Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Spanish painter Diego Velazquez in 1599; American patriot Nathan Hale in 1755; painter John Trumbull in 1756; Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin in 1799; clothier David T. Abercrombie in 1867; British antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1868; German novelist Thomas Mann in 1875; bandleader Ted Lewis in 1892; Indonesian dictator Achmed Sukarno in 1901; bandleader Jimmie Lunceford in 1902; singers Levi Stubbs in 1936 and Gary "U.S." Bonds in 1939 (age 75); Olympic gold medal sprinter and protester Tommie Smith in 1944 (age 70); actors David Dukes in 1945, Robert Englund in 1947 (age 67) and Harvey Fierstein in 1952 (age 62); comedian Sandra Bernhard in 1955 (age 59); tennis player Bjorn Borg in 1956 (age 58); and actors Amanda Pays in 1959 (age 55) and Paul Giamatti in 1967 (age 47).
On this date in history:
In 1844, the Young Men's Christian Association -- YMCA -- was founded in London.
In 1872, feminist Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in an election in Rochester, N.Y. She refused to pay the fine and a judge allowed her to go free.
In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, N.J.
In 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops began crossing the English Channel in the "D-Day" invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It was the largest invasion in history.
In 1966, James Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi, was shot by a sniper during a civil rights "March Against Fear" in the South. (Meredith was hospitalized and recovered from his wounds, later rejoining the long march, which he had originated.)
In 1972, a coal mine explosion in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), trapped 464 miners underground. More than 425 people died.
In 1982, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon.
In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. Its main responsibility would be prevention of terrorist attacks.
In 2007, the remains of thousands of Jews killed by Nazis during World War II were unearthed from a mass grave found by workers digging pipelines in Ukraine.
In 2009, a fire that inspectors said began in a tire store next door destroyed a child-care center in Hermosillo, Mexico, killing 35 children ages 1-5 and injuring about 100 others.
In 2012, a U.N. report said if current patterns of production and consumption of natural resources are not reversed the world will face "unprecedented levels of damage and degradation."
In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, said they were separating after three decades of marriage. (In April 2014, the Kremlin said they had divorced.)
A thought for the day: "Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism." -- Hubert H. Humphrey
