December 13

Birthdays:

1989 ~ Taylor Swift, American singer.

1957 ~ Steve Buscemi, American actor.

1953 ~ Benjamin Bernanke (né Benjamin Shalom Bernanke), American economist and 14^th Chairman of the Federal Reserve.  He served in that Office from February 2006 until February 2014.

1950 ~ Thomas Vilsack, 30^th Secretary of Agriculture.  He served under President Barack Obama from January 2009 until January 2017.

1945 ~ Herman Cain, American businessman and politician who ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2012 to become US President.

1934 ~ Richard Zanuck (d. July 13, 2012), American movie producer who produced Jaws and reshaped Hollywood.  He died at age 77 in Beverly Hills, California.

1929 ~ Christopher Plummer (né Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer), Canadian actor best known for his role as Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

1927 ~ Harry Hurt (d. Nov. 29, 2009), American engineer who made motorcycles safer.  He died 2 weeks before his 82^nd birthday.

1925 ~ Dick Van Dyke, American actor and comedian.

1924 ~ George “Shotgun” Shuba (d. Sept. 29, 2014), American baseball player who shook hands with history.  He is remembered for his role in breaking down the color barrier when, while playing for a farm team in the 1940s, he offered a congratulatory hand shake to teammate Jackie Robinson.  He was 89 years old.

1923 ~ Frankie Fraser (né Francis Davidson Fraser, d. Nov. 26, 2014), the British vicious gangster who became a beloved celebrity.  He died 17 days before his 91^st birthday.

1923 ~ Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist and recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1920 ~ George P. Shultz, American economist and 60^th Secretary of State of the United States.  He served under President Ronald Reagan from July 1982 until January 1989.  He had previously served as the 62^nd United States Secretary of the Treasury from June 1972 until May 1974.  He was also the United States Secretary of Labor during the Nixon administration from January 1969 until July 1970.

1915 ~ Ross Macdonald (né Kenneth Millar, d. July 11, 1983), American-Canadian author of detective novels.  He died of Alzheimer’s disease at age 67.

1911 ~ Trygve Haavelmo (d. July 28, 1999), Norwegian economist and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 87 in Oslo, Norway.

1887 ~ George Pólya (d. Sept. 7, 1985), Hungarian-American mathematician.  He died at age 97 in Palo Alto, California.

1818 ~ Mary Todd Lincoln (d. July 16, 1882), First Lady and wife of President Abraham Lincoln.  She died at age 63.

1797 ~ Heinrich Heine (né Christian Johann Heinrich Heine, d. Feb. 17, 1856), German poet.  He died at age 58 in Paris, France.

1720 ~ James Hargreaves (d. Apr. 22, 1778), English inventor of the Spinning Jenny.  He died at about age 57; the exact date of his birth is unknown, but is assumed to have been December 13.

1678 ~ Yongzheng (d. Oct. 8, 1735), 5^th emperor of the Qing Dynasty.  He died at age 56.

1553 ~ King Henry IV of France (d. May 14, 1610).  He was assassinated at age 56.

1540 ~ Francisus Vieta (d. Feb. 23, 1603), French mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 62 or 63 at the time of his death.

1533 ~ King Erick XIV of Sweden (d. Feb. 26, 1577).  He died at age 43.

1521 ~ Pope Sixtus V (né Felice Peretti di Montalto, d. Aug. 27, 1590).  He was Pope from April 1585 until his death 5 years later.  He died at age 69.

Events that Changed the World:

2003 ~ Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (1937 ~ 2006) was capture by American troops in a bunker near his home town of Tikrit, in an operation known as Operation Red Dawn.

2002 ~ The European Union announced that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia would become members in May 2004.

2000 ~ Al Gore conceded the Presidential election to George W. Bush.

1981 ~ General Wojciech Jaurzelski (1923 ~ 2014) declared martial law in Poland to prevent the Solidarity group from dismantling the communist system of government.

1977 ~ Air Indiana Flight 216, which was carrying the University of Evansville basketball team, crashed on takeoff at the Evansville Regional Airport.  All aboard were killed.  The only basketball team member who was not on the plane was killed two weeks after being involved in a car crash involving a drunk driver.

1972 ~ American astronauts Eugene Cernan (1934 ~ 2017) and Harrison Schmitt (b. 1935) began the third and final extra-vehicular activity, or Moonwalk, of Apollo 17.  They are the last humans to walk on the Moon.

