July 20

Birthdays:

1978~ Josh Harnett (né Joshua Daniel Harnett), American actor.

1973~ Ali Landry (née Ali Germaine Landry), American model and Miss USA 1996.  She is from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

1968~ Brandi Chastain (née Brandi Denise Chastain), American soccer player.

1966~ Sarah Waters (née Sarah Ann Waters), Welsh novelist.

1957~ Jon Lovitz (né Jonathan Michael Lovitz), American comedian.

1955~ Dannel Malloy (né Dannel Patrick Malloy), 88^th Governor of Connecticut.  He served in that Office from January 2011 until January 2019.  In July, 2019, he became the 13^th Chancellor of the University of Maine System.

1951~ Robin Williams (né Robin McLaurin Williams; d. Aug. 11, 2014), American live-wire comedian who excelled at improvision.  He died by suicide 21 days after his 63^rd birthday.

1948~ Garry Trudeau (né Garretson Beekman Trudeau), American cartoonist.  He is married to journalist Jane Pauley.

1946~ Ken Starr (né Kenneth Winston Starr), 39^th Solicitor General of the United States.  He served in the George W.H. Bush administration.  He is best known for his tenure as independent counsel in the Bill Clinton impeachment proceedings.

1943~ Edward Herrmann (né Edward Kirk Herrmann; d. Dec. 31, 2014), American actor.  He died of brain cancer at age 71.

1939~ John Negroponte (né John Demitri Negroponte), 1^st United States Director of National Intelligence.  He served in the George W. Bush administration from April 2005 until February 2007.

1938~ Les Aspin (né Leslie Aspin, Jr.; d. May 21, 1995), 18^th United States Secretary of Defense.  He served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 until February 1994.  He died of a stroke at age 56.

1938~ Janet Reno (née Janet Wood Reno; d. Nov. 7, 2016), 79^th United States Attorney General and first female to hold this post.  She served in the Clinton administration from March 1993 until January 2001.  She died of Parkinson’s Disease at age 78.

1926~ Norman Jewison (né Norman Frederick Jewison), Canadian director and producer.

1925~ Tom Jago (né Thomas Edward Jago; d. Oct. 12, 2018), Cornish drinks guru who helped invent the world’s favorite liquors.  He died at age 93.

1924~ Don Knotts (né Jesse Donald Knotts; d. Feb. 24, 2006), American actor best known for his role as Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show.  He died of lung cancer at age 81.

1923~ Rudolph Marcus (né Rudolph Arthur Marcus), Canadian chemist and recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

1920~ Isaac Stern (d. Sept. 22, 2001), Ukrainian-born violinist.  He died of heart failure at age 81.

1899~ Hart Crane (né Harold Hart Crane; d. Apr. 27, 1932), American writer.  He is believed to have intentionally died by suicide at age 32 by throwing himself off a steamship.

1899~ Ernest Hemingway (né Ernest Miller Hemingway; d. July 2, 1961), American novelist and recipient of the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died by suicide three weeks before his 62^nd birthday.

1896~ Sophie Bledsoe Aberle (d. Oct. 1996), Native American anthropologist, physician and nutritionist.  She died at age 100.

1893~ Hans Fallada (né Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen; d. Feb. 5, 1947), German novelist best known for his novel, Every Man Dies Alone.  He died at age 53.

1864~ Frances Folsom Cleveland (née Frances Clara Folsom, d. Oct. 29, 1947), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Grover Cleveland.  They married when he was in Office.  She was 21 years old at the time of her marriage in 1886, making her the youngest First Lady.  President Cleveland was 49 at the time of their marriage.  After Grover Cleveland died, Frances married Thomas Preston, Jr., in February 1913.  She was the first presidential widow to remarry.  She died at age 83.

1858~ Marie Christina of Austria (d. Feb. 6, 1929), Queen consort of Spain and second wife of Alfonso XII, King of Spain.  She was of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.  She died of heart disease at age 70.

1824~ Stanley Matthews (né Thomas Stanley Matthews; d. Mar. 22, 1889), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President James Garfield.  He replaced Noah Swayne on the Court.  He was succeeded by David Brewer.  He served on the Court from May 1881 until his death 8 years later.  He died at age 64.

1816~ Paul Reuter (né Israel Beer Josaphat; d. Feb. 25, 1899), German-born British journalist and founder of Reuters news service.  Although born Jewish, he converted and was baptized at St. George’s German Lutheran Chapel in London in 1845.  He died at age 82.

1693~ Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1^stDuke of Newcastle (d. Nov. 17, 1768), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister from March 1754 until November 1756 during the reign of King George II, and again during the reigns of King George II and King George III, from March 1757 until May 1762.  He died at age 75.

1653~ Sarah Good (née Sarah Solart; d. July 29, 1692), American woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.  She was convicted of witchcraft.  She was executed by hanging 8 days after her 39^thbirthday.

1620~ Jean-Félix Picard (d. July 12, 1682), French astronomer.  He died at less than 2 weeks before his 62^nd birthday.

1414~ Pope Sixtus IV (né Francesco della Rovere; d. Aug. 12, 1481).  He is best known for having had the Sistine Chapel build.  He was Pope from August 9, 1471 until his death 13 years later.  He died 22 days after his 70^th birthday.

628~ Gao Zong (d. Dec. 27, 683), Chinese emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  He was Emperor from July 649 until his death in December 683.  He died at age 55.

541~ Emperor Wen of Sui (d. Aug. 13, 604), 1^st Chinese Emperor of the Sui Dynasty.  He died just over 3 weeks after his 63^rdbirthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2005~ Four terrorist bombings occurred in London, disrupting the city’s public transportation system.  These bombings occurred 2 weeks after the deadly bombing that took place on July 5.

1970~ The Aswan High Dam on the Nile in Egypt was completed after 11 years of construction.

1969~ Neil Armstrong (1930 ~ 2012) and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (b. 1930) became the first humans to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.  They had landed on the moon the day before.

1961~ Gus Grissom (1926 ~ 1967) became the second American go to into space.  His was a suborbital mission in the Mercury program.

1954~ During the first Indochina War, the Geneva Conference partitioned Vietnam into North and South Vietnam.

1949~ The United States Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.

1925~ John T. Scopes (1900 ~ 1970) was convicting of violating the Tennessee state laws for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in the so-called “Monkey Trial.”  He was fined $100.

1873~ Jesse James (1847 ~ 1882) and the James-Younger Gang pulled off the first successful train robbery in the American West.  The train was robbed in Adair, Iowa.

1865~ Wild Bill Hickok (1837 ~ 1876) shot and killed Davis Tutt (1836 ~ 1865) in a duel in what is now regarded as the first western showdown.

1861~ The First Battle of Bull Run at Manassas Junction, Virginia, was the first major battle in the American Civil War. It was a victory for the Confederate Army.

1831~ King Leopold I (1790 ~ 1865) of Belgium was inaugurated as the first king of the Belgians.

1645~ During the Qing dynasty and edict was issued ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their foreheads and braid the rest of their hair into a queue.

365~ A tsunami resulting from an estimated 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Crete, devastated the city of Alexandria, Egypt.  It is estimated that over 50,000 people died from the effects of the tsunami.

230~ Pope Pontian (d. 235) became the 18^th Catholic Pope.

356 BCE~ The traditional date that the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was destroyed by arson.

Good-Byes:

2018~ Jonathan Gold (b. July 28, 1960), American food writer who savored Los Angeles.  He died of pancreatic cancer 1 week before his 58^thbirthday.

2018~ Alene B. Duerk (née Alene Bertha Duerk; b. Mar. 29, 1920), American naval officer.  In 1972, she became the first female admiral in the United States Navy.  She died at age 98.

2017~ John Heard, Jr. (b. Mar. 7, 1945), American actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 71.

2015~ E.L. Doctorow (né Edgar Lawrence Doctorow; b. Jan. 6, 1931), American author who turned history into gold.  He is best known for his novel Ragtime. He died of lung cancer at age 84.

2015~ Theodore Bikel (b. May 2, 1924), Austrian singer and actor.  He was named after Theodor Herzl, who was also born on this date. He died at age 91.

2008~ Eugene A. Foster (né Eugene Abram Foster; b. 1927), American pathologist who linked President Thomas Jefferson to his slave, Sally Hemmings.  He died of complications of pneumonia and renal failure at age 81.

2005~ Isabella Bashmakova (b. Jan. 3, 1921), Russian historian of mathematics.  She died at age 84.

2004~ Edward B. Lewis (né Edward Butts Lewis; d. May 20, 1918), American geneticist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 86.

1998~ Alan Shepard (né Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr.; b. Nov. 18, 1923), American pioneering astronaut.  He was the first American and second person to travel into space, although is initial flight was suborbital.  He was born in Derry, New Hampshire.  He died of complications of leukemia at age 74.

1998~ Robert Young (né Robert George Young; b. Feb. 22, 1907), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Marcus Welby on the television show, Marcus Welby, M.D.  He died of respiratory failure at age 91.

1982~ Dave Garroway (né David Cunningham Garroway; b. July 13, 1913), American journalist.  He died by suicide a week after his 69^th birthday.

1967~ Albert Lutuli (b. 1898), South African politician and recipient of the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1967~ Basil Rathbone (né Philip St. John Basil Rathborne; b. June 13, 1892), South African-born English actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 75.

1966~ Philipp Frank (b. Mar. 20, 1884), Austrian-American physicist and mathematician.  He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 82.

1948~ Arshile Gorky (né Vostanik Manoug Adoian; b. Apr. 15, 1904), Armenian painter.  He committed suicide at age 44.

1944~ Claus von Stauffenberg (b. Nov. 15, 1907), German leader of a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.  He was executed by firing squad at age 36.

1899~ Robert G. Ingersoll (né Robert Green Ingersoll; b. Aug. 11, 1833), American Union Civil War Veteran and politician.  He was known as the Great Agnostic and campaigned in defense of agnosticism.  He died of congestive heart failure 12 days before his 66^th birthday.

1892~ Henry Gardner (né Henry Joseph Gardner; b. June 14, 1819), Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1855 until January 1858.  He died at age 73.

1796~ Robert Burns (b. Jan. 25, 1759), Scottish poet.  He died at age 37.

710~ Wei, Empress of the Tang Dynasty.  She was the second wife of the Emperor Zhongzong of Tang.  The date of her birth is not known.