Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray in 1811; actor Chill Wills in 1903; playwright Clifford Odets in 1906; actor/singer Harriet Hilliard Nelson in 1909; composer/ arranger/ pianist Lou Busch (aka Joe "Fingers" Carr) in 1910; actor Hume Cronyn in 1911; comedian Red Skelton in 1913; South African leader and Nobel Peace Price laureate Nelson Mandela in 1918; astronaut-turned-Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, in 1921 (age 93); gold medal ice skater Dick Button (age 85) and singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins, both in 1929; journalist/author Hunter S. Thompson in 1937; pop singer Dion DiMucci in 1939 (age 75); actor James Brolin and former baseball Manager Joe Torre, both in 1940 (age 43); singer Martha Reeves in 1941 (age 72); historian Joseph J. Ellis in 1943 (age 71); publisher Steve Forbes in 1947 (age 67); businessman Richard Branson (age 64) and Village People singer Glenn Hughes, both in 1950; country singer Ricky Skaggs in 1954 (age 60), and actors Elizabeth McGovern in 1961 (age 53), Vin Diesel in 1967 (age 47) and Kristen Bell in 1980 (age 34).
On this date in history:
In 1925, Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" was published.
In 1939, after a sneak preview of "The Wizard of Oz," producers debated about removing one of the songs because it seemed to slow things down. The song: "Over the Rainbow."
In 1969, a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged into a pond at Chappaquiddick Island, Mass., killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
In 1976, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to be awarded the score of a perfect 10 in gymnastics.
In 1977, Vietnam was admitted to the United Nations.
In 1984, a gunman opened fire at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people.
In 1994, a car bombing in Buenos Aires killed about 100 people in or near a building that housed Jewish organizations.
In 2007, Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League, was indicted on federal charges related to an illegal dogfighting operation. (He was subsequently sentenced to 23 months in prison.)
In 2011, Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen took over as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, vowing to keep "relentlessly pressuring the enemy." Allen replaced Army Gen. David Petraeus, who became director of the CIA.
In 2012, victims of a suicide bomb at Syria's National Security Bureau included Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat (President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law), former Defense Minister Hassan Turkomani and NSB chief Hisham Ikhtiar.
In 2013, Detroit became the largest U.S.city to file for bankruptcy.
A thought for the day: "Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him." -- Booker T. Washington
