Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: January 6

Updated January 5, 2012, 1:28 pm

NYT Front Page

On Jan. 6, 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, N.Y., at age 60.

Go to article »

On Jan. 6, 1882, Sam Rayburn, who served for more than 48 years in the U.S. House of Representatives (1913-61), was born. Following his death on Nov. 16, 1961, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

 

On This Date By The Associated Press

1412 According to tradition, Joan of Arc was born in Domremy, France.
1540 England’s King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
1759 George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married.
1838 Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.
1912 New Mexico became the 47th state.
1919 Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, died in Oyster Bay, N.Y., at age 60.
1945 George H.W. Bush married Barbara Pierce in Rye, N.Y.
1993 Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie died at age 75.
1994 Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg in an assault planned by the ex-husband of her rival, Tonya Harding.
2001 With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress certified Republican George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.
2005 Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison.)

Current Birthdays By The Associated Press

Carrie Ann Inaba, Dancer, TV judge (“Dancing with the Stars”)

Dancer-TV judge Carrie Ann Inaba (“Dancing with the Stars”) turns 44 years old today.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Julie Chen, TV host (“The Early Show,” “Big Brother”)

TV host Julie Chen (“The Early Show,” “Big Brother”) turns 42 years old today.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg

1921 Louis Harris, Pollster, turns 91
1924 Earl Scruggs, Bluegrass musician, turns 88
1931 E.L. Doctorow, Author, turns 81
1944 Bonnie Franklin, Actress (“One Day At A Time”), turns 68
1953 Malcolm Young, Rock musician (AC-DC), turns 59
1955 Rowan Atkinson, Actor, comedian (“Mr Bean” films), turns 57
1957 Nancy Lopez, Golfer, turns 55
1960 Howie Long, Football Hall of Famer, sportscaster, turns 52
1968 John Singleton, Director, turns 44
1981 Asante Samuel, Football player, turns 31

 

Historic Birthdays

Sam Rayburn 1/6/1882 – 11/16/1961 American Speaker of the HouseGo to obituary »
70 Martin Agricola 1/6/1486 – 6/10/1556
German composer and teacher
50 Jakob Bernoulli 1/6/1655 – 8/16/1705
Swiss mathematician
63 Charles Sumner 1/6/1811 – 3/11/1874
American Civil War statesman
68 Heinrich Schliemann 1/6/1822 – 12/26/1890
German-born Greek excavator
86 Victor Horta 1/6/1861 – 9/8/1947
Belgian architect
89 Carl Sandburg 1/6/1878 – 7/22/1967
American poet and novelist
67 Joseph Medill Patterson 1/6/1879 – 5/26/1946
American journalist and publisher
60 Tom Mix 1/6/1880 – 10/12/1940
American silent screen actor
48 Khalil Gibran 1/6/1883 – 4/10/1931
Lebanese-born American novelist and poet
88 Morris Wright 1/6/1910 – April/25/1998
American author

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: January 5

Updated January 4, 2012, 1:28 pm

NYT Front Page

On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford, head of the Ford Motor Company, introduced a minimum wage scale of $5 per day.

Go to article »

On Jan. 5, 1863, Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky, one of the greatest masters of Russian drama and a founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, was born. Following his death on Aug. 7, 1938, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

 

On This Date

By The Associated Press
1781 A British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Va.
1896 The Austrian newspaper Wiener Presse reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen of a type of radiation that came to be known as an X-ray.
1933 Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, died in Northampton, Mass., at age 60.
1949 In his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his domestic program the “Fair Deal.”
1970 The soap opera “All My Children” premiered on ABC-TV.
1972 President Richard Nixon ordered development of the space shuttle.
1973 Bruce Springsteen’s debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” was released.
1981 Police in England arrested Peter Sutcliffe, a truck driver later convicted of the “Yorkshire Ripper” murders of 13 women.
1994 Former House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill died in Boston at age 81.
2004 After 14 years of denials, Pete Rose publicly admitted that he’d bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
2011 Rep. John Boehner of Ohio was elected speaker as Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives on the first day of the new Congress.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press
Robert Duvall, Actor

Actor Robert Duvall turns 81 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Bradley Cooper, Actor

Actor Bradley Cooper turns 37 years old today.

