TODAY IN HISTORY:
1789 – New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1820 – An 80-ton sperm whale attacked the whaling ship the “Essex” from Nantucket, MA two-thousand miles from the western coast of South America. Herman Melville’s 1851 novel “Moby Dick” was in part inspired by this story.
1866 – Haven and Hettrich received a patent for the whirligig, also known as the Yo-Yo. The toy actually dates back as far as 440 B.C.
1953 – Birmingham, MI became the second city in the United States to have direct long distance dialing.
1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ended. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba and the U.S. ended its blockade of the island.
1962 – Mickey Mantle was named the American League Most Valuable Player for the third time.
1967 – The Census Clock at the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, went past 200 million.
1969 – The Richard Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phase out of the substance.
1973 – The animated special, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”, aired for the very first time.
1974 – The U.S. Department of Justice filed its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
1980 – On Jefferson Island, LA, an oil rig in Lake Pigneur pierced the top of the salt dome beneath the island. The freshwater lake completely drained within a few hours. The Delcambre Canal reversed flow and two days later the previous freshwater lake was a 1,300-foot-deep saltwater lake.
1982 – At the age of 7, Drew Barrymore became the youngest host of TV’s “Saturday Night Live”
1983 – An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial ABC-TV movie “The Day After.” The movie depicted the outbreak of nuclear war.
1984 – McDonald’s sold its 50 billionth hamburger.
1985 – Microsoft Windows 1.0 was released.
1986 – Dr. Halfdan Maher, the director of the World Health Organization, announced the first coordinated global effort to fight the disease AIDS.
1986 – The one billionth Little Golden Book was printed. The title was “The Poky Little Puppy”.
1990 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, FL, after completing a secret military mission.
1993 – The U.S. Senate passed the Brady Bill and legislation implementing NAFTA.
1994 – Singer David Crosby got a liver transplant.
1997 – Kenny G. received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1998 – Pixar’s second feature length film, “A Bug’s Life”, debuted in theaters.
1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, was launched.
1998 – Forty-six states agreed to a $206 billion settlement of health claims against the tobacco industry. The industry also agreed to give up billboard advertising of cigarettes.
2001 – On what would have been Robert F. Kennedy’s 76th birthday, the U.S. Justice Department headquarters building was renamed the Robert F. Kennedy building by President George W. Bush.
2006 – The News Corporation bows to pressure and killed O.J. Simpson’s upcoming book, “If I Did It”, in which he speculates how he would have killed his ex-wife if, of course, he had killed her and a 2-part FOX television special promoting it.
2012 – Veteran Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash resigned from television’s “Sesame Street” after being accused of sexually abusing several underage boys.
BIRTHDAYS:
Kaye Ballard – 93 years old (1925) – Actress, comedienne, singer
Estelle Parsons – 91 years old (1927) – Actress (“Bonnie and Clyde”, “Rachel, Rachel”, TV’s “Roseanne”)
Dick Smothers – 80 years old (1938) – Actor, comedian (The Smothers Brothers)
Joe Biden – 76 years old (1942) – 47th Vice President of the United States (2009 to 2017)
Bob Einstein – 76 years old (1942) – Actor, comedian (Played daredevil on TV’s “Super Dave Osborne”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, “Arrested Development”)
Norman Greenbaum – 76 years old (1942) – Singer (“Spirit in the Sky”)
Veronica Hamel – 75 years old (1943) – Actress (TV’s “Hill Street Blues”)
Judy Woodruff – 72 years old (1946) – Broadcast journalist (CNN)
Joe Walsh – 71 years old (1947) – Musician (James Gang, The Eagles)
Richard Masur – 70 years old (1948) – Actor (TV’s “One Day at a Time”)
Bo Derek – 62 years old (1956) – Actress (“10”, “Bolero”, “Ghosts Can’t Do It”, “Tommy Boy”)
Sean Young – 59 years old (1959) – Actress (“Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”, “Fatal Instinct”, “Wall Street”, “No Way Out”, “Dune”, “Blade Runner”, “Stripes”)
Ming-Na Wen – 55 years old (1963) – Actress (TV’s “ER,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”>
Mike D – 53 years old (1965) – Rapper, singer, drummer (The Beastie Boys)
Sabrina Lloyd – 48 years old (1970) – Actress (TV’s “Sports Night”, “Sliders”)
Joel McHale – 47 years old (1971) – Actor (TV’s “Community,” “The Soup”, movies “Deliver Us from Evil”, “Blended”, “Ted”, “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World”, “The Informant!”)
Marisa Ryan – 44 years old (1974) – Actress (TV’s “Major Dad”, movie “Wet Hot American Summer”)
Dierks Bentley – 43 years old (1975) – Country singer
Joshua Gomez – 43 years old (1975) – Actor (TV’s “Chuck”)
Dominque Dawes – 42 years old (1976) – Olympic gymnast
Josh Turner – 41 years old (1977) – Country singer
Nadine Velazquez – 40 years old (1978) – Actress (TV’s “League”, “My Name Is Earl”)
Ashley Fink – 32 years old (1986) – Actress (TV’s “Glee”)
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.
