A quick look at Today in History, check out some Celebrity Birthdays, and find out what Days of the Year to celebrate.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
1874 – The Republican party was first symbolized as an elephant in a cartoon by Thomas Nast in “Harper’s Weekly”.
1876 – Albert H. Hook received a patent for the cigarette manufacturing machine.
1893 – The state of Colorado granted its women the right to vote.
1910 – The first air freight shipment (from Dayton, OH to Columbus, OH) was undertaken by the Wright brothers and department store owner Max Moorehouse.
1913 – It was the first day of a multiple day storm surge and blizzard that came to be known as the deadliest storm in Great Lakes history. It was referred to by some as a freshwater hurricane with winds reaching hurricane force. Many ships were lost, damaged or grounded. The storm caused over $5 million in damages and 250 people lost their lives.
1916 – Woodrow Wilson was re-elected President of the United States.
1916 – Jeanette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.
1940 – In Tacoma, WA, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed in a windstorm, just four months after the bridge was completed.
1944 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first and only person elected President four times.
1963 – The all-star film comedy “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” has its world premiere in Hollywood, CA.
1963 – Elston Howard, of the New York Yankees, became the first black player to be named the American League’s Most Valuable Player.
1965 – The “Pillsbury Dough Boy” debuted in television commercials.
1967 – Carl Stokes was elected the first black Mayor in Cleveland, OH, becoming the first black mayor of a major city.
1967 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
1972 – Richard Nixon was re-elected President of the United States.
1973 – New Jersey became the first state to permit girls to play on Little League baseball teams.
1975 – The TV show “Wonder Woman”, starring Lynda Carter, debuted on ABC. The series would move to CBS for the second and third season.
1976 – The movie “Gone With The Wind” had its television premiere. It is still the 8th highest-rated primetime program off all time. Sixty-five percent of TV viewers tuned in to watch.
1983 – A bomb exploded in the U.S. Capitol, causing $250,000 in damages. There were no injuries.
1989 – L. Douglas Wilder won the governor’s race in Virginia, becoming the first elected African-American state governor in U.S. history.
1989 – David Dinkins was elected and become New York City’s first African-American mayor.
1989 – Richard Ramirez, convicted of California’s “Night Stalker” killings, was sentenced to death.
1991 – Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS and that he was retiring from basketball.
1991 – Actor Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) pleaded no contest to charges of indecent exposure. He had been arrested in Sarasota, FL, for exposing himself in a theater.
1994 – WXYC, a student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provided the world’s first internet radio broadcast.
1996 – NASA launched the Mars Global Surveyor.
1997 – The movie “Starship Troopers” opened in theaters.
2000 – The Presidential Election ended in controversy. It was later resolved and George W. Bush won over Al Gore to become the 43rd President of the United States.
2000 – Hillary Rodham Clinton made history as the first President’s wife to win public office. The state of New York elected her to the U.S. Senate.
2000 – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovered one of the country’s largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, KS.
2001 – The new .biz domain extension was officially launched.
2001 – After a 16-month stoppage, the Concorde resumed flying commercially.
2003 – The movie “Elf”, starring Will Ferrell as “Buddy”, opened in theaters.
2006 – The game “Guitar Hero II” for Playstation 2 was released in North America.
2020 – Joe Biden was elected the 46th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Donald Trump.
BIRTHDAYS:
Eric Kandel – 96 years old (1929) – Austrian-American neuroscientist and psychiatrist, Nobel Prize laureate
Rudy Boschwitz – 95 years old (1930) – German-American politician
G. Edward Griffin – 94 years old (1931) – Director, producer, and author
Jake Gibbs – 87 years old (1938) – Baseball player and coach
Jim Kaat – 87 years old (1938) – Baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
Barbara Liskov – 86 years old (1939) – Computer scientist and academic
Dakin Matthews – 85 years old (1940) – Actor, director, and playwright
Tom Peters – 83 years old (1942) – Businessman and author
Johnny Rivers – 83 years old (1942) – Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Stephen Greenblatt – 82 years old (1943) – Theorist, scholar, and critic
Michael Spence – 82 years old (1943) – Economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
Chrystos – 79 years old (1946) – Writer and activist
Rebecca Eaton – 78 years old (1947) – Television producer
Buck Martinez – 77 years old (1948) – Baseball player and manager
Lawrence O'Donnell – 74 years old (1951) – Journalist and talk show host
John Tamargo – 74 years old (1951) – Baseball player and coach
David Petraeus – 73 years old (1952) – General, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Gil Junger – 71 years old (1954) – Director, producer, and screenwriter
John Benitez – 68 years old (1957) – DJ, songwriter, and producer
Christopher Knight – 68 years old (1957) – Actor
Billy Gillispie – 66 years old (1959) – Basketball player and coach
Tommy Thayer – 65 years old (1960) – Guitarist and songwriter
Orlando Mercado – 64 years old (1961) – Baseball player and coach
Tracie Savage – 63 years old (1962) – Actress and journalist
Sam Graves – 62 years old (1963) – Farmer and politician
Troy Beyer – 61 years old (1964) – Actress, director, and screenwriter
Bonnie St. John – 61 years old (1964) – Skier and scholar
Calvin Borel – 59 years old (1966) – Jockey
Steve Di Giorgio – 58 years old (1967) – Bass player
Russ Springer – 57 years old (1968) – Baseball player
Michelle Clunie – 56 years old (1969) – Actress
Andy Houston – 55 years old (1970) – Race car driver
Robin Finck – 54 years old (1971) – Guitarist and songwriter
Matthew Ryan – 54 years old (1971) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Jason London – 53 years old (1972) – Actor and producer
Jeremy London – 53 years old (1972) – Actor and producer
Hasim Rahman – 53 years old (1972) – Boxer
Yunjin Kim – 52 years old (1973) – South Korean-American actress
Kris Benson – 51 years old (1974) – Baseball player
Rob Caggiano – 49 years old (1976) – Guitarist and producer
Lindsay Czarniak – 48 years old (1977) – Journalist and sportscaster
Anthony Thomas – 48 years old (1977) – Football player and coach
Elisabeth Bachman – 47 years old (1978) – Volleyball player and coach
Will Demps – 46 years old (1979) – Football player
Jon Peter Lewis – 46 years old (1979) – Singer-songwriter and actor
Amy Purdy – 46 years old (1979) – Actress, model and snowboarder
Joey Ryan – 46 years old (1979) – Wrestler
Otep Shamaya – 46 years old (1979) – Singer-songwriter and actress
Muhammad Hassan – 44 years old (1981) – Wrestler and educator
Adam DeVine – 42 years old (1983) – Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and singer
Forrest Kline – 42 years old (1983) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
Jonathan Bornstein – 41 years old (1984) – American-Israeli soccer player
Darnell Jackson – 40 years old (1985) – Basketball player
Lucas Neff – 40 years old (1985) – Actor
Andy Hull – 39 years old (1986) – Singer-songwriter and guitarist
David Nelson – 39 years old (1986) – Football player
Gani Lawal – 37 years old (1988) – Nigerian-American basketball player
Sonny Gray – 36 years old (1989) – Baseball player
Gervonta Davis – 31 years old (1994) – Boxer
Algee Smith – 31 years old (1994) – Actor and singer
Trevor Rainbolt – 27 years old (1998) – Social media personality
TODAY IS:
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For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, www.daysoftheyear.com, and www.nationaldaycalendar.com.
