1545: Don Carlos of Spain is born. At one time he was on the short list to marry several of Europe's most eligible ladies including Mary, Queen of Scots. Unfortunately, he was physically deformed and mentally unstable (perhaps as a result of inbreeding in the Habsburg line) and nobody wanted to be a part of that train wreck. At the age of 17, he met with an "unspecified accident" and went even more out of control until he died in captivity at the age of 23, probably poisoned.
1497: Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.
1663: John Clarke is granted a Royal Charter for Rhode Island.1709: At the Battle of Poltava, Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major European power.
1775: The Olive Branch Petition, a last effort at peace between the colonies and Britain, is adopted by the Continental Congress.
1776: The Declaration of Independence is read aloud in Philadelphia.
1838: Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, inventor of the airship, is born. Zeppelins are amazing constructions and it's a shame that none of us will probably get to see on in flight. It's hard to get an idea of the size of one - most people think of blimps, but a zeppelin dwarfs a blimp. Put it this way: take the Titanic out of water and float it in the air 1000 feet above Lakehurst, NJ and you've got an idea on the size of a ship like the Hindenburg. If I ever become a fabulously wealthy more-money-than-brains type, I'm building a fleet of zeppelins.
1839: John D. Rockefeller is born.
1851: Arthur Evans is born. He discovered the palace at Knossos on Crete.
1853: Commodor Matthew Perry arrives in Tokyo Bay on a mission to open diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.
1889: The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published.1896: William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech, advocating bimetalism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention. Bimetalism is when a currency is based on both gold and silver simultaneously. It's pretty unworkable and was only ever taken seriously in countries that produced a lot of both metals, like the US.
1898: The shooting death of crime boss Soapy Smith releases Skagway, AK from his iron grip.
1908: Nelson Rockefeller is born. He was the center-right (so far to the center that many people considered him left) Republican governor of New York for many years and Ford's vice president. I remember him best for giving the finger to a heckler at the 1976 Republican National Convention and dying at the age of 70 during the physical act of love with a young lady friend.
1926: Elizabeth Kubler Ross is born. She came up with the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.1932: The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22.
1933: Marty Feldman is born.
1934: Steve Lawrence, of Steve & Eydie, is born.
1944: Jefferey Tambor is born. He is most famous for laying Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show and George Bluth on Arrested Development.
1947: Kim Darby is born. She played the crazy Mom in Better off Dead.
1950: Douglas MacArthur is named commander-in-chief of the UN forces in Korea.
1951: Anjelica Houston is born. Hey, both Kim Darby and Anjelica Houston have played John Cusack's mother in two different movies!
1958: Kevin Bacon is born.1970: Beck is born.
Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.
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