died of an epileptic seizure at age 38.

1974 ~ Jacqueline Susann (b. Aug. 20, 1918), American novelist best known for her novel, The Valley of the Dolls.  She died of breast cancer a month after her 56^th birthday.

1974 ~ Walter Brennan (b. July 25, 1894), American actor.  He is best known for his role on the TV show, The Real McCoys.  He died at age 80.

1971 ~ Bernardo Houssay (b. Apr. 10, 1887), Argentine physiologist and recipient of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the role of the pituitary homes in regulating blood sugar levels.  He died at age 84.

1966 ~ Paul Raynaud (b. Oct. 15, 1878), Prime Minister of France.  He served as Prime Minister from March 1940 until June 1940.  He died at age 87.

1959 ~ Abraham Flexner (b. Nov. 13, 1866), American educator and founder of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.  He died at age 92.

1957 ~ King Haakon VII of Norway (né Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel, b. Aug. 3, 1872).  He was King from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.  He died at age 85.

1944 ~ James E. Ferguson (b. Aug. 31, 1871), 26^th Governor of Texas.  He served as Governor from January 1915 until August 1917.  Several years later, his wife, Miriam, became Governor, making him the First Gentleman of Texas.  He died 3 weeks after his 73^rd birthday.

1939 ~ Armand Călinescu (b. June 4, 1893), 39^th Prime Minister of Romania.  He served as Prime Minister from March 1939 until his assassination on this date six months later.  He was 46 at the time of his death.

1880 ~ Manuel Montt (b. Sept. 4, 1809), 6^th President of Chile.  He served as President from September 1851 through September 1861.  He died 17 days weeks after his 71^st birthday.

1832 ~ Sir Walter Scott, 1^st Baronet (b. Aug. 15, 1771), Scottish writer.  He died at age 61.

1576 ~ Gerolamo Cardano (b. Sept. 24, 1501), Italian mathematician.  He died 3 days before his 75^th birthday.

1558 ~ Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. Feb. 24, 1500).  He died at age 58.

1327 ~ Edward II of England (b. Apr. 25, 1284).  He died at age 43.

1235 ~ King Andrew II of Hungary (b. 1175).  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 57 or 58 at the time of his death.

687 ~ Pope Conon (b. 630).  He was Pope from October 21, 686 until his death just under a year later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.  He is believed to have been 57 at the time of his death.

19 BCE ~ Virgil (b. Oct. 15, 70 BCE), Roman poet.  The traditional dates ascribed to Virgil’s birth and death.  He is believed to have been 50 when he died.