AP Photo/Matt Sayles

1925 Lou Carnesecca, Hall of Fame basketball coach, turns 87
1928 Walter F. Mondale, Former vice president, turns 84
1932 Chuck Noll, Hall of Fame football coach, turns 80
1938 King Juan Carlos, King of Spain, turns 74
1942 Charlie Rose, Broadcast journalist, turns 70
1944 Ed Rendell, Former governor of Pennsylvania, turns 68
1946 Diane Keaton, Actress, turns 66
1948 Ted Lange, Actor (“The Love Boat”), turns 64
1953 Pamela Sue Martin, Actress (“Dynasty”), turns 59
1953 George Tenet, Former CIA director, turns 59
1954 Alex English, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 58
1969 Marilyn Manson, Rock singer, turns 43
1978 January Jones, Actress (“Mad Men”), turns 34

 

Historic Birthdays

Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky 1/5/1863 (1/17/1863 N.S.) – 8/7/1938 Russian actor, producer, teacher and philosopher of theater.Go to obituary »
69 Francisco Suárez 1/5/1548 – 9/25/1617
Spanish theologian
74 Shah Jahan 1/5/1592 – 1/22/1666
Mughal emperor of India and builder of the Taj Mahal
34 Zebulon Montgomery Pike 1/5/1779 – 4/27/1813
American army officer and explorer
41 Stephen Decatur 1/5/1779 – 3/22/1820
American naval officer
77 King Camp Gillette 1/5/1855 – 7/9/1932
American inventor and manufacturer
91 Konrad Adenauer 1/5/1876 – 4/19/1967
First chancellor of West Germany (1949-63)
77 Henry Sloane Coffin 1/5/1877 – 11/25/1954
American clergyman
76 Herbert Bayard Swope 1/5/1882 – 6/20/1958
American journalist and editor
55 Yves Tanguy 1/5/1900 – 1/15/1955
French Surrealist painter
87 Stella Gibbons 1/5/1902 – 12/19/1989
English novelist and poet
87 Hubert Beuve-Méry 1/5/1902 – 8/6/1989
French publisher and editor of “Le Monde”
72 Dame Kathleen Kenyon 1/5/1906 – 8/24/1978
English archaeologist
58 Alvin Ailey Jr. 1/5/1931 – 12/1/1989
American choreographer and dancer; founded Ailey American Dance Theater

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: January 4

Updated January 3, 2012, 1:28 pm

NYT Front Page

On Jan. 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined the goals of his ”Great Society” in his State of the Union address.

Go to article »

On Jan. 4, 1896, Everett McKinley Dirksen, Republican leader of the Senate from 1959-1969, was born. Following his death on Sept. 7, 1969, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

 

On This Date

By The Associated Press
1896 Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state.
1948 Britain granted independence to Burma.
1951 North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul during the Korean War.
1960 Nobel Prize-winning French author Albert Camus died in a car accident at age 46.
1965 Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76.
1974 President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1995 The 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era; Newt Gingrich was elected speaker of the House.
1999 Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
2004 Afghans approved a new constitution.
2006 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke and his powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert.
2007 Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., became the first female speaker of the House.
2010 Dubai opened the world’s tallest skyscraper, the 2,717-foot gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press
Michael Stipe, Rock singer (R.E.M.)

