January 8

Birthdays:

1983 ~ Kim Jong-um, 3^rd Supreme Leader of North Korea.

1958 ~ Betsy DeVos (née Elizabeth Dee Prince DeVos), 11^th United States Secretary of Education.  She served in the Donald Trump administration.

1952 ~ Peter McCullagh, Irish mathematician.

1949 ~ John Podesta, 20^th White House Chief of Staff.  He served in the Bill Clinton administration from January 2014 until February 2015.

1947 ~ David Bowie (d. Jan. 10, 2016), English musician.  He was the ever-changing British rocker who transcended music, art, and fashion.  He died of liver cancer 2 days after his 69^th birthday.

1944 ~ Vladimir Miklyukov (d. Oct. 1, 2013), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 69.

1943 ~ Brian Kelley (d. Sept. 19, 2011), American CIA counterintelligence officer.  He was falsely accused of being a double agent, however, he was not.  He died at age 68.

1942 ~ Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist and author.  Hawking was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease as a young man.  His life story was depicted in the 2014 movie, The Theory of Everything.

1939 ~ Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan fashion designer.

1939 ~ Alan Wilson, British mathematician.

1935 ~ Elvis Presley (d. Aug. 16, 1977), American singer.  He died at age 42.

1933 ~ Charles Osgood (né Charles Osgood Wood, III), American journalist and commentator.

1926 ~ Soupy Sales (né Milton Supman, d. Oct. 22, 2009), American comedian and actor who relished pies in the face.  He died at age 83.

1912 ~ José Ferrer (né José Vincente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón, d. Jan. 26, 1992), Puerto Rican actor and the first Hispanic actor to win an Oscar for his performance in the title role of the film Cyrano de Bergerac.  He died 18 days after his 80^th birthday.

1912 ~ Lawrence Edward Walsh (d. Mar. 19, 2014), Canadian-born American lawyer and 4^th United States Deputy Attorney General.  He was in office during the Eisenhower administration from 1957 to 1960.  He is best known for serving as Independent Counsel to investigate the Iran-Contra affair during the Ronald Reagan administration.  He died at age 102.

1911 ~ Gypsy Rose Lee (née Rose Louise Hovick, d. Apr. 26, 1970), American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act.  She died of lung cancer at age 59.

1891 ~ Walther Bothe (d. Feb. 8, 1957), German physicist and recipient of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died a month after his 66^th birthday.

1888 ~ Richard Courant (d. Jan. 27, 1972), German-born American mathematician.  The Courant Institute of Mathematical Science in New York City was named in his honor.  He died 19 days after his 84^th birthday.

1883 ~ Patrick J. Hurley (d. July 30, 1963), 51^st Secretary of War.  He served under President Herbert Hoover from December 1929 until March 1933.  He died at age 80.

1881 ~ William Piper (d. Jan. 15, 1970), American businessman and founder of Piper Aircraft.  He died 7 days after his 89^th birthday.

1873 ~ Iuliu Maniu (d. Feb. 5, 1953), Prime Minister of Romania.  He served for three terms as Prime Minister between 1928 and 1933.  He died less than a month after his 80^th birthday.

1867 ~ Emily Greene Balch (d. Jan. 9, 1961), American economist, writer and pacifist.  She was the recipient of the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize.  She was a central leader of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize.  She died in Cambridge, Massachusetts 1 day after her 94^th birthday.

1862 ~ Frank Nelson Doubleday (d. Jan. 30, 1934), American publisher and founder of the Doubleday Publishing Company.  He died 22 days after his 72^nd birthday.

1824 ~ Wilkie Collins (né William Wilkie Collins, d. Sept. 23, 1889), British author best known for his novels, The Woman in White and Moonstone.  He died of a stroke at age 65.

1821 ~ James Longstreet (d. Jan. 2, 1904), Confederate General during the American Civil War.  He died 6 days before his 83^rd birthday.

1786 ~ Nicholas Biddle (d. Feb. 27, 1844), American banker and financier.  He died at age 58.

1805 ~ John Bigler (d. Nov. 29, 1871), 3^rd Governor of California.  He served as Governor from January 1852 until January 1856.  He died at age 66.

1735 ~ John Carroll (d. Dec. 3, 1815), American archbishop and founder of Georgetown University.  He died at age 80.

1638 ~ Elisabetta Sirani (d. Aug. 28, 1665), Italian painter and printmaker.  She established an academy for other women artists.  She died under mysterious circumstances at age 27.

