October 16

Birthdays:

1962 ~ Manute Bol (d. June 19, 2010), Sudanese basketball player.  At 7 ft 7 in, he was one of the tallest NBA basketball players.  He died of kidney failure at age 47.

1958 ~ Tim Robbins, American actor and film director.

1928 ~ Mary Daly (d. Jan. 3, 2010), American radical feminist lesbian philosopher and scholar who barred men from her classes.  She taught at Boston College.  She died at age 81.

1927 ~ Günter Grass (d. Apr. 16, 2015), German author and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He is best known for his first novel The Tin Drum, published in 1959.  His works examined the ugly side of Germany’s past.  In 2006, Grass acknowledged his past as a member of the Waffen SS during World War II.  He died at age 87.

1925 ~ Angela Lansbury, English-American actress.  She played Jessica Fletcher on the long-running television series, Murder, She Wrote.

1918 ~ Abraham Nemeth (d. Oct. 2, 2013), American mathematician.  He was blind and is best known for developing a system allowing blind people to read and write mathematics.  He died less than 2 weeks before his 95^th birthday.

1916 ~ Louise Day Hicks (née Anna Louise Day Hicks, d. Oct. 21, 2003), American politician.  She served in the United States House of Representatives.  She died 5 days after her 87^th birthday.

1898 ~ William O. Douglas (d. Jan. 19, 1980), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Franklin Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from April 1939 until November 1975.  He died at age 81.

1894 ~ Moshe Sharett (d. July 7, 1965), 2^nd Prime Minister of Israel.  He served as Prime Minister from January 1954 until November 1955.  He died at age 70.

1890 ~ Michael Collins (d. Aug. 22, 1922), Irish revolutionary.  He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Free State.  He was killed during an Anti-Treaty ambush during the Irish Civil War.  He was 31 at the time of his death.

1890 ~ Paul Strand (d. Mar. 31, 1976), American photographer.  He died at age 85.

1888 ~ Eugene O’Neill (d. Nov. 27, 1953), American playwright and recipient of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 65.

1886 ~ David Ben-Gurion (né David Grünn, d. Dec. 1, 1973), 1^st and 3^rd Prime Minister of Israel.  He first served from May 1948 until January 1954.  His second term ran from November 1955 through June 1963.  He died at age 87.

1863 ~ Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (d. Mar. 17, 1937), English politician and recipient of the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was the half brother of British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.  He died at age 73.

1854 ~ Oscar Wilde (d. Nov. 30, 1900), Irish author and playwright.  He died at age 46.

1831 ~ Lucy Stanton (d. Feb. 18, 1910), African-American abolitionist and activist for woman’s rights.  She died at age 78.

1815 ~ Francis Lubbock (d. June 22, 1905), 9^th Governor of Texas.  He served as Governor from November 1861 until November 1863.  He died at age 89.

1806 ~ William P. Fessenden (d. Sept. 8, 1869), 26^th United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President Abraham Lincoln.  He served as Treasurer from July 1864 until March 1865.  He had previously served as a United States Senator from Maine.  He was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire and died at age 62 in Portland, Maine.

1762 ~ Paul Hamilton (d. June 30, 1816), 3^rd United States Secretary of the Navy.  He was appointed to the position by President James Madison.  He served in that Office from May 1809 until January 1813.  He died at age 53.

1758 ~ Noah Webster (d. May 28, 1758), American writer and lexicographer.  He was the creator of the dictionary that bears his name.  He died at age 84.

1754 ~ Morgan Lewis (d. Apr. 7, 1844), 3^rd Governor of New York.  He served as Governor from July 1804 until June 1807.  He died at age 89.

1430 ~ King James II of Scotland (d. Aug. 3, 1460).  He was King of Scots from February 1437 until his death at age 29 in August 1460.

Events that Changed the World:

2006 ~ A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Hawaii.

2002 ~ The Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, which commemorated the ancient and lost Library of Alexandria, was officially inaugurated.

1984 ~ South African Desmond Tutu (b. 1931) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1978 ~ Polish Wanda Rutkiewicz (1943 ~ 1992) became the first European woman to reach the top of Mount Everest.

1978 ~ Pope John Paul II (né Karol Wojtyla, 1920 ~ 2005) was elected Pope.

1973 ~ German-American Henry Kissinger (b. 1923) and Vietnamese Lê Ðúc Thǫ (1911 ~ 1990) were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1968 ~ Yasunari Kawabata (1899 ~ 1972) became the first Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1968 ~ The US Olympic Committee suspended track and field athletes Tommy Smith (b. 1944) and John Carlos (b. 1945) for giving the “Black Power” salute during the victory celebration at the Mexico City Olympic games.  Their actions were deemed politicizing the Games.

1964 ~ China detonated its first nuclear weapon.