Rock singer Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) turns 52 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Julia Ormond, Actress

Actress Julia Ormond turns 47 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

1927 Barbara Rush, Actress, turns 85
1930 Don Shula, Hall of Fame football coach, turns 82
1937 Dyan Cannon, Actress, turns 75
1943 Doris Kearns Goodwin, Author, historian, turns 69
1957 Patty Loveless, Country singer, turns 55
1963 Dave Foley, Actor, comedian (“NewsRadio”), turns 49
1964 Dot Jones, Actress (“Glee”), turns 48
1966 Deana Carter, Country singer, turns 46

 

Historic Birthdays

Everett McKinley Dirksen 1/4/1896 – 9/7/1969 American politician and Republican leader of the Senate.Go to obituary »
75 James Ussher 1/4/1581 – 3/21/1656
Anglo-Irish prelate; calculated age of the Earth from the Bible
26 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi 1/4/1710 – 3/16/1736
Italian composer
67 Benjamin Rush 1/4/1746 – 4/19/1813
American physician, political leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence
71 Francois Rude 1/4/1784 – 11/3/1855
French sculptor
78 Jacob Grimm 1/4/1785 – 9/20/1863
German scholar and author, with Wilhelm Carl Grimm, of Grimm’s Fairy Tales
84 Sir Isaac Newton 1/4/1643-3/31/1727
English physicist and father of modern science
53 Wilhelm Beer 1/4/1797 – 3/27/1850
German astronomer; made first map of moon
43 Louis Braille 1/4/1809 – 1/6/1852
French educator and inventor of Braille
84 Sir Isaac Pitman 1/4/1813 – 1/12/1897
English educator and inventor of shorthand
38 Wilhelm Lehmbruck 1/4/1881 – 3/25/1919
German sculpture
87 Leroy Randle Grumman 1/4/1895 – 10/4/1982
American aeronautical engineer and founder of Grumman Aircraft

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: January 3

Updated January 2, 2012, 1:28 pm

NYT Front Page

On Jan. 3, 1959, President Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Alaska to the Union as the 49th state.

Go to article »

On Jan. 3, 1793, Lucretia Mott, an early proponent of the women’s rights movement in America, was born. Following her death on Nov. 11, 1880, her obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

 

On This Date

By The Associated Press
1521 Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
1777 Gen. George Washington’s army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, N.J.
1868 The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan’s emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.
1892 J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
1938 The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized.
1961 The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1967 Jack Ruby, the man who fatally shot accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died in a Dallas hospital.
1990 Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in Panama City.
2000 The last new daily “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles Schulz ran in 2,600 newspapers.
2004 NASA’s Mars rover, Spirit, touched down on the red planet.
2006 Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion and agreed to cooperate in investigations of corruption in Congress.
2009 After seven days of pummeling the Gaza Strip from the air, Israel launched a ground offensive.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press
Eli Manning, Football player

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning turns 31 years old today.

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Stephen Stills, Rock musician (Crosby, Stills and Nash)

Rock musician Stephen Stills (Crosby, Stills and Nash) turns 67 years old today.

AP Photo/Tony Avelar

1926 George Martin, Record producer, turns 86
1930 Robert Loggia, Actor, turns 82
1932 Dabney Coleman, Actor, turns 80
1939 Bobby Hull, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 73
1946 John Paul Jones, Rock musician (Led Zeppelin), turns 66
1950 Victoria Principal, Actress (“Dallas”), turns 62
1956 Mel Gibson, Actor, director, turns 56
1968 Shannon Sturges, Actress, turns 44
1975 Danica McKellar, Actress (“The Wonder Years”), turns 37

 

Historic Birthdays

Lucretia Mott 1/3/1793 – 11/11/1880 Early proponent of the American women’s rights movement.Go to obituary »
86 Heinrich Wilheim von Gerstenberg 1/3/1737 – 11/1/1823
German theorist of Sturm & Drang literary movement
82 Robert Whitehead 1/3/1823 – 11/14/1905
British engineer, invented the modern torpedo
49 Father Damien 1/3/1840 – 4/15/1889
Belgian missionary to Hawaiian lepers
71 Sir Henry Alfred Lytton 1/3/1865 – 8/15/1936
English Gilbert and Sullivan star
84 Clement Attlee 1/3/1883 – 10/8/1967
English prime minister (1945-51)
81 J. R. R. Tolkien 1/3/1892 – 9/2/1973
English novelist and scholar
84 T. Claude Ryan 1/3/1898 – 9/11/1982
American aircraft manufacturer; designed the Spirit of St Louis
62 Dinh Diem Ngo 1/3/1901 – 11/2/1963
South Vietnamese president (1955-63)
86 Boris Kochno 1/3/1904 – 1/8/1990
Russian-born French ballet librettist
22 Morten Nielsen 1/3/1922 – 8/29/1944
Danish poet & resistance fighter