Events that Changed the World:

2011 ~ Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (b. 1970) was shot in the head while at a speaking engagement.  Twelve other people were wounded and six people, including a state judge, were killed by the deranged gunman.

2009 ~ A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Costa Rica killed 15 people and injured over 30 others.

2002 ~ The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law, which was designed to assist disadvantaged students in schools.

1982 ~ AT&T agreed to divest itself of 22 subdivisions, thereby breaking up the Bell Telephone System so as not to be a monopoly.

1975 ~ Ella Grasso (1919–1981) became Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to be elected governor.  Other women had served as governor, but they had succeeded the office following the death of their husbands.

1964 ~ President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 ~ 1973) declared a “War on Poverty” in the United States.

1963 ~ Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was exhibited for the first time in the United States when it was loaned to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

1918 ~ President Woodrow Wilson (1856 ~ 1924) announced his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.

1877 ~ Crazy Horse (d. 1877) and his warriors fought their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain in the Montana Territory.

1835 ~ The United States national debt was $0 for the only time.

1815 ~ Andrew Jackson (1767 ~ 1845) defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

1811 ~ Charles Deslondes led an unsuccessful slave revolt in St. Charles and St. James Parish, Louisiana.  During the course of the revolt, 95 slaves were killed, but only two white men killed.

1790 ~ George Washington (1732 ~ 1799) delivered the first State of the Union address in New York, New York.

1499 ~ King Louis XII (1462 ~ 1515) of France married Anne of Brittany (1477 ~ 1517).

1297 ~ The House of Grimaldi began ruling Monaco when François Grimaldi (d. 1309), disguised as a monk, led his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco.

Good-Byes:

2009 ~ Richard John Neuhaus (b. May 14, 1936), conservative Catholic theologian who worked to forge ties between Catholics and evangelic Christians, which helped energize the Republican party under George W. Bush.  He died of cancer at age 72.

2002 ~ Dave Thomas (né Rex David Thomas, b. July 2, 1932), American fast food entrepreneur and founder of Wendy’s Restaurant, He named his restaurant after his daughter, whose nickname was Wendy.  He died at age 69.

2002 ~ Alexander Prokhorov (b. July 11, 1916), Russian physicist and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 85.

1997 ~ Melvin Calvin (b. Apr. 8, 1911), American chemist and recipient of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 85.

1996 ~ François Mitterrand (b. Oct. 26, 1916), President of France.  He died at age 79.

1976 ~ Zhou Enlai (b. Mar. 5, 1898), 1^st Premier of the People’s Republic of China.  He died at age 77.

1958 ~ Mary Jane Colter (b. Apr. 4, 1869), American architect.  She was one of a very small group of female architects.  She died at age 88.

1941 ~ Lord Robert Baden-Powell (né Robert Stephenson Smyth Baton-Powell, b. Feb. 22, 1857), British soldier, author and founder of the Boy Scouts.  He died at age 83 in Kenya.

1925 ~ George Bellows (b. Aug. 12, 1825), American artist.  He was known for his realistic paintings.  The exact date of his birth is in question.  He may actually have been born on August 19^th.  He died at age 42 of a ruptured appendix.

1918 ~ Ellis H. Roberts (b. Sept. 30, 1827), 20^th Treasurer of the United States.  He served under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt from July 1897 until June 1905.  He died at age 90.

1917 ~ Mary Arthur McElroy (b. July 5, 1841), sister of President Chester Arthur.  She served as First Lady during his term as President.  She died at age 75.

1825 ~ Eli Whitney (b. Dec. 8, 1765), American inventor who developed the cotton gin.  He died in New Haven, Connecticut a month after his 59^th birthday.

1642 ~ Galileo Galilei (b. Feb. 15, 1564), Italian astronomer, scientist and philosopher.  He died at age 77.

1337 ~ Giotto (né Giotto di Bondone, b. 1266), Italian painter and architect.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 70 at the time of his death.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1324 ~ Marco Polo (b. Sept. 15, 1254), Italian explorer and merchant.  The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, but he is believed to have been about 60 or 70 at the time of his death.

1198 ~ Pope Celestine III (né Giacinto Bobone, b. 1106).  He reigned for almost 7 years, from 1191 until his death on this date in 1198.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1107 ~ Edgar, King of Scotland (b. 1074).  The exact date of his birth is not known.