Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include French novelist Guy de Maupassant in 1850; poet and critic Conrad Aiken in 1889; film director John Huston in 1906; actor Robert Taylor in 1911; astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man to step on the moon, in 1930; basketball Hall of Fame member Patrick Ewing in 1962 (age 52); hockey Hall of Fame member Herb Brooks in 1937; actors John Saxon in 1936 (age 78), Loni Anderson in 1945 (age 69), Maureen McCormick in 1956 (age 58), Tawny Kitaen in 1961 (age 53) and Jonathan Silverman in 1966 (age 48); and Rock and Roll Hall of fame member Adam Yauch (Beastie Boys) in 1964.
On this date in history:
In 1833, Chicago, with a population of about 200, was incorporated as a village.
In 1858, after several unsuccessful attempts, the first telegraph line across the Atlantic Ocean was completed.
In 1861, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln approved the first federal income tax. (A wartime measure, it was rescinded in 1872.)
In 1957, Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" began airing nationally.
In 1962, Marilyn Monroe died of an overdose of barbiturates. She was 35.
In 1974, U.S. President Richard Nixon admitted ordering the Watergate investigation halted six days after the break-in. Nixon said he expected to be impeached.
In 1991, Iraq said it misled U.N. inspectors about secret biological weapons and also admitted extracting plutonium from fuel at a nuclear plant.
In 2003, U.S. Episcopal officials approved election of the church's first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
In 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law a bill to allow government eavesdropping of telephone conversations and email of U.S. citizens without a warrant if there's "reasonable belief" that one party isn't in the United States.
In 2009, former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was convicted on 11 counts of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering for allegedly helping U.S. firms arrange business deals in Africa. (He began serving a 13-year federal prison sentence in 2012.)
In 2010, the U.S. Senate cleared the way for Solicitor General Elena Kagan to become the newest member of the Supreme Court when it voted 63-37 to confirm her nomination by President Barack Obama. (She was sworn in two days later to succeed the retiring John Stevens.)
In 2012, a gunman police described as a white supremacist shot six people to death, wounded four others, then killed himself at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis.
In 2013, the Chinese Ministry of Civil affairs reported that a drought since mid-June had left nearly 6 million people short of water.
A thought for the day: "When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others." -- Peace Pilgrim
