today.nukz.net: Almanac

Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968

Events

588 BC – Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC.
69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.
1493 – Christopher Columbus sets sail for Spain from Hispaniola, ending his first voyage to the New World.
1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.
1582 – Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1759 – The British Museum opens.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.
1782 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
1815 – War of 1812: American frigate USS President (1800), commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.
1844 – University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.
1865 – American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
1870 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).
1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta.
1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women.
1910 – Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, US, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 325 ft (99 m).
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps.
1919 – Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
1943 – World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
1943 – The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1947 – The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short ("The Black Dahlia") is found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.
1951 – Ilse Koch, "The Witch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.
1966 – The Nigerian First Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d’état.
1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10
1969 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
1970 – Nigerian Civil War: After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
1970 – Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1974 – Dennis Rader aka the BTK Killer kills his first victims by binding, torturing and murdering Joseph, Joseph II, Josephine and Julie Otero in their house.
1976 – Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
1977 – The Kälvesta air disaster kills 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden's history.
1986 – The Living Seas opens at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, Florida.
1990 – AT&T's long distance telephone network suffers a cascade switching failure.
1991 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
1991 – Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth Realm to institute its own separate Victoria Cross award in its own honours system.
1992 – The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1993 – Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as "The Beast", is arrested in Sicily after three decades as a fugitive.
2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
2005 – An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system.
2005 – ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survive.