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: January 2

Updated January 1, 2012, 1:28 pm

NYT Front Page

On Jan. 2, 1905, Japanese Gen. Nogi received from Russian Gen. Stoessel at 9 o’clock P.M. a letter formally offering to surrender, ending the Russo-Japanese War.

Go to article »

On Jan. 2, 1920, Isaac Asimov, the immensely popular science fiction writer, was born. Following his death on April 6, 1992, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

 

On This Date

By The Associated Press
1492 The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.
1788 Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1900 Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with China.
1935 Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (He was found guilty and executed.)
1965 The New York Jets signed University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath for a reported $400,000.
1974 President Richard Nixon signed legislation requiring states to limit highway speeds to 55 mph.
1981 Police in Sheffield, England, arrested Peter Sutcliffe, who confessed to being the “Yorkshire Ripper,” the serial killer of 13 women.
1991 Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first African-American woman to head a city of Washington’s size and prominence.
2006 A methane gas explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia trapped 13 miners underground for more than 40 hours; only one survived.
2008 Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel for the first time.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press
Kate Bosworth, Actress

Actress Kate Bosworth turns 29 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

Dax Shepard, Actor

Actor Dax Shepard turns 37 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

1940 Jim Bakker, Former TV evangelist, turns 72
1942 Dennis Hastert, Former House speaker, turns 70
1947 Jack Hanna, TV host, turns 65
1967 Tia Carrere, Actress, turns 45
1968 Cuba Gooding Jr., Actor, turns 44
1969 Christy Turlington, Model, turns 43
1971 Taye Diggs, Actor, turns 41
1976 Paz Vega, Actress, turns 36

 

Historic Birthdays

Isaac Asimov 1/2/1920 – 4/6/1992 American science fiction author.Go to obituary »
32 James Wolfe 1/2/1727 – 9/13/1759
English general who captured Quebec
67 Johann Daniel Titius 1/2/1729 – 12/11/1796
Prussian astronomer and physicist
66 Rudolf Clausius 1/2/1822 – 8/24/1888
German mathematical physicist
66 Justin Winsor 1/2/1831 – 10/22/1897
American librarian and historian
68 Ernst Barlach 1/2/1870 – 10/24/1938
German sculpture and playwright
58/59 Tex Rickard 1/2/1870/71 – 1/6/1929
American fight promoter and gambler
79 Albert Coombs Barnes 1/2/1872 – 7/24/1951
American inventor and art collector
24 Saint Theresa of Lisieux 1/2/1873 – 9/30/1897
French Carmelite nun
53 Count Folke Bernadotte 1/2/1895 – 9/17/1948
Swedish diplomat, humanitarian
75 Sally Rand 1/2/1904 – 8/31/1979
American actress and fan dancer

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: January 1

Updated December 31, 2011, 1:29 pm

NYT Front Page

On Jan. 1, 1959, Fidel Castro led Cuban revolutionaries to victory over Fulgencio Batista.

Go to article »

On Jan. 1, 1895, J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924-1972, was born. Following his death on May 2, 1972, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

On This Date

By The Associated Press
1808 A law prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States went into effect.
1892 The Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York opened.
1898 New York City was consolidated into five buroughs.
1901 The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed.
1919 J.D. Salinger, author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” was born in New York City.
1953 Country singer Hank Williams Sr., 29, died of a drug and alcohol overdose.
1958 Treaties establishing the European Economic Community went into effect.
1959 Fidel Castro led Cuban revolutionaries to victory over Fulgencio Batista.
1979 The United States and China established diplomatic relations.
1984 AT&T was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement.
1990 David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City’s first African-American mayor.
1993 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1994 The North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.
1999 The euro became the official currency of 11 European countries.
2011 Oprah Winfrey launched the OWN cable TV network.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press
Frank Langella, Actor (“Frost/Nixon”)

Actor Frank Langella (“Frost/Nixon”) turns 73 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Robert Menendez, U.S. senator, D-N.J.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., turns 57 years old today.

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

1922 Ernest Hollings, Former U.S. senator, D-S.C., turns 89
1942 Country Joe McDonald, Rock singer, musician (Country Joe and the Fish), turns 69
1943 Don Novello, Comedian, turns 68
1947 Jon Corzine, Former governor of New Jersey, turns 64
1958 Grandmaster Flash, Rapper, turns 53
1964 Dedee Pfeiffer, Actress, turns 47
1966 Embeth Davidtz, Actress, turns 45
1969 Verne Troyer, Actor (“Austin Powers” movies), turns 42

 

Historic Birthdays

J. Edgar Hoover 1/1/1895 – 5/2/1972 American director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Go to obituary »
43 Lorenzo de’ Medici 1/1/1449 – 3/9/1492
Italian statesman, ruler
51 Mad Anthony Wayne 1/1/1745 – 12/15/1796
American Revolutionary general
84 Betsy Ross 1/1/1752 – 1/30/1836
American, sewed the first American flag
87 Sir James George Frazer 1/1/1854 – 5/7/1941
British anthropologist, wrote Golden Bough
82 Alfred Stieglitz 1/1/1864 – 7/13/1946
American photographer
79 Ernest Jones 1/1/1879 – 2/11/1958
British psychoanalyst
73 William Fox 1/1/1879 – 5/8/1952
American motion picture executive
76 William J Donovan 1/1/1883 – 2/8/1959
American Director of the O.S.S. in WW2
76 Catherine Bowen 1/1/1897 – 1 1/1/1973
American writer
90 Xavier Cugat 1/1/1900 – 10/27/1990
Cuban band leader
83 Dana Andrews 1/1/1909 – 12/17/1992
American actor
89 Barry M. Goldwater 1/1/1909 – 5/29/1998
American senator
76 Kim Philby 1/1/1912 – 5/11/1988
British, Soviet double agent
71 Rocky Graziano 1/1/1919 – 5/22/1990
American boxer

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: December 31

Updated December 30, 2011, 1:28 pm

NYT Front Page

On Dec. 31, 1946, President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

Go to article »

On Dec. 31, 1869, Henri Matisse, one of the foremost painters of 20th century French art, was born. Following his death on Nov. 3, 1954, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

 

On This Date

By The Associated Press
1857 Britain’s Queen Victoria decided to make Ottawa the capital of Canada.
1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union.
1951 The Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.
1974 Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.
1985 Rock singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year’s Eve performance in Dallas.
1993 Entertainer Barbra Streisand performed her first paid concert in 22 years, singing to a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
1997 Michael Kennedy, 39-year-old son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado.
2006 The death toll for Americans killed in the Iraq war reached 3,000.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press
Ben Kingsley, Actor

Actor Ben Kingsley turns 68 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

Anthony Hopkins, Actor

Actor Anthony Hopkins turns 74 years old today.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg

1942 Andy Summers, Rock musician (The Police), turns 69
1944 Taylor Hackford, Director, producer, turns 67
1946 Diane Von Furstenberg, Fashion designer, turns 65
1947 Burton Cummings, Rock musician (The Guess Who), turns 64
1947 Tim Matheson, Actor (“Animal House,” “The West Wing”), turns 64
1948 Donna Summer, Singer, turns 63
1958 Bebe Neuwirth, Actress (“Cheers”), turns 53
1959 Val Kilmer, Actor, turns 52
1959 Paul Westerberg, Rock singer (The Replacements), turns 52

