October 18

Birthdays:

1973 ~ James Foley (d. Aug. 19, 2014), American freelance photographer and journalist who was murdered by beheading by ISIS.  He had been kidnapped while covering the Syrian Civil War.  He was from Rochester, New Hampshire.  He was 40 years old.

1960 ~ Erin Moran (d. Apr. 22, 2017), American Happy Days star who fell on hard times.  She died at age 56.

1956 ~ Martina Navratilova, Czech-American tennis player.

1952 ~ Chuck Lorre, American director, television producer and screenwriter.

1951 ~ Pam Dawber, American actress best known for her role as Mindy on the television comedy, Mork and Mindy.

1950 ~ Wendy Wasserstein (d. Jan. 30, 2006), American playwright.  She died of lymphoma at age 55.

1939 ~ Lee Harvey Oswald (d. Nov. 24, 1963), American accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.  He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He was murdered by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas Police Department while in police custody.  His murder occurred on live television.  He was 24 years old at the time of his death.

1939 ~ Mike Ditka, American football player and professional coach.

1929 ~ Violeta Chamorro, President of Nicaragua.  She served as President from April 1990 until January 1997.

1927 ~ George C. Scott (d. Sept. 22, 1999), American actor.  He died less than a month before his 72^nd birthday.

1926 ~ Chuck Berry (né Charles Edward Anderson, Berry, Mar. 18, 2017), African-American guitarist, song-writer and pioneer of rock and roll music who started it all.  He died at age 90.

1926 ~ Klaus Kinski (né Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski, d. Nov. 23, 1991), German actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 65.

1921 ~ Jesse Helms (d. July 4, 2008), American far-right senator from North Carolina who refused to compromise.  He was a leader in the conservative movement.  He died at age 86.

1919 ~ Pierre Trudeau (né Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, d. Sept. 28, 2000), 15^th Prime Minister of Canada.  In 2015, his son, Justin (b. 1971) became the 23^rd Prime Minister of Canada.  Pierre died 20 days before his 81^st birthday.

1880 ~ Ze’ev Jabotinsky (né Vladimir Yevgingevich Zhabotinsky, d. Aug. 4 1940), Jewish-Zionist political activist and general.  He died of a heart attack at age 59.

1859 ~ Henri Bergson (d. Jan. 4, 1941), French philosopher and recipient of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 81.

1836 ~ Frederick August Otto Schwarz (d. May 17, 1911), German-born American businessman and founder of the FAO Schwarz toy store.  He died at age 74.

1595 ~ Edward Winslow (d. May 8, 1665), English politician and 3^rd Governor of Plymouth Colony.  He was a Separatist who traveled on the Mayflower to what is now Massachusetts.  The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown but he is believed to have been 59 at the time of his death.

1405 ~ Pope Pius II (né Ebea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini, d. Aug. 14, 1464).  He was Pope from August 19, 1458 until his death on this date nearly 6 years later.  He was 58 at the time of his death.

1160 ~ King Louis VII (1120 ~ 1180) of France married Adele of Champagne (1140 ~ 1206).  They were married just 5 weeks after the death of his previous wife, Constance of Castile.

Events that Changed the World:

2011 ~ Gilad Shalit (b. 1986), the young Israeli soldier who was captured by Palestinian terrorists in June 2006, was released in exchange for over 1000 Palestinian criminals and terrorists.

1954 ~ Texas Instruments announced the first Transistor radio.

1945 ~ Argentine politician Juan Perón (1895 ~ 1974) married Eva Perón (1919 ~ 1952).

1898 ~ Puerto Rico became a United States Territory.

1867 ~ The United States took possession of what is now Alaska after paying Russia $7.2M for the territory.

1851 ~ Herman Melville’s novel, Moby-Dick was first published as The Whale in London, England.

1775 ~ The Town of Falmouth, Maine (now Portland, Maine), was burned, which was a deciding factor in the Continental Congress’s decision to establish the Continental Navy.

1648 ~ The Boston Shoemakers formed the first US labor organization.