Births

1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
1432 – King Afonso V of Portugal (d. 1481)
1481 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shogun (d. 1511)
1538 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d. 1599)
1622 – Molière, French playwright (d. 1673)
1671 – Abraham de la Pryme, English antiquarian (d. 1704)
1674 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French writer (d. 1762)
1716 – Philip Livingston, American founding father (d. 1778)
1747 – John Aikin, English doctor and writer (d. 1822)
1754 – Richard Martin, Irish animal rights activist (d. 1834)
1791 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (d. 1872)
1795 – Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright (d. 1829)
1803 – Marjory Fleming, Scottish writer and poet (d. 1811)
1809 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d. 1865)
1812 – Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian writer (d. 1885)
1815 – William Bickerton, Mormon prophet (d. 1905)
1816 – Marie LaFarge, French murderer (d. 1852)
1824 – Marie Duplessis, French courtesan (d. 1847)
1834 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American politician (d. 1911)
1841 – Frederick Arthur Stanley, Governor General of Canada (d. 1908)
1842 – Josef Breuer, Austrian psychiatrist (d. 1925)
1842 – Saint Mary MacKillop, Australian Saint (d. 1909)
1850 – Leonard Darwin, son of Charles Darwin (d. 1943)
1850 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (d. 1889)
1850 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1891)
1855 – Jacques Damala, Greek military officer and actor (d. 1889)
1859 – Archibald Peake, Premier of South Australia (d. 1920)
1863 – Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1946)
1866 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1931)
1869 – Ruby Laffoon, 43rd Governor of Kentucky (d. 1941)
1869 – Stanislaw Wyspianski, Polish dramatist (d. 1907)
1870 – Pierre S. du Pont, American businessman (d. 1954)
1872 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (d. 1944)
1875 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter (d. 1929)
1877 – Lewis Terman, American psychologist (d. 1956)
1878 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer and pedagogue (d. 1941)
1879 – Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author (d. 1961)
1882 – Princess Margaret of Connaught (d. 1920)
1885 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (d. 1973)
1885 – Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (d. 1968)
1885 – Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915)
1890 – Tommy Fleming, American soccer player (d. 1965)
1891 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (d. 1920)
1891 – Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d. 1938)
1892 – Rex Ingram, Irish director (d. 1950)
1893 – Ivor Novello, Welsh composer and actor (d. 1951)
1895 – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
1897 – Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (d. 1931)
1899 – Goodman Ace, American actor (d. 1982)
1900 – William Heinesen, Faroese writer, poet and artist (d. 1991)
1902 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)
1903 – Paul A. Dever, 58th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1905 – Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (d. 1985)
1905 – Torin Thatcher, English actor (d. 1981)
1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
1908 – Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (d. 2003)
1909 – Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (d. 1939)
1909 – Gene Krupa, American drummer (d. 1973)
1912 – Michel Debré, French politician (d. 1996)
1913 – Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (d. 2002)
1913 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998)
1913 – Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (d. 2005)
1913 – Alexander Marinesko, captain of the S-13 submarined. 1963)
1914 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian (d. 2003)
1918 – João Figueiredo, President of Brazil (d. 1999)
1918 – Édouard Gagnon, Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 2007)
1918 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970)
1919 – Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer, first to ascend an 8000m peak, Annapurna in 1950
1920 – John Joseph O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d. 2000)
1920 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player (d. 2002)
1921 – Babasaheb Bhosale, Indian politician (d. 2007)
1921 – Frank Thornton, English actor
1922 – Sir Eric Willis, Australian politician (d. 1999)
1923 – Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet (d. 2006)
1923 – Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese politician
1925 – Ruth Slenczynska, U.S. pianist
1926 – Maria Schell, Austrian actress (d. 2005)
1927 – Phyllis Coates, American actress
1929 – Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1968)
1930 – Eddie Graham, American professional wrestler (d. 1985)
1931 – Lee Bontecou, American artist
1933 – Ernest J. Gaines, American author
1935 – Malcolm Frager, American pianist
1937 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress
1938 – Chuni Goswami, Indian footballer and cricketer
1939 – Tony Bullimore, English sailor and adventurer
1940 – Anna Hazare, Indian social activist.
1941 – Captain Beefheart, American musician and visual artist (d. 2010)
1943 – Ashraf Aman, first Pakistani to reach the summit of K2
1943 – Stuart E. Eizenstat, adviser to American Presidents Carter and Clinton
1943 – Mike Marshall, American baseball player
1944 – Jenny Nimmo, British author
1945 – Vincent Foster Jr., American lawyer (d. 1993)
1945 – William R. Higgins, USMC colonel (d. 1990)
1945 – Princess Michael of Kent, British royal
1947 – Andrea Martin, Canadian actress
1948 – Ronnie Van Zant, American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
1949 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican baseball player (d. 2001)
1949 – Panos Mihalopoulos, Greek actor
1950 – Marius Trésor, French footballer
1952 – Andrzej Fischer, Polish footballer
1953 – Kent Hovind, American evangelist
1953 – Ta-Tanisha, American actress
1953 – Randy White, American football player
1954 – Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino writer
1954 – Nikos Sarganis, Greek footballer
1955 – Nigel Benson, English author
1956 – Miki Fujimura, Japanese singer
1956 – Mayawati, Indian politician
1956 – Marc Trestman, CFL head coach
1957 – Patrick Dixon, English entrepreneur
1957 – Marty Lyons, American football player
1957 – Mario Van Peebles, American actor
1958 – Boris Tadic, President of Serbia
1959 – Sister Carol, Jamaican reggae singer
1959 – Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian climber (d. 2008)
1959 – Pete Trewavas, English musician
1960 – Kelly Asbury, American director and actor
1960 – Aaron Jay Kernis, American composer
1961 – Yves P. Pelletier, Canadian comedian and film director
1963 – Conrad Lant, English musician
1963 – Bruce Schneier, American cryptographer, security expert, and writer
1964 – Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer
1965 – Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist
1965 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer
1965 – Adam Jones, American musician (Tool)
1965 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
1967 – Lisa Lisa, American R&B singer
1968 – Chad Lowe, American actor
1968 – Iñaki Urdangarín, Spanish royalty
1969 – Meret Becker, German actress and singer
1969 – Delino DeShields, American baseball player
1969 – Huck Seed, American professional poker player
1970 – Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler
1971 – Regina King, American actress
1972 – Christos Kostis, Greek footballer
1972 – Ernie Reyes, Jr. American actor and martial artist
1972 – Kobe Tai, American porn star
1972 – Claudia Winkleman, English television presenter
1973 – Essam El-Hadary, Egyptian footballer
1974 – Edith Bowman, Scottish television and radio presenter
1974 – Ray King, American baseball player
1974 – Tim Shaw, British radio DJ and television presenter
1975 – Mary Pierce, French tennis player
1975 – 9th Wonder, American producer
1976 – Corey Chavous, American football player
1976 – Doug Gottlieb, American basketball analyst
1976 – Scott Murray, Scotland rugby player
1978 – Eddie Cahill, American actor
1978 – Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist
1978 – Ryan Sidebottom, English Cricