Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include English playwright William Shakespeare in 1564; James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States, in 1791; Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Planck in 1858; Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev in 1891; Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lester Pearson in 1897; baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn in 1921; actor/diplomat Shirley Temple Black in 1928;; distance runner and author Jim Fixx in 1932; singer Roy Orbison in 1936; actors Lee Majors and David Birney, both in 1939 (age 75), Sandra Dee in 1942, Herve Villechaize in 1943, Joyce DeWitt in 1949 (age 65), Jan Hooks in 1957 (age 57), Valerie Bertinelli in 1960 (age 54), George Lopez in 1961 (age 53); Melina Kanakaredes in 1967 (age 47) and Kal Penn in 1977 (age 37); documentarian Michael Moore in 1954 (age 60); and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1968.
On this date in history:
In 1635, the first public school in America, the Boston Latin School, was opened.
In 1898, the first movie theater opened at the Koster and Bials Music Hall in New York City.
In 1965, more than 200 U.S. planes struck North Vietnam in one of the heaviest raids of the Vietnam War.
In 1985, former U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin died at age 88. The North Carolina Democrat directed the Senate Watergate investigation that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
In 1993, United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez died at age 66.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II met with U.S. cardinals to discuss the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church. He expressed an apology to victims of abuse, saying what had happened to them was a crime and "an appalling act in the eyes of God."
In 2006, Hungary's Socialist-Liberal coalition recaptured government control by a comfortable majority in parliamentary elections.
In 2007, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who faced down army tanks during the fall of the Soviet Union, died of cardiac arrest at the age of 76.
In 2008, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, top U.S. military official in Iraq, was promoted to head of Central Command, overseeing military affairs in the Middle East and Central Asia, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2010, Arizona enacted a law requiring local governments and police to crack down on illegal immigrants. The law, among other things, made it a state crime to be in the United States illegally and eased the process of making arrests.
In 2013, U.S. President Obama honored Teacher of the Year Jeff Charbonneau of Zillah, Wash. in a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden. Quoting Charbonneau, Obama said a teacher's "greatest accomplishments are revealed each time a student realizes that he or she has an unlimited potential."
A thought for the day: "It's useless to hold a person to anything he says while he's in love, drunk, or running for office." -- Shirley MacLaine