 

Historic Birthdays

Henri Matisse 12/31/1869 – 11/3/1954 French painter. Go to obituary »
88 Jules Styne 12/31/1905 – 9/20/1994
American songwriter
88 Nathan Milstein 12/31/1903 – 12/21/1992
Russian-born American violinist
87 Elizabeth Arden 12/31/1878 – 10/18/1966
Canadian-born American cosmetic executive
78 Ben Jones 12/31/1882 – 6/13/1961
American racehorse trainer
78 George C. Marshall 12/31/1880 – 10/16/1959
U.S. Army general
86 Robert Aitken 12/31/1864 – 10/29/1951
American astronomer
66 Charles Cornwallis 12/31/1738 – 10/5/1805
English soldier and statesman
65 Jacques Cartier 12/31/1491 – 9/1/1557
French explorer

 

 

Posted on Leave a comment

On This Day: December 30

Updated December 29, 2011, 1:28 pm

NYT Front Page

On Dec. 30, 1972, the United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

Go to article »

On Dec. 30, 1873, Alfred Smith, the four-time governor of New York State and 1928 presidential candidate, was born. Following his death on Oct. 4, 1944, his obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

On This Date

By The Associated Press
1813 The British burned Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.
1865 Author Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India.
1903 About 600 people died when fire broke out at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago.
1911 Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.
1928 Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates in McComb, Miss.
1940 California’s first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened.
1972 The United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.
1978 Ohio State University fired Woody Hayes as its football coach, one day after Hayes punched a Clemson University player during a game.
1993 Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize one another.
2003 The federal government announced it would ban the sale of ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes.
2006 Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was hanged.
2010 Top-ranked Connecticut’s record 90-game winning streak in women’s basketball ended with a 71-59 loss to No. 9 Stanford.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press
LeBron James, Basketball player

Miami Heat forward LeBron James turns 27 years old today.

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Meredith Vieira, TV host

TV host Meredith Vieira turns 58 years old today.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg

1934 Joseph Bologna, Actor, turns 77
1934 Russ Tamblyn, Actor, turns 77
1935 Jack Riley, Actor (“The Bob Newhart Show”), turns 76
1935 Sandy Koufax, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 76
1937 Noel Paul Stookey, Folk singer (Peter, Paul and Mary), turns 74
1940 James Burrows, TV director (“Taxi,” “Cheers,” “Will and Grace”), turns 71
1942 Michael Nesmith, Rock singer, musician (The Monkees), turns 69
1945 Davy Jones, Rock singer (The Monkees), turns 66
1946 Patti Smith, Rock musician, turns 65
1947 Jeff Lynne, Rock singer, musician (ELO), turns 64
1957 Matt Lauer, TV host (“Today”), turns 54
1959 Tracey Ullman, Actress, comedian, turns 52
1961 Sean Hannity, TV host, turns 50
1975 Tiger Woods, Golfer, turns 36
1977 Laila Ali, Boxer, TV personality, turns 34
1978 Tyrese Gibson, R&B singer, actor, turns 33
1980 Eliza Dushku, Actress, turns 31

 

Historic Birthdays

Alfred Smith 12/30/1873 – 10/4/1944 American politician and four-time governor of New York State. Go to obituary »
77 Bert Parks 12/30/1914 – 2/2/1992
American game show host
69 Sir Carol Reed 12/30/1906 – 4/25/1976
English film director
71 Alfred Einstein 12/30/1880 – 2/13/1952
German-born American musicologist and critic
70 Ramana Maharshi 12/30/1879 – 4/14/1950
Hindu philosopher and yogi
70 Rudyard Kipling 12/30/1865 – 1/18/1936
English writer
77 Asa Griggs Candler 12/30/1851 – 3/12/1929
American developer of Coca-Cola
62 John Milne 12/30/1850 – 7/30/1913
English seismologist and geologist; inventor of the seismograph