Grenada Revolution Day (In 1979, the socialist New Jewel Movement had overthrown the corrupt and unpopular dictator Eric Gairy in an almost bloodless coup. For years, Gairy ruled through fear.)
Ken Day (is celebrates the occasion in 1961 when Barbie’s long-term on-off boyfriend, Ken Carson, first appeared on the scene, exhibited by his makers Mattel at a toy fair)
2008 – Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.
1991 – The United States Department of Justice announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
1954 – First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French to begin the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, the climactic battle in the First Indochina War.
1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory.
1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African-American troops.
1862 – American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus.
Births
1987 – Marco Andretti, American race car driver
1985 – Emile Hirsch, American actor
1983 – Kaitlin Sandeno, American swimmer
1982 – Nicole Ohlde, American basketball player
1980 – Caron Butler, American basketball player
1979 – Johan Santana, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1978 – Kenny Watson, American football player
1978 – Tom Danielson, American cyclist
1976 – Danny Masterson, American actor and producer
1976 – James Dewees, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1976 – Troy Hudson, American basketball player and rapper
1973 – Bobby Jackson, American basketball player and coach
1972 – Common, American rapper and actor
1971 – Annabeth Gish, American actress
1970 – Tim Story, American director and producer
1964 – Will Clark, American baseball player
1963 – Vance Johnson, American football player
1962 – Terence Blanchard, American trumpet player and composer
1960 – Joe Ranft, American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor (d. 2005)
1959 – Kathy Hilton, American actress and fashion designer
1958 – Rick Lazio, American lawyer and politician
1957 – John Hoeven, American banker and politician, 31st Governor of North Dakota
1957 – Moses Hogan, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1956 – Dana Delany, American actress and producer
1956 – Jamie Dimon, American banker and businessman
1955 – Glenne Headly, American actress (d. 2017)
1953 – Andy Bean, American golfer
1951 – Charo, Spanish-American singer, guitarist, and actress
1950 – Charles Krauthammer, American physician, journalist, and author
1950 – William H. Macy, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1949 – Julia Migenes, American soprano and actress
1947 – Lyn St. James, American racing driver
1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu, American-Israeli colonel (d. 1976)
1942 – Dave Cutler, American computer scientist and engineer
1941 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (d. 2001)
1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1938 – Erma Franklin, American gospel and R&B singer (d. 2002)
1938 – Robert Gammage, American captain and politician (d. 2012)
1934 – Barry Hughart, American author and screenwriter
1933 – Mike Stoller, American songwriter and producer
1930 – Blue Mitchell, American trumpet player (d. 1979)
1928 – Ellen Raskin, American author and illustrator (d. 1984)
1927 – Robert Denning, American interior designer and art collector (d. 2005)
1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer and composer
1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
1920 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (d. 2015)
1916 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (d. 2017)
1916 – Lindy Boggs, American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (d. 2013)
1914 – Edward O'Hare, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)
1911 – L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (d. 1986)
1910 – Sammy Kaye, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1987)
1908 – Myrtle Bachelder, American chemist and Women's Army Corps officer (d. 1997)
1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
1898 – Henry Hathaway, American director and producer (d. 1985)
1892 – Janet Flanner, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1886 – Albert William Stevens, American captain and photographer (d. 1949)
1886 – Home Run Baker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1963)
1874 – Ellery Harding Clark, American jumper, coach, and lawyer (d. 1949)
1870 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (d. 1938)
1857 – B. H. Roberts, English-American historian and politician (d. 1933)
1855 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1916)
1815 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, linguist, and missionary (d. 1911)
1798 – Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (d. 1853)
1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (d. 1841)
Deaths
2017 – Amy Krouse Rosenthal, American author (b. 1965)
2016 – Hilary Putnam, American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist (b. 1926)
2016 – Martin Olav Sabo, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
2015 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (b. 1924)
2015 – Irwin Hasen, American cartoonist (b. 1918)
2014 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American businessman (b. 1926)
2014 – Reubin Askew, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of Florida (b. 1928)
2013 – Cartha DeLoach, American FBI agent and author (b. 1920)
2013 – Ducky Detweiler, American baseball player and manager (b. 1919)
2011 – Rick Martin, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1951)
2009 – Alan W. Livingston, American businessman (b. 1917)
2009 – Betsy Blair, American actress (b. 1923)
2007 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (b. 1925)
2006 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (b. 1925)
2006 – Robert C. Baker, American businessman, invented the chicken nugget (b. 1921)
2001 – John A. Alonzo, American actor and cinematographer (b. 1934)
CALENDAR