February 13

Birthdays:

1979 ~ Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian terrorist and murderer.  In July 2011, he committed mass murder.  He has been sentenced to life in prison.

1948 ~ Laura Inés Pollán Toledo (d. Oct. 14, 2011), Cuban opposition leader who flummoxed the Castro regime.  She died of cardiac arrest at age 63.

1947 ~ Stephen Hadley, 21^st National Security Advisor.  He served under President George W. Bush from January 2005 until January 2009.

1944 ~ Stockard Channing (née Susan Antoina Williams Stockard), American actress.

1944 ~ Jerry Springer (né Gerald Norman Springer), American television host.  He also served as the 56^th Mayor of Cincinnati from January 1977 until January 1978.

1943 ~ Elaine Pagels, American theologian and religious historian.

1942 ~ Peter Tork (né Peter Halsten Thorkelson), American singer-songwriter and member of The Monkees.

1940 ~ Theodore Joseph Forstmann (d. Nov. 20, 2011), American pioneer of private equity.  He died at age 71.

1933 ~ Kim Novak (née Marilyn Pauline Novak), American actress.

1923 ~ Michael Anthony Bilandic (d. Jan. 15, 2002), Mayor of Chicago.  He served as mayor from December 1976 until April 1979.  He died a month before his 79^th birthday.

1923 ~ Chuck Yeager (né Charles Elwood Yeager), American fighter plane test pilot who was the first person to break the sound barrier.

1919 ~ Tennessee Ernie Ford (né Ernest Jennings Ford, d. Oct. 17, 1991), American singer and actor.  He died at age 72.

1919 ~ Eddie Robinson (d. Apr. 3, 2007), American football coach and Louisiana native.  He died at age 88.

1911 ~ Jean Muir (née Jean Muir Fullarton, d. July 23, 1996), American stage actress.  She died at age 85.

1910 ~ William Shockley (d. Aug. 12, 1989), American physicist and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with transistors.  He died at age 79.

1892 ~ Robert Houghwout Jackson (d. Oct. 9, 1954), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from July 1941 until his death in Octo ber 1954.  Prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court, he had served as the 57^th Attorney General under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He previously served as the 24^th United States Solicitor General.  He also served as the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.  He died of a heart attack at age 62.

1891 ~ Grant DeVolson Wood (d. Feb. 13, 1942), American painter best known for his iconic American Gothic.  He died of pancreatic cancer 1 day before his 51^st birthday.

1888 ~ Georgios Papandreou (d. Nov. 1, 1968), Prime Minister of Greece.  He served several terms as Prime Minister.  He died at age 80.

1885 ~ Bess Truman (née Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman, d. Oct. 18, 1982), First Lady and wife of President Harry S Truman.  She served as First Lady from April 1945 until January 1953.  She died at age 97.

1855 ~ Paul Deschanel (d. Apr. 28, 1922), President of France from February 1920 until September 1920.  He died at age 67.

1849 ~ Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (d. Jan. 24, 1985), British statesman.  He was the father of Winston Churchill.  Interestingly, Winston died exactly 70 years after the death of his father.  Lord Randolph died 20 days after his 45^th birthday.

1834 ~ Heinrich Caro (d. Sept. 10, 1910), Polish-German chemist.  He died at age 76.

1831 ~ John Aaron Rawlins (d. Sept. 6, 1869), 29^th Secretary of War.  He served under President Ulysses S. Grant from March 1869 until his death 6 months later.  He died of tuberculosis at age 38.

1818 ~ Sarah Angelica Singleton Van Buren (d. Dec. 29, 1877), daughter-in-law of President Martin Van Buren.  She served as First Lady during his Presidency.  She died at age 59.

1805 ~ Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (d. May 5, 1859), German mathematician.  He died at age 54.

1599 ~ Pope Alexander VII (né Fabio Chigi, d. May 22, 1667).  He was Pope from April 1655 until his death 12 years later.  He died at age 68.

1523 ~ Valentin Naboth (d. Mar. 3, 1593), German mathematician.  He died less than a month after his 70^th birthday.

1469 ~ Elia Levita (d. Jan. 28, 1549), Renaissance Hebrew grammarian.  He died 18 days after his 80^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2018 ~ Mardi Gras.

2017 ~ Kim Jong-nam (1971 ~ 2017), oldest half-brother of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, was assassinated at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, presumably at the orders of Kim Jong-un..

2001 ~ A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit El Salvador, killing at least 400 people.  On January 9, 2018, the Trump administration announced that those from El Salvador who came to the United States as a result of the earthquake must return to their home country.

1981 ~ A series of sewer explosions destroyed more than 2 miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.

