February 27

Birthdays:

1980 ~ Chelsea Clinton, daughter of President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

1958 ~ Nancy Laura Spungen (d. Oct. 12, 1978), girlfriend of Sid Vicious, whom he murdered.  She was 20 years old.

1958 ~ Maggie Hassan (née Margaret Wood), 81^st Governor of New Hampshire.  She assumed office in January 2017.

1951 ~ Lee Atwater (né Harvey LeRoy Atwater, d. Mar. 29, 1991), American politician and political consultant.  He served Presidents Ronald Reagan and George WH Bush.  He died about a month after his 40^th birthday of an aggressive form of brain tumor.

1950 ~ Julia Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger, English rabbi and political figure.

1942 ~ Robert Howard Grubbs, American chemist and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1940 ~ Howard Hesseman, American actor.  He is best known for his role as Johnny Fever on WKPR in Cinncinati.

1934 ~ Ralph Nader, American activist and political figure.

1933 ~ Malcolm Wallop (d. Sept. 14, 2011), American rancher senator from Wyoming who pushed hard for missile defense.  He died at age 78.

1932 ~ Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (d. Mar. 23, 2011), English-American actress.  She died of congestive heart failure about a month after her 79^th birthday.

1930 ~ Joanne Woodward, American actress and wife of Paul Newman.

1927 ~ Peter Whittle, New Zealander mathematician.

1926 ~ David Hunter Hubel (d. Sept. 22, 2013), Canadian neurophysiologist and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 87.

1921 ~ Theodore Van Kirk (d. July 28, 2014), American navigator who guided the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the H-bomb on Hiroshima.  He died at age 93.

1919 ~ Johnny Pesky (né John Michael Pavveskovich, d. Aug. 13, 2012), American baseball player, manager and coach who spent much of his career with the Boston Red Sox.  He was known as Mr. Red Sox.  He died at age 93.

1917 ~ John Bowden Connally, Jr. (d. June 15, 1993), 61^st Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President Richard Nixon from February 1971 until June 1972.  He was also the 55^th United States Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy from January 1961 until December 1961.  He has also served as the 39^th Governor of Texas and was in the motorcade when President Kennedy was killed.  He died at age 76.

1913 ~ Irwin Shaw (né Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff, d. May 16, 1984), American author.  He is best known for his books Rich Man, Poor Man and Beggarman, Thief.  He died of prostate cancer at age 71.

1913 ~ Paul Riocœur (d. May 20, 2005), French philosopher who taught in a POW camp during World War II.  He died at age 92.

1910 ~ Peter de Vries (d. Sept. 28, 1993), American novelist.  He died at age 83.

1903 ~ Joseph Ber Soloveitchik (d. Apr. 9, 1993), American rabbi and philosopher.  He died at age 90.

1903 ~ Hans Rohrback (d. Dec. 19, 1993), German mathematician.  He died at age 90.

1902 ~ John Steinbeck (b. Dec. 20, 1968), American novelist and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He is best known his novels including The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, and The Red Pony.  He died of heart disease at age 66.

1899 ~ Charles Herbert Best (d. Mar. 31, 1978), Canadian medical student who co-discovered insulin.  He was born in Maine.  He died about a month after his 79^th birthday.

1897 ~ Marian Anderson (d. Apr. 8, 1993), African-American contralto.  She died at age 96 of congestive heart failure and complications of a stroke.

1892 ~ William Demarest (né Carl William Demarest, d. Dec. 27, 1983), American actor.  He is best known for playing Uncle Charlie on My Three Sons.  He died of prostate cancer at age 91.

1891 ~ David Sarnoff (d. Dec. 12, 1971), Russian-born American businessman and pioneer in radio and television.  He was the founder of RCA.  He also founded NBC.  He died at age 80.

1888 ~ Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Sr. (d. Oct. 30, 1965), American historian and author.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 77.

1886 ~ Hugo Black (d. Sept. 25, 1971), Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from August 1837 until his retirement on September 17, 1971.  He served on the court for 34 years.  He suffered a stroke 2 days after he retired and died shortly thereafter at age 83.

1881 ~ L. E. J. Brouwer (né Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer, d. Dec. 2, 1966), Dutch mathematician.  He died at age 85.

1878 ~ Alvan Fuller (d. Apr. 30, 1958), 50^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1925 until January 1929.  He died at age 80.

1869 ~ Alice Hamilton (d. Sept. 22, 1970), American academic and pioneer in toxicology research.  She was a leading expert in occupational health.  She was the first woman appointed to the faculty at Harvard University.  She died at age 101.

1852 ~ John McLane (d. Apr. 13, 1911), 50^th Governor of New Hampshire.  He was Governor from January 1905 until January 1907.  He was a furniture maker from Milford, New Hampshire.  He died at age 59.

1807 ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (d. Mar. 24, 1882), He was born in Portland, Maine.  He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts less than a month after his 75^th birthday.

272 ~ Constantine the Great (d. May 22, 337), Roman emperor.  Tradition holds that he was born on February 27.  He is believed to have died at age 65.

Events that Changed the World:

2010 ~ An 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Chile, killing over 500 people and injuring thousand more.  The quake initiated a tsunami which reached Hawaiian Islands.

2004 ~ The initial version of the report detailing sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the United States, was released.

1991 ~ United States President George H.W. Bush (b. 1924) declared that Kuwait was liberated as a result of the Gulf War.

1973 ~ The occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota began by the American Indian Movement.

1951 ~ The 22^nd Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, thereby limiting future American Presidents to only two terms in office.

1940 ~ Martin Kamen (1913 ~ 2002) and Sam Ruben (1913 ~ 1943) discovered carbon-14.

1933 ~ The Reichstag, Germany’s parliamentary building in Berlin was set on fire and burned to the ground.  The Nazi party used the fire to solidify its power and eliminated the communists as political rivals.

1922 ~ In the case of Leser v. Garnett, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the 19^th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.

1900 ~ The British Labour Party, a political party, was founded.

1864 ~ The first Union Prisoners of War were sent to Andersonville, the Confederate prison in Andersonville, Georgia.

1844 ~ The Dominican Republic gained its independence from Haiti.

1801 ~ Washington, D.C. was placed under the jurisdiction of the US Congress in accordance with District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801.

1594 ~ Henry IV (1553 ~ 1610) was crowned King of France.

425 ~ The University of Constantinople was founded by Emperor Theodosius II (401 ~ 450).

Good-Byes:

2017 ~ William Liebenow (b. Jan. 18, 1920), American Navy skipper who rescued a stranded John F. Kennedy in 1943 during World War II.  As a Lieutenant in the Navy, he used the cover of darkness to take his patrol boat into enemy waters to rescue the crew of PT-109.  He died at age 97.

2015 ~ Leonard Nimoy (b. Mar. 26, 1931), American actor best known for his role as Mr. Spock from the Star Trek Series.  Although he initially was not keen on the role of Mr. Spock, he learned to love the alien.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died about a month before his 84^th birthday.

2013 ~ Van Cliburn (né Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr., b. July 12, 1934), American pianist who became a Cold War hero.  He entered into, and won, the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958.  He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana.  He died at age 78.

2011 ~ Frank Buckles (né Wood Buckles, b. Feb. 1, 1901), the last surviving American veteran of World War I.  He died 26 days after his 110^th birthday.

2008 ~ William F. Buckley, Jr. (né William Francis Buckley, Jr., b. Nov. 24, 1925), American writer and founder of the National Review.  He died at age 82.

2003 ~ Fred Rogers (né Fred McFeely Rogers, b. Mar. 20, 1928), American minister and host to a children’s educational TV show.  He died of stomach cancer less than a month before his 75^th birthday.

1998 ~ J.T. Walsh (né James Thomas Patrick Walsh, b. Sept. 28, 1943), American actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 54.

1998 ~ George Herbert Hitchings (b. Apr. 18, 1905), American physician and recipient of the1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 92.

1993 ~ Lillian Diana Gish (b. Oct. 14, 1893), American silent film actress.  She was 99 years old at the time of her death.

1990 ~ Nahum Norbet Glatzer (b. Mar. 25, 1906), Jewish-American scholar.  He died about a month after his 86^th birthday.

1989 ~ Konrad Lorenz (b. Nov. 7, 1903), Austrian zoologist and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 85.

1985 ~ Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (b. July 5, 1902), American diplomat and 1960 Vice Presidential nominee as Richard Nixon’s running mate.  He was a United States Senator from Massachusetts from January 1947 until January 1953.  He served as the 3^rd United States Ambassador to the United Nations.  He died in Beverly, Massachusetts at age 82.

1936 ~ Joshua Willis Alexander (b. Jan. 22, 1852), 2^nd United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served in the Woodrow Wilson administration from December 1919 until March 1921.  He died at age 84.

1936 ~ Ivan Pavlov (b. Sept. 25, 1949), Russian physiologist and recipient of the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He is best known for his studies in classical conditioned responses.  He died at age 86.

1915 ~ Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin (b. Feb. 22, 1849), Russian mathematician.  He died 5 days after his 66^th birthday.

1905 ~ George Sewell Boutwell (b. Jan. 28, 1818), 28^th Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President Ulysses S. Grant from March 1869 to March 1873.  Prior to his service in the Federal Government, he had served as the 20^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He died a month after 87^th birthday.

1902 ~ Breaker Morant (né Harry Morant, b. Dec. 9, 1864), Anglo-Australian soldier who allegedly participated in the summary execution of several Boer prisoners during the Second Boer War, as well as a witness to the executions.  His actions lead to a court-martial and he was executed for murder.  He was 37 years old.

1892 ~ Louis Vuitton (b. Aug. 4, 1821), French designer of leather goods, especially trunks and bags.  He is the founder of the House of Louis Vuitton.  He died at age 70.

1844 ~ Nicholas Biddle (b. Jan. 8, 1786), American banker and financier.  He died at age 58.

1659 ~ Henry Dunster (b. Nov. 26, 1609), English-American clergyman and academic.  He became the first President of Harvard College.  The date of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on November 26, 1609.  He died at age 49.

1425 ~ Vasily I of Moscow (b. Dec. 30, 1371).  He died at age 53.

1416 ~ Eleanor of Castile (b. 1363), Queen consort of Navarre.  She was the wife of Charles III of Navarre.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been about 52 or 53 at the time of her death.

640 ~ Pepin the Elder (b. 580), Frankish politician.  The exact date of his birth is not known.