Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include English playwright/poet Ben Jonson in 1572;German composer Richard Strauss in 1864; Montana's Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1880; undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau in 1910; Hall of Fame football Coach Vince Lombardi in 1913; author William Styron in 1925; member of the U.S. House of Representatives Charles B. Rangel in 1930 (age 84); actors Gene Wilder in 1933 (age 81), Chad Everett in 1936 and Adrienne Barbeau in 1945 (age 69); Scottish auto racer Jackie Stewart in 1939 (age 75); Rock and Rock Hall of Fame member drummer Frank Beard (ZZ Top) in 1949 (age 65); football Hall of Fame member Joe Montana in 1956 (age 58); TV host Dr. Mahmet Oz, in 1960 (age 54); and actors Hugh Laurie in 1959 (age 55), Joshua Jackson in 1978 (age 36) and Shia LaBeouf in 1986 (age 28).
On this date in history:
In 1776, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman were appointed by Continental Congress to write a declaration of independence for the American colonies from England.
In 1919, Sir Barton became the first horse to win thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.
In 1920, U.S. Sen. Warren G. Harding, R-Ohio, was chosen as the "dark horse" Republican presidential candidate. (In November, he was elected the 29th U. S. president.)
In 1927, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge welcomed Charles Lindbergh home after the pilot made history's first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, New York to Paris.
In 1963, facing federalized Alabama National Guard troops, Gov. George Wallace ended his blockade of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and allowed two African-Americans to enroll.
In 1967, the Six Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors ended with a United Nations-brokered cease-fire. The Israeli forces achieved a swift and decisive victory.
In 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan died at age 31 in a New Jersey nursing home, nearly 10 years after she lapsed into an irreversible coma. Her condition had sparked a nationwide controversy over her "right to die."
In 1987, Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win three consecutive terms.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an anti-flag-burning law passed by Congress the year before.
In 1994, after 49 years, the Russian military occupation of what had been East Germany ended with the departure of the Red Army from Berlin.
In, 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed in Terre Haute, Ind., for the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and injured hundreds.
In 2010, flash floods swept across Arkansas campgrounds, killing at least 18 people.
In 2011, the leader of al-Qaida in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, was killed in a shootout with Somali soldiers at a checkpoint in Mogadishu.
In 2012, Teofilo Stevenson of Cuba, winner of three Olympic gold medals and considered one of the best amateur boxers ever, died at of a heart attack in Havana. He was 60.
In 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the widespread phone surveillance of the U.S. National Security Agency, charging that the practice violates Americans' constitutional rights of free speech and privacy.
A thought for the day: John Keats wrote "Beauty is truth, truth beauty ... that is all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know."