1943 ~ The Raid of the Ghetto of Rome occurred when the Gestapo deported over 1,000 Jews to Auschwitz.  Only 16 of the Roman Jews from this raid survived the Holocaust.

1940 ~ The Warsaw Ghetto was established during the Holocaust.

1923 ~ Walt (1901 ~ 1966) and Roy Disney (1893 ~ 1971) founded the Walt Disney Company.

1916 ~ Margaret Sanger (1879 ~ 1966) opened the first family planning clinic in the United States.  It was in Brooklyn, New York.

1875 ~ The Brigham Young University was founded in Provo, Utah.

1859 ~ John Brown (1800 ~ 1859) led a raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

1846 ~ William Morton (1819 ~ 1868) first demonstrated the use of ether anesthesia in the Ether Dome at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

1834 ~ Much of the ancient structure of Westminster Palace in London burned to the ground.

1384 ~ Jadwiga (1373 ~ 1399) was crowned King of Poland even though she was a woman.

Good-Byes:

2012 ~ Eddie Yost (né Edward Frederick Joseph Yost, b. Oct. 13, 1926), American baseball player and coach.  He died 3 days after his 86^th birthday.

2010 ~ Barbara Billingsley (née Barbara Lillian Combes, b. Dec. 22, 1915), American actress.  She is best known for her role as June Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver.  She died at age 94.

2007 ~ Deborah Kerr (b. Sept. 30, 1921), Scottish actress who was a proper leading lady.  She is best remembered for the kiss scene with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity.  She died 17 days after her 86^th birthday.

2004 ~ Pierre Salinger (b. June 14, 1925), American journalist.  He also served as 11^th White House Press Secretary under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from January 1961 until March 1964.  He died of heart failure at age 79.

1999 ~ Jean Shepherd (b. July 26, 1921), American radio host.  He is best known for the 1983 movie, A Christmas Story.  He died at age 78.

1997 ~ James Michener (b. Feb. 3, 1907), American author.  He died at age 90.

1992 ~ Shirley Booth (b. Aug. 30, 1898), American actress.  She is best known for her portrayal of Hazel on the sit-com of the same name.  She died in North Chatham, Massachusetts at age 94.

1981 ~ Moshe Dayan (b. May 20, 1915), Israeli general.  He died of a massive heart attack at age 66.

1972 ~ Hale Boggs (né Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr., b. Feb. 15, 1914), American politician from New Orleans, Louisiana.  He is presumed to have died on this date, but he was not officially declared dead until January 1973.  He was in a small aircraft that disappeared in rural Alaska.  He was 58 years old at the time of his disappearance.  He was the father of journalist and correspondent Cokie Roberts.

1959 ~ George Marshall (b. Dec. 31, 1880), 50^th Secretary of State and the 3^rd United States Secretary of Defense.  He served in these positions under President Harry S Truman.  He was given credit for the Marshall Plan, the rebuilding of Europe following World War II.  He was also the recipient of the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 78.

1906 ~ Varina Davis (b. May 7, 1826), First Lady of the Confederate States of American and second wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.  She died at age 80.

1888 ~ John Wentworth (b. Mar. 5, 1815), Mayor of Chicago.  He served two non-consecutive terms as Mayor of Chicago.  He died at age 73.

1881 ~ Louis A. Wiltz (b. Jan. 21, 1843), 29^th Governor of Louisiana.  He served as Governor for only a year and 10 months ~ from January 1880 until October 1881.  He died in office at age 38 of tuberculosis.

1810 ~ Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (b. Apr. 4, 1772), Ukrainian Jewish religious leader and founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement.  He died of tuberculosis at age 38.

1793 ~ Marie Antoinette (b. Nov. 2, 1755), Austrian wife of King Louis XVI of France.  She was guillotined during the French Revolution.  She died less than 3 weeks before her 38^th birthday.

1791 ~ Prince Grigory Potemkin (b. Oct. 11, 1739), Russian statesman and military leader.  This is the ascribed date of his birth in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.  Potemkin had a Russian battleship named after him.  Potemkin is also the name of an early silent film.  It has a great scene in which a baby carriage rolls down the Odessa Steps.  He died 5 days after his 52^nd birthday.

1730 ~ Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac (b. Mar. 5, 1658), French explorer and founder of Detroit, Michigan.  His explorations took him from eastern Canada to Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.  He was the third French Governor of Louisiana.  He died at age 72.

1655 ~ Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (b. June 16, 1591), Greek-Italian physician, rabbi and mathematician.  He died at age 64.

1591 ~ Pope Gregory XIV (né Niccolò Sfondrato, b. Feb. 11, 1535).  He was Pope from December 1590 until his death 10 months later.  He died at age 56.

1553 ~ Lucas Cranach the Elder (b. 1472), German painter.  He died at age 81.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1333 ~ Antipope Nicholas V (né Pietro Rainalducci, b. 1260).  The exact date of his birth is unknown.