Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include German poet, novelist and dramatist Johann von Goethe in 1749; Elizabeth Ann Seton, first U.S.-born saint of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1774; French actor Charles Boyer in 1899; psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in 1903; actor Nancy Kulp in 1921; actor/dancer Donald O'Connor in 1925; actor Ben Gazzara in 1930; former U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen in 1940 (age 74); former baseball Manager Lou Piniella and singer/actor David Soul, both in 1943 (age 71); actor Daniel Stern in 1957 (age 57); Olympic gold medal ice skater Scott Hamilton in 1958 (age 56); actors Emma Samms in 1960 (age 54), Billy Boyd in 1968 (age 46); and Jack Black and Jason Priestley, both in 1969 (age 45); figure skater Todd Eldredge and Olympic gold medal swimmer Janet Evans, both in 1971 (age 43); country singers Shania Twain in 1965 (age 49) and LeAnn Rimes in 1982 (age 32); and Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in 2006 and held captive by Palestinian militants for more than five years, and actor Armie Hammer, both in 1986 (age 28).
On this date in history:
In 1922, a New York City realty company paid $100 for the first radio commercial, on station WEAF.
In 1955, while visiting family members in Money, Miss., 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African-American from Chicago, was slain for flirting with a white woman four days earlier. (His alleged killers were acquitted.)
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I have a dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before more than 200,000 people gathered for a "Freedom March" in Washington.
In 1968, the Democratic Party nominated Hubert Humphrey for president as thousands of anti-Vietnam War demonstrators battled police in the streets and parks of Chicago.
In 1986, Soviet spy Jerry Whitworth was sentenced in San Francisco to 365 years in prison and fined $410,000.
In 1990, a tornado struck Will County in Illinois, southwest of Chicago, killing at least 27 people and injuring more than 350.
In 1996, after four years of separation, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana, were formally divorced.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina picked up strength as it roared toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, reaching Category 5 status, with winds of almost 150 miles an hour, touching off one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history.
In 2008, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumed Republican nominee for president, chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.
In 2009, the June 27 death of entertainer Michael Jackson was ruled a homicide by drug overdose after his personal physician admitted giving him the powerful anesthetic propofol and the sedative lorazepam on the day of his death.
In 2011, Tony Tan was elected the seventh president of Singapore after more than 83 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots.
In 2012, delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., chose Mitt Romney as the party's presidential nominee.
In 2013, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who admitted to killing 13 people and wounding many others at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, was sentenced to death.
A thought for the day: "Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way." -- Salman Rushdie
