May 28

Birthdays:

1971~ Marco Rubio (né Marco Antonio Rubio), American politician and United States Senator from Florida.

1961~ Roland Gift (né Roland Lee Gift), English singer and frontman for Fine Young Cannibals.

1960~ Mark Sanford (né Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr.), American politician and 115^thGovernor of South Carolina.

1944~ Rudy Giuliani (né Rudolph William Louis Guilliani), American politician and 107^thMayor of New York City.  During the Trump Administration, Guiliani became the President’s personal attorney.

1944~ Gladys Knight (née Gladys Marie Knight), American singer-songwriter.

1942~ Stanley B. Prusiner (néStanley Benjamin Prusiner), American neurologist and recipient of the1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of prions, a class of self-reproducing pathogens.

1940~ Shlomo Riskin, American rabbi.

1939~ Maeve Binchy (née Anne Maeve Binchy; d. July 30, 2012), Irish novelist.  She died of a heart attack at age 73.

1934~ Betty Shabazz (née Betty Dean Sanders; d. June 23, 1997), wife of Malcolm X.  She died a month after her 63^rdbirthday from burns caused when her grandson set fire to her apartment.

1934~ The Canadian-borne Dionne quintuplets, Annette, Cécile, Émilie (d. Aug. 6, 1954), Marie (d. Feb. 27, 1970), and Yvonne (d. June 23, 2001).  These were the first known quintuplets to survive infancy.  Émilie became a nun, but died at age 20; Marie died at age 35 and Yvonne died at age 67.

1931~ Gordon Willis (né Gordon Hugh Willis, Jr.; d. May 18, 2014), 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^rdbirthday.

1922~ Barney Rosset (né Barnett Lee Rosset, Jr.; d. Feb. 21, 2012), American provocative publisher who defied censors.  He was the owner of the Grove Press publishing house.  He led the fight to publish the uncensored version of Lady Chatterley’s Loverand Tropic of Cancer.  He died at age 89.

1922~ Lou Duva (né Louis Duva; d. Mar. 8, 2017), American scrappy boxing manager who trained champs.  He managed such boxing champions as Evander Holyfield and Darren van Horn over a 7-decade career.  He died at age 94.

1917~ Barry Commoner (d. Sept. 30, 2012), American cellular biologist and political activist.  He died at age 95.

1916~ Walker Percy (d. May 10, 1990), American author who wrote about Louisiana.  Although born in Birmingham, Alabama, he lived and died in Covington, Louisiana.  He died of prostate cancer 18 days before his 74^thbirthday.

1912~ Ruby Payne-Scott (née Ruby Violet Payne-Scott; d. May 25, 1981), Australian physicist and astronomer.  She was the first radio astronomer.  She died 3 days before her 69^thbirthday.

1912~ Patrick White (né Patrick Victor Martindale White; d. Sept. 30, 1990), Australian writer and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 78.

1908~ Ian Fleming (né Ian Lancaster Fleming; d. Aug. 12, 1964), British intelligence officer and author.  He was the creator of James Bond.  He died of heart disease at age 56.

1895~ Walter Q. Gresham (né Walter Quintin Gresham; b. Mar. 17, 1832), 33^rdUnited States Secretary of State.  He served under President Grover Cleveland from March 1893 until his death on May 28, 1895.  He had previously served as the 35^thUnited States Secretary of the Treasury for a month from September to October 1884 during the Chester Arthur administration. He had also served as the 31^stUnited States Postmaster General from April 1883 until September 1884 also during the Chester Arthur administration.  He died in Office of Secretary State at age 63.

1887~ Jim Thorpe (né James Francis Thorpe, d. Mar. 28, 1953), Native American athlete and Olympian Gold Medalist.  He won gold medals at the 1912 Olympics, however, after it was learned that he had briefly played professional football, he was stripped of his medals. In 1983, the medals restored his Olympic medals.  The exact date in May of his birth is unknown and is sometimes recorded as May 22.  He died at age 65.

1884~ Edvard Beneš (d. Sept. 3, 1948), 2^ndand 4^thPresident of Czechoslovakia.  He initially served from December 1935 to October 1938; his second term was from April 1945 until June 1948.  He died at age 64.

1879~ Milutin Milanković (d. Dec. 12, 1958), Serbian mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 79.

1858~ Carl Richard Nyberg (d. March 25, 1939), Swedish inventor of the blow torch. He died at age 80.

1818~ P.G.T. Beauregard (né Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard; d. Feb. 20, 1893), Louisiana-born military officer and Confederate General during the American Civil War.  He died at age 74 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1807~ Louis Agassiz (né Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, d. Dec. 14, 1873), Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist.  He was born in Switzerland and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He died at age 66.

1786~ Louis McLane (d. Oct. 7, 1857), 12^thUnited States Secretary of State.  He served in this position during the Andrew Jackson administration from May 1833 until June 1834.  He previously served as the 10^thUnited States Secretary of the Treasury during the Andrew Jackson administration.  He died at age 71.

1764~ Edward Livingston (d. May 23, 1836), American politician from Louisiana. He also served as the 11^thUnited States Secretary of State.  He served in President Martin Van Buren’s administration from May 1831 until May 1933.  He was also influential in drafting the Louisiana Civil Code.  He died 5 days before his 71^stbirthday.

1759~ William Pitt the Younger (d. Jan. 23, 1806), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He died at age 46.

1738~ Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (d. Mar. 26, 1814), French physician and namesake of the guillotine.  He did not invent the guillotine and was, in fact, an opponent of the death penalty.  He died at age 75.