1949 ~ The Israeli Knesset voted to have Jerusalem be the capital of Israel.  Many countries, including the United States, refuse to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, instead, housing their diplomats in Tel Aviv.

1938 ~ The Neuengamme concentration opened in Hamburg, Germany during the Holocaust.

1937 ~ During the Nanjing Massacre, Japanese troops began killing and raping civilians after the fall of Nanjing, China.  This went on for several weeks.

1928 ~ An American in Paris, by George Gershwin (1898 ~ 1937), was first performed in Carnegie Hall.

1862 ~ General Robert E. Lee (1807 ~ 1870) defeated Union Major General Ambrose Burnside (1824 ~ 1881) at the Battle of Fredericksburg during the American Civil War.

1769 ~ Eleazar Wheelock (1711 ~ 1779) founded Dartmouth College, located in present day Hanover, New Hampshire, with a Royal Charter from King George III on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth.

1642 ~ Dutch seafarer, Abel Tasman (1603 ~ 1659) reached what is now known as New Zealand.

1636 ~ The Massachusetts Bay Colony organized militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians.  This organization is recognized as the beginning of the United States National Guard.

1577 ~ Sir Francis Drake (1540 ~ 1596) began his voyage around the world.

1545 ~ The Council of Trent began.

1294 ~ Saint Celestine V (1215 ~ 1296) resigned the papacy after only serving as Pope for 5 months.  He was the only Pope to resign until Benedict XVI resigned in 2013.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Thomas Schelling (b. Apr. 14, 1921), American economist and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.  He died at age 95.

2010 ~ Richard Holbrooke (b. Apr. 24, 1941), 22^nd American Ambassador to the United Nations.  He died at age 69 from complications of a torn aorta.

2009 ~ Paul Samuelson (b. May 15, 1915), American economist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Economic Science.  He died at age 94.

1983 ~ Mary Renault (née Eileen Mary Challans, b. Sept. 4, 1905), English novelist of historical fiction.  She died at age 78.

1974 ~ John G. Bennett (b. June 8, 1897) English mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1961 ~ Grandma Moses (née Anna Mary Robertson Moses, b. Sept. 7, 1860), American folk artist.  She died at age 101.

1955 ~ Egas Moniz (né António Caetano de Aubre Freire Egas Moniz, b. Nov. 29, 1874), Portuguese neurologist and recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died 14 days after his 81^st birthday.

1950 ~ Abraham Wald (b. Oct. 31, 1902), Hungarian mathematician.  He was killed in a plane crash at age 48.

1944 ~ Wassily Kandinsky (b. Dec. 16, 1866), Russian-born French painter and artist who is credited as being the Father of Abstract Painting.  He died three days before his 78^th birthday.

1935 ~ Victor Grignard (né François Auguste Victor Grignard, b. May 6, 1871), French chemist and recipient of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 64 in Lyons, France.

1934 ~ Thomas Watson (b. Jan. 18, 1854), assistant to Alexander Graham Bell during the invention of the telephone.  He died about a month before his 81^st birthday.

1930 ~ Fritz Pregl (b. Sept. 3, 1869), Slovenian-born Austrian chemist and recipient of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 61 in Graz, Austria.

1927 ~ Mehmet Nadir (b. 1856), Turkish mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1924 ~ Samuel Gompers (b. Jan. 27, 1850), English-born American labor leader.  He was the founder of the American Federation of Labor.  He died at age 74 in San Antonio, Texas.

1784 ~ Samuel Johnson (b. Sept. 18, 1709), British biographer and lexicographer.  He died at age 75.

1621 ~ Catherine Stenbock (b. July 22, 1535), Swedish wife of Gustav I of Sweden.  She was the Queen consort from August 1552 until her husband’s death in 1560.  She died at age 86.

1557 ~ Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia (b. 1499), Italian mathematician.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 57 or 58 at the time of his death.

1466 ~ Donatello (né Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, b. 1386), Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor from Florence, Italy.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1250 ~ Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. Dec. 26, 1194).  He died 13 days before his 56^th birthday.

1124 ~ Pope Callixtus II (né Guy of Burgundy, b. 1065).  He was pope from February 1119 until his death on this date 5 years later.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

558 ~ Childebert I (b. 496), King of Paris.  The date of his birth is not known.