1356 ~ The Basel Earthquake, which struck Basel, Switzerland, destroyed much of the city and was a significant seismic event in the Alps.

1009 ~ The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Fatrimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (985 ~ 1021), who hacked the Church’s foundation down to the bedrock.

614 ~ King Chlothar II (584 ~ 629) promulgated the Edict of Parish, which defended the rights of the Frankish nobles but excluded Jews from all civil employment.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Phil Chess (né Fiszel Czyż, b. Mar. 27, 1921), Czech-born record producer and co-founder of Chess Records.  He died at age 95.

2013 ~ Thomas “Tom” Stephen Foley (b. Mar. 6, 1929), American lawyer and politician from Washington State.  He was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from June 1989 until January 1995.  He died at age 84.

2003 ~ Preston Smith (b. Mar. 8, 1912), 40^th Governor of Texas.  He served as Governor from January 1969 until January 1973.  He died at age 91.

2000 ~ Gwen Verdon (née Gwyneth Evelyn Verdon, b. Jan. 13, 1925), American dancer and actress.  She was married to Bob Fosse.  She died at age 75.

1982 ~ Bess Truman (née Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman, b. Feb. 13, 1885), First Lady and wife of President Harry S Truman.  She died at age 97.

1973 ~ Walt Kelly (né Walter Crawford Kelly, b. Aug. 25, 1913), American illustrator and cartoonist.  He is best known for creating the comic strip Pogo.  He died at age 60 from complications of diabetes.

1966 ~ Elizabeth Arden (née Florence Nightingale Graham, b. Dec. 31, 1878), Canadian-American businesswoman and founder of Elizabeth Arden, Inc.  She died at age 87.

1966 ~ Sebastian S. Kresge (b. July 31, 1867), American merchant and founder of the S.S. Kresge retail organization and the K-Mart and Cresge’s Department Stores.  He died at age 99.

1931 ~ Thomas Alva Edison (b. Feb. 11, 1847), American inventor.  He died at age 84.

1911 ~ Alfred Binet (b. July 8, 1857), French psychologist.  He devised the first practical intelligence test.  He died at age 54.

1893 ~ Lucy Stone (b. Aug. 13, 1818), American suffragette.  She helped organize the women’s right movement in the United States.  When she married Henry Blackwell, she kept her name, stating, “My name is the symbol of my identity.”  She was from Massachusetts.  She died at age 75.

1871 ~ Charles Babbage (b. Dec. 26, 1791), English mathematician.  He invented the mechanical computer.  He died at age 79.

1865 ~ Henry John Temple, 3^rd Viscount Palmerston (b. Oct. 20, 1784), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister for two terms.  The first term was from February 1855 through February 1858 and the second term was from June 1859 until his death on this date 6 years later.  He was Prime Minister during the reign of Queen Victoria.  He died 2 days before his 81^st birthday.

1564 ~ Johannes Acronius Frisius (b. 1520), German physician and mathematician. He died of the plague at age 44.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1558 ~ Mary of Hungary (d. Sept. 15, 1505), she was Queen Consort of Hungary and Bohemia and was the wife of King Louis II of Hungary.  She died at age 53.

1541 ~ Margaret Tudor (b. Nov. 28, 1489), English wife of King James IV of Scotland.  She died at age 51.

1503 ~ Pope Pius III (né Francesco Todechini Piccolomini, b. May 29, 1439).  He was Pope for only 26 days, from September 1503 until his death on October 18, 1503, making his papacy one of the shortest in Catholic history.  He was 64 years old at the time of his death.

1417 ~ Pope Gregory XII (né Angelo Corraro, b. 1326).  He was Pope from November 1406 until July 1415.  He was the first Pope to resign until the resignation of Pope Benedict VI in 2013, nearly 600 years later.  He died 2 years after his resignation.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

707 ~ Pope John VII (b. 650).  He served as Pope from March 705 until October 707.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

629 ~ Clothar II (b. 584), King of the Franks.  He was known as Clothar the Great or Clothar the Young.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 44 or 45 at the time of his death.