May 18

Birthdays:

1970~ Tina Fey (née Elizabeth Stamatina Fey), American comedian and actress.

1946~ Reggie Jackson (né Reginald Martinez Jackson), American baseball player.

1944~ W. G. Sebald (né Winfried Georg Sebald, d. Dec. 14, 2001), German-born writer.  He died in a car crash at age 57.

1931~ Robert Morse (né Robert Alan Morse), American actor best known for his role as J. Pierrepont Finch in the musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and as Bertram Cooper on television’s Mad Men.

1930~ Warren Rudman (né Warren Bruce Rudman, d. Nov. 19, 2012), American Senator from New Hampshire who fought to curb deficits.  He is best known for his key role in bipartisan efforts to rein in federal deficits and the enactment of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act of 1985.  He died at age 82.

1928~ Pernell Roberts (né Pernell Elven Roberts, Jr., d. Jan. 24, 2010), American Bonanzaactor who hated his signature role.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 81.

1920~ Pope Saint John Paul II (né Karol Józef Wojtyla, d. Apr. 2, 2005). He was Pope from October 1978 until his death in 2005.  He was 84 at the time of his death.

1919~ Dame Margot Fonteyn (née Margaret Evelyn Hookham, d. Feb. 21, 1991), British ballerina.  She died of cancer at age 71.

1912~ Perry Como (né Pierino Ronald Como, d. May 12, 2001), American singer.  He died 6 days before his 89^th birthday.

1904~ Jacob K. Javits (né Jacob Koppel Javits, d. Mar. 7, 1986), American politician from New York State. He died of ALS at age 81.

1902~ Meredith Willson (né Robert Meredith Willson, d. June 15, 1984), American playwright and composer. He is best known for writing the music and lyrics of the Broadway musical The Music Man.  He died less than a month after his 82^nd birthday.

1901~ Vincent du Vigneaud (d. Dec. 11, 1978), American chemist and recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 77 in Ithaca, New York.

1897~ Frank Capra (né Francesco Rosario Capra, d. Sept. 3, 1991), American movie director and producer, best known for his film, It’s a Wonderful Life.  He died at age 94.

1883~ Walter Gropius (né Walter Adolph Georg Gropius, d. July 5, 1969), German architect and founder of the Bauhaus school of architecture.  He died at age 86 in Boston, Massachusetts.

1872~ Bertrand Russell, 3^rd Earl Russell (né Bertrand Arthur William Russell, d. Feb. 2, 1970), British philosopher and mathematician.  He was also the recipient of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 97.

1868~ Nicholas II (d. July 17, 1918), Czar of Russia.  He and his family were executed during the Russian Revolution. He was 50 years old.

1862~ Josephus Daniels (d. Jan. 15, 1948), 41^st Secretary of the Navy.  He served under President Woodrow Wilson from March 1913 until March 1921.  He died at age 85.

1852~ Gertrude Käsebier (d. Oct. 12, 1934), American photographer known for her images of motherhood.  She also made many portraits of Native Americans.  She died at age 82.

1851~ James Budd (néJames Herbert Budd, d. July 30, 1908), Governor of California.  He served as Governor from January 1895 until January 1899.  He died at age 57.

1850~ Oliver Heaviside (d. Feb. 3, 1925), English engineer and mathematician. He died at age 74 following a fall from a ladder.

1822~ Mathew Brady (d. Jan. 15, 1896), American pioneer in photography.  He is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War.  He died at age 73.

1711~ Ruđer Josip Bošković (d. Feb. 13, 1787), Croatian physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 75.

1048~ Omar Khayyám (d. Dec. 4, 1131), Persian mathematician and poet.  He died at age 83.

Events that Changed the World:

2012~ The Initial Public Offering of FaceBook stock when the company began selling and trading on the NASDAQ.

1994~ Israeli troops leave the Gaza Strip, giving the area over to the Palestinians to govern.

1980~ The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington State erupted, devastating the surround area and killing 57 people.

1965~ Israeli spy, Eli Cohen (1925 ~ 1965), was hanged in Damascus, Syria.