1676~ Jacopo Riccati (néJacopo Francesco Riccati; d. Apr. 15, 1754), Italian mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1660~ King George I of Great Britain (d. June 11, 1727).  He ruled from August 1714 until his death in June 1727.  He died 2 weeks after his 67^thbirthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2018~ Memorial Day was observed in the United States.

1987~ Mathias Rust (b. 1968), a 19-year-old West German flew his private plane into Soviet Union air space and landed in Red Square in Moscow.  He was detained for over a year before being released on August 3, 1988.

1982~ British forces defeated the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War.

1964~ The Palestine Liberation Organization was formed.

1952~ Greece granted women the right to vote.

1942~ In retaliation for the May 27, 1942 assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich (1904 ~ 1942), the Nazis in Czechoslovakia killed over 1,800 people.

1937~ The Volkswagen automobile company was founded in Germany.

1937~ The Golden Gate Bridge officially opened for vehicular traffic.

1934~ The Dionne quintuplets were born.  They were the first quintuplets known to survive infancy.  The quintuplets, who were born 2 months premature, were all girls: Annette, Cécile, Émilie (d. 1954), Marie (d. 1970), and Yvonne (d. 2001).

1923~ The United States Attorney General determined that it is legal for women to wear trousers.

1892~ Naturalist John Muir (1838 ~ 1914) organizes the Sierra Club.

1830~ President Andrew Jackson (1767 ~ 1845) signed the Indian Removal Act which Congress had signed into law two days earlier.  The Indian Removal Act forced the relocation of many Native American tribes.

1588~ The Spanish Armada set sail for England in a planned invasion.  The Armada consisted of 130 ships and 30,000 men.  It took 2 days for all the ships to leave the port in Lisbon, Portugal.

1533~ Thomas Cranmer (1489 ~ 1556), the Archbishop of Canterbury, declared the marriage of King Henry VIII (1491 ~ 1547) of England to Anne Boleyn (d. 1536) to be valid.

Good-Byes:

2018~ Dick Tuck (né Richard Gregory Tuck, b. Jan. 25, 1924), American Democratic operative who punked Nixon. He died at age 94.

2018~ Jens Christian Skou (b. Oct. 8, 1918), Danish chemist and recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He died at age 99.

2017~ Frank Deford (né Benjamin Franklin Deford, III; b. Dec. 16, 1938), American sports journalist and radio commentator.  He died at age 78.

2016~ C. Michael Harper (né Charles Michael Harper, b. Sept. 26, 1927), American businessman.  He was the Chief Operating Executive of ConAgra who made healthy eating mainstream.  Following a heart attack, he developed a line of Healthy Choice meals.  He died at age 88.

2014~ Maya Angelou (née Margueritte Annie Johnson; b. Apr. 4, 1928), African-American inspirational writer who chronicled the black experience.  She died at age 86.

2014~ Oscar Dystel (b. Oct. 31, 1912), American publisher who saved the paperback.  His made Bantam Books a pioneer and main publisher of paperback books. He died at age 101.

2003~ Ilya Prigogine (b. Jan. 25, 1917), Russian-born Belgian chemist and recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 86.

1998~ Phil Hartman (né Philip Edward Hartman; b. Sept. 24, 1948), Canadian actor and comedian.  He was on the cast of Saturday Night Livefor several seasons.  He was killed by his wife in a murder-suicide.  He was 49 years old.

1980~ Rolf Nevanlinna (né Rolf Herman Neovius; b. Oct. 22, 1895), Finnish mathematician.  He was sympathetic to Nazi Germany during World War II.  He died at age 84.

1972~ Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (né Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; b. June 23, 1894).  He abdicated the throne to marry American divorcée, Wallis Simpson, and then became known as the Duke of Windsor.  He died less than a month before his 78^thbirthday.

1971~ Audie Murphy (néAudie Leon Murphy; b. June 20, 1924), American actor and soldier.  He was a hero in World War II.  He was killed in a private plane crash.  He died less than a month before his 46^thbirthday.

1946~ Carter Glass (b. Jan. 4, 1858), 47^thUnited States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served during President Woodrow Wilson’s term, from December 1918 until February 1920. He subsequently became a United States Senator from Virginia from February 1920 until his death in May 1946. He died at age 88.

1937~ Alfred Adler (b. Feb. 7, 1870), Austrian psychologist.  He died at age 67.

1935~ Julia Barlow Platt (b. Sept. 14, 1857), American embryologist and politician.  Although she earned her Ph.D., she was unable to secure a position at a university.  She was born in San Francisco, California but grew up in Burlington, Vermont and attended the University of Vermont.  She became a politician and in 1931, at age 74, she became the mayor of Pacific Grove, California.  She died at age 78.

1878~ John Russell, 1^stEarl Russell (b. Aug. 18, 1792), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister for two terms, the first from June 1846 to February 1852 and again from October 1865 until June 1866.  Both terms were during the reign of Queen Victoria.  He died at age 85.

1849~ Anne Brontë (b. Jan. 17, 1820), English novelist and poet.  She was the youngest member of the Brontë family.  She died of tuberculosis at age 29.

1843~ Noah Webster, Jr. (b. Oct. 16, 1758), American writer and lexicographer. He was the creator of the dictionary that bears his name.  He was born and died in Connecticut.  He died at age 84.

1357~ Afonso IV of Portugal (d. Feb. 8, 1291), King of Portugal and the Algarves.  He was known as Alfonso the Brave.  He was married to Beatrice of Castile.  He was of the Portuguese House of Burgundy.  He died at age 66.