TODAY IN HISTORY:
1861 – Florida seceded from the United States.
1870 – John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil.
1911 – The first photograph from an airplane was taken by Major Jimmie Erickson while flying over San Diego, CA.
1920 – The League of Nations ratified the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I with Germany.
1943 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt sailed from Miami, FL, to Trinidad and became the first American President to visit a foreign country during wartime.
1946 – The U.S. Army Signal Corps successfully conducted Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the moon and receiving the reflected signals.
1949 – Vinyl records were introduced.
1951 – Donald Howard Rogers piloted the first passenger jet on a trip from Chicago, IL to New York, NY.
1962 – NASA announced plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle. It became better known as the Saturn V Moon rocket. It launched every Apollo Moon mission.
1971 – PBS TV show “Masterpiece Theatre” premiered with host Alistair Cooke.
1983 – The children’s television show “Fraggle Rock” debuted on HBO.
1990 – Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. completed a $14 billion merger. The new company, Time Warner, became the world’s largest entertainment company.
1994 – Lorena Bobbitt went on trial n Manassas, VA. She was charged with maliciously wounding her husband John, by cutting off his penis with scissors. She was acquitted by reason of temporary insanity.
1995 – The WB Network debuted.
1997 – James Brown got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999 – The HBO original series “The Sopranos” debuted. It would run until June 10, 2007.
1999 – John Stewart took over as host of “The Daily Show”. He continued as host for 16 years.
2000 – Time-Warner agreed to buy America On-line (AOL). It was the largest-ever corporate merger priced at $162 billion. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the deal on December 14, 2000.
2001 – American Airlines agreed to acquire most of Trans World Airlines (TWA) assets for about $500 million. The deal brought an end to the financially troubled TWA.
2006 – The iTunes Music Store reached 850 million songs sold and 8 million videos sold.
2007 – The iTunes Music Store reached 2 billion songs sold, 1.3 million feature length films sold, and 50 million television episodes sold.
BIRTHDAYS:
William Sanderson – 76 years old (1944) – Actor (“Blade Runner”, “Deadwood”, “True Blood”, TV’s “Newhart”)
Rod Stewart – 75 years old (1945) – Singer (“Maggie May”, “Tonight’s the Night”, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”, “All for Love”)
Donald Fagen – 72 years old (1948) – Singer, keyboardist (Steely Dan)
George Foreman – 71 years old (1949) – Boxer
Pat Benatar – 67 years old (1953) – Singer (“Heartbreaker”, “We Live for Love”, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”)
Bobby Rahal – 67 years old (1953) – Race driver, owner
Michael Schenker – 65 years old (1955) – Guitarist (UFO, The Scorpions, Michael Schenker Group)
Shawn Colvin – 64 years old (1956) – Singer (“Sunny Came Home”)
Evan Handler – 59 years old (1961) – Actor (TV’s “Californication”, “Sex in the City”, “It’s Like, You Know…”)
Brad Roberts – 56 years old (1964) – Lead signer, guitarist (Crash Test Dummies)
Trini Alvarado – 53 years old (1967) – Actress (“Little Women”, “The Frighteners”)
TODAY IS:
For additional information check out websites like: www.on-this-day.com, www.born-today.com, www.famousbirthdays.com, and www.daysoftheyear.com.