1953~ Test pilot Jackie Cochran (née Bessie Lee Pittman, 1906 ~ 1980) became the first woman to break the sound barrier.

1933~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) signed the Act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

1926~ Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 ~ 1944) disappeared while visiting a beach in Venice, California. Five weeks later she reappeared, claiming that she had been kidnapped.

1896~ The United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine of racial segregation was constitutional.  The State of Louisiana had passed a law that required separate accommodations for blacks and whites on railroad cars.  Homer Plessy agreed to test the validity of the law and purchased a first class ticket.  He was arrested and tried

1863~ The Siege of Vicksburg began during the American Civil War.

1804~ Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.

1652~ Rhode Island passed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal.

1631~ John Winthrop became the first governor of Massachusetts.

1152~ Henry II of England (1133 ~ 1189) married Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 ~ 1204).

1096~ During the First Crusade, about 800 Jews were murdered in a massacre in Worms, Germany.

Good-Byes:

2017~ Chris Cornell (néChristopher John Boyle, b. July 20, 1964), American Soulgardenfrontman who pioneered the grunge sound. He committed suicide at age 52.

2017~ Roger Ailes (b. May 15, 1940), American TV news guru who transformed American politics.  He was the founder and one-time CEO of Fox News. In 2016, he resigned following allegations that he sexually harassed female employees.  He died 3 days after his 77^th birthday.

2015~ T.J. Moran (néThomas J. Moran, b. Sept. 30, 1930), American businessman and restauranteur. He bought the first franchise of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  He owned and ran TJ Ribs, where LSU sports memorabilia was on display.  He died in Baton Rouge at age 84.

2014~ Gordon Willis (né Gordon Hugh Willis, Jr., b. May 28, 1931), American cinematographer who painted with shadow.  He is best known for his work on The Godfather.  He died of cancer in North Falmouth, Massachusetts 10 days before his 83^rd birthday.

2007~ Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (b. Oct. 24, 1932), French physicist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 74.

1995~ Alexander Godunov (b. Nov. 28, 1949), Russian-born ballet dancer. He died at age 45.

1995~ Elizabeth Montgomery (née Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery, b. Apr. 15, 1933), American actress, best known for her role as Samantha in Bewitched.  She died of cancer just a month after her 62^nd birthday.

1990~ Jill Ireland (b. Apr. 24, 1936), British actress.  She died of breast cancer 24 days after her 54^th birthday.

1981~ William Saroyan (b. Aug. 31, 1908), American writer.  He died at age 72.

1980~ Harry Randall Truman (b. Oct. 30, 1896), American soldier.  He was best known for being a resident of Washington State.  He lived on Mount St. Helens and refused to leave his home despite evacuation orders when the volcano began to erupt in 1980.  He was killed as a result of the eruptions.  He was 83 at the time of his death.

1973~ Jeannette Rankin (née Jeannette Pickering Rankin, b. June 11, 1880), American politician and feminist.  She was the first woman to be elected into Congress, when in 1916, she was voted as a Representative from Montana.  She died 24 days before her 93^rd birthday

1971~ Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh (b. Jan. 19, 1908), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1955~ Mary McLeod Bethune (née Mary Jane McLeod, b. July 10, 1875), African-American educator and civil rights activist.  She died at age 79.

1922~ Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (b. June 18, 1845), French physician and recipient of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries of parasitic protozoans as causative agents of infectious diseases such as malaria.  He died a month before his 77^th birthday.

1911~ Gustav Mahler (b. July 7, 1860), Bohemian-born composer.  He was born in Kaliště, Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic.  He died of bacterial endocarditis at age 50.

1808~ Elijah Craig (b. 1738), American minister who invented Bourbon whiskey.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1675~ Jacques Marquette (b. June 1, 1637), French explorer and Roman Catholic missionary who, along with Louis Jolliet, explored the Mississippi River. He died of dysentery 14 days before his 38^thbirthday.

947~ Emperor Taizong, Chinese emperor of the Liao Dunasty.  The date of his birth is not known.

526~ Pope John I (b. 470). He was Pope from August 523 until his death less than 3 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown.