November 7

Birthdays:

1952 ~ David Petraeus, American military officer and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Obama administration.  He served as CIA director from September 2011 until November 2012, when he lost his job as CIA Director after it came to light he was having an affair with his biographer.

1943 ~ Joni Mitchell, Canadian singer-songwriter.

1943 ~ Michael Spence, American economist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

1942 ~ Jean Shrimpton, English model.

1929 ~ Erick Kandel, Austrian neuroscientist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1926 ~ Dame Joan Sutherland (d. Oct. 10, 2010), Australian operatic soprano.  She died about a month before her 84^th birthday.

1922 ~ Al Hirt (né Alois Maxwell Hirt, d. Apr. 27, 1999), American trumpeter.  He was born and died in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He died at age 76.

1918 ~ William “Billy” Graham, American evangelist.

1915 ~ Phillip Morrison (d. Apr. 22, 2005), American physicist who helped assemble the first atomic bomb.  He died at age 89.

1913 ~ Albert Camus (d. Jan. 4, 1960), French Existentialist writer and recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was killed in a car accident at age 46.

1903 ~ Konrad Lorenz (d. Feb. 27, 1989), Austrian zoologist and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 85.

1898 ~ Raphaël Salem (d. June 20, 1963), Greek mathematician.  He died at age 64.

1888 ~ Sir C. V. Raman (né Chandrasekhara Venkata Rāman, d. Nov. 21, 1970), Indian physicist and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died 2 weeks after his 82^nd birthday.

1879 ~ Leon Trotsky (d. Aug. 21, 1940), Russian Marxist revolutionary and founder of the Red Army.  He ultimately fled Russia and was in exile in Mexico, where he was assassinated at age 60.

1867 ~ Marie Curie (d. July 4, 1934), French-Polish physicist and chemist, who along with her husband, Pierre Curie (1859 ~ 1906), became famous for their research on radioactivity and the discovery or radium.  She was the first woman to be awarded with a Nobel Prize and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.   In 1903, she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Bacquerel.  In 1911, she wan a solo Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She died at age 66.

1832 ~ Andrew Dickson White (d. Nov. 4, 1918), American educator and co-founder of Cornell University.  He was the University’s first president.  He died 3 days before his 86^th birthday.

1728 ~ Captain James Cook (d. Feb. 14, 1779), British naval officer and explorer.  Under the Julian calendar, is birthday is considered to have been on October 17, 1728.  He was killed at age 50 in a confrontation with natives on the Hawaiian Islands.

Events that Changed the World:

2012 ~ An earthquake of the Pacific coast of Guatemala killed over 50 people.

2000 ~ The Presidential election between George W. Bush (b. 1946) and Al Gore (b. 1948) was undetermined.  The case was ultimately resolved by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Bush v. Gore.

2000 ~ Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (b. 1947) was elected to the United States Senate.

1989 ~ Douglas Wilder (b. 1931) was elected governor of Virginia, becoming the first elected African-American to govern in the United States.

1989 ~ David Dinkins (b. 1927) was elected the first African-American mayor of New York City.

1983 ~ A bomb exploded inside the United States Capitol.  No one was injured.

1972 ~ Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) was reelected as President of the United States.

1967 ~ President Lyndon Johnson (1908 ~ 1973) signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, thereby establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

1967 ~ Carl B. Stokes (1927 ~ 1996) was elected as mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, thereby becoming the first African-American elected to a major US city.

1944 ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) was elected for a historic fourth term as President of the United States.  He did not live to the completion of this term.

1940 ~ In Tacoma, Washington, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in a windstorm, just four months after its completion.  Its collapse was recorded on tape.

1933 ~ Fiorello LaGuardia (1882 ~ 1947) was elected as the 99^th Mayor of New York City.

1929 ~ The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened in New York City.

1917 ~ The Bolsheviks ousted the provisional Russian government by storming the Winter Palace.  (The Russian calendar in use at the time notes this anniversary on October 25, hence the name, the October Revolution).