1955 ~ Israel acquired 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls.

1945 ~ The Royal Air Force bombers were dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.

1935 ~ A New Jersey jury found Bruno Hauptmann (1899 ~ 1936) guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of Charles and Anna Lindbergh’s baby.  He was executed via the electric chair on April 3, 1936.

1931 ~ New Delhi was declared the capital of India.

1914 ~ In New York City, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1698 ~ William (1650 ~ 1702) and Mary (1662 ~ 1694) were proclaimed co-rulers of England.

1668 ~ Spain recognized Portugal as an independent nation.

1633 ~ Galileo Galilei (1564 ~ 1642) arrived in Rome for his heresy trial before the Inquisition.

1575 ~ King Henry III (1551 ~ 1589) of France was crown king and married Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont (1553 ~ 1601).

1572 ~ Queen Elizabeth I of England issued a proclamation that revoked all commissions on the account of the frauds that they had fostered.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Christopher Zeeman (b. Feb. 4, 1925), British mathematician.  He died 9 days after his 91^st birthday.

2014 ~ Ralph Waite (b. June 22, 1928), American actor who was father to America with his role as the father on The Waltons.  He died at age 85.

2003 ~ Walt Whitman Rostow (b. Oct. 7, 1916), 7^th National Security Advisor.  He served under President Lyndon B. Johnson from April 1966 until January 1969.  He died at age 86.

1997 ~ Mark Krasnosel’skii (b. Apr. 27, 1920), Ukrainian mathematician.  He died at age 76.

1996 ~ Martin Balsam (b. Nov. 4, 1919), American actor.  He died of a stroke at age 76.

1992 ~ Nikolay Bogolyubov (b. Aug. 21, 1909), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 82.

1980 ~ David Janssen (né David Harold Meyer, b. Mar. 27, 1931), American actor best known for his role as Richard Kimble in The Fugitive.  He died of a heart attack at age 48.

1976 ~ Lily Pons (né Alice Joséphine Pons, b. Apr. 12, 1898), French-born American soprano.  She died of pancreatic cancer at age 77.

1967 ~ Yoshisuke Aikawa (b. Nov. 6, 1880), Japanese entrepreneur and founder of the Nissan Motor Company.  He died at age 86.

1958 ~ Dame Christabel Pankhurst (b. 1880), British suffragette.

1958 ~ Dame Christabel Pankhurst (b. Sept. 22, 1880), British leader of the women’s suffrage movement.  She died at age 77.

1958 ~ Georges Rouault (b. May 27, 1871), French painter.  He died at age 85.

1956 ~ Jan Łukasiewicz (b. Dec. 21, 1878), Polish mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1952 ~ Josephine Tey (née Elizabeth MacKintosh, b. July 25, 1896), Scottish author of mystery novels.  She died of liver cancer at age 55.

1951 ~ Lloyd Cassel Douglas (b. Aug. 27, 1877), American minister and author best known for his novel, The Robe.  He died at age 73.

1945 ~ Henrietta Szold (b. Dec. 21, 1860), American activist and founder of Hadassah.  She died at age 84.

1891 ~ Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (b. Apr. 2, 1807), 3^rd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce from September 1850 until March 1853.  He died at age 83.

1883 ~ Richard Wagner (né Wilhelm Richard Wagner, b. May 22, 1883), German composer best known for his series of operas, The Ring Cycle.  He died of a heart attack at age 69.

1787 ~ Ruđer Josip Bošković (b. May 18, 1711), Croatian physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 75.

1728 ~ Cotton Mather (b. Feb. 12, 1663), New England clergyman.  He died 1 day after his 65^th birthday.

1660 ~ King Charles X Gustav of Sweden (b. Nov. 8, 1622).  He died of complications from pneumonia at age 37.

1571 ~ Benvenuto Cellini (b. Nov. 3, 1500), Italian goldsmith and sculptor.  He died at age 70.

1543 ~ Johann Eck (d. Nov. 13, 1486), German theologian.  He died at age 56.

1542 ~ Catherine Howard (b. 1521), fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England.  She was executed on charges of adultery.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 18 or 19 at the time of her execution.

1542 ~ Jane Boleyn (b. 1505), sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and lady-in-waiting to Catherine Howard.  She was executed along with Catherine Howard.  The exact date of her birth is not known.

1130 ~ Pope Honorius II (né Lamberto Scannabecchi, b. Feb. 9, 1060), Pope from December 1124 until his death on this date in 1130.  He died 4 days after his 70^th birthday.

936 ~ Xiao Wen, Chinese empress of the Liao Dynasty.  The date of her birth is not known.