1916 ~ Woodrow Wilson (1856 ~ 1924) was reelected as President of the United States.

1916 ~ Jeannette Rankin (1880 ~ 1973) became the first woman to be elected to the United States Congress.  She was a representative from Montana.

1914 ~ The New Republic magazine began its publication.

1913 ~ The first day of the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 began when a massive blizzard with hurricane force winds began.  Over 250 people were killed in the Storm, which lasted through November 10, 1913.

1908 ~ Butch Cassidy (né Robert Leroy Parker, 1866 ~ 1908) and the Sundance Kid (né Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, 1867 ~ 1908) were believed to have been killed in a shoot-out in Bolivia.

1893 ~ Colorado became the second state in the union to grant women the right to vote.

1874 ~ Cartoonist Thomas Nast’s depiction of the Elephant as representing the American Republican Party was first published in Harper’s Weekly.

1811 ~ General William Henry Harrison defeated the American Indians in the Battle of Tippecanoe, a conflict between the United States Army and the American Indian Confederacy.  The battle took place in what is now Indiana.

1665 ~ The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, was began publication.  It does not have a wide circulation, however.  It is one of the official journals of British government.

1619 ~ Elizabeth Stuart (1596 ~ 1662) was crowned Queen of Bohemia.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Janet Reno (b. July 21, 1938), 79^th United States Attorney General and first female to hold this post.  She served in the Clinton administration from March 1993 until January 2001.  She died at age 78.

2016 ~ Leonard Cohen (b. Sept. 21, 1934), Canadian songwriter.  He died at age 82.

2011 ~ Joe Frazier (né Joseph Frazier, b. Jan. 12, 1944), American heavyweight champ whose rivalry with Muhammad Ali defined an era.  He died at age 67.

2009 ~ Donald Harrington (b. Dec. 22, 1935), American novelist who created a surreal Ozark world.  He died at age 73.

2000 ~ Queen Ingrid of Denmark (b. Mar. 28, 1910).  She died at age 90.

1995 ~ Stanley Ann Dunham (b. Nov. 29, 1942), American anthropologist and mother of United States President Barack Obama.  She died of cancer 22 days before her 53^rd birthday.

1981 ~ Will Durant (b. Nov. 5, 1885), American historian.  He and his wife, Ariel (1898 ~ 1881, wrote a series of books entitled The History of Civilization.  He died 2 days after his 96^th birthday.

1980 ~ Steve McQueen (b. Mar. 24, 1930), American actor.  He died of cancer at age 50.

1968 ~ Alexander Gelfond (b. Oct. 24, 1906), Russian mathematician.  He died 2 weeks after his 62^nd birthday.

1967 ~ John Nance Garner, IV (b. Nov. 22, 1868), Vice President of the United States.  He served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 until 1941.  Prior to service as Vice President, he was the 39^th Speaker of the House of Representatives.  He died 15 days before his 99^th birthday.

1962 ~ Eleanor Roosevelt (née Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, b. Oct. 11, 1884), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  She served as First Lady from March 1933 until the death of President Roosevelt in April 1945.  She died less than a month after her 78^th birthday.

1944 ~ Hannah Szenes (b. July 17, 1921), Hungarian-born Israeli soldier who parachuted into Yugoslavia during World War II to help save the Jews of Hungary.  Technically, she died before the State of Israel had been established.  She was executed at age 23.

1908 ~ Sundance Kid (né Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, b. 1867), American outlaw.  He and Butch Cassidy were killed in Bolivia in a shoot-out.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 40 or 41 at the time of his death.

1908 ~ Butch Cassidy (né Robert Leroy Parker, b. Apr. 13, 1866), American outlaw.  He was killed in Bolivia at age 42.

1872 ~ Alfred Clebsch (d. Jan. 19, 1833), German mathematician.  He died at age 39.

1633 ~ Cornelis Drebbel (b. 1572), Dutch inventor who invented the modern submarine.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have ben 61 years old at the time of his death.

1574 ~ Solomon Luria (b. 1510), Polish rabbi.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 63 years old at the time of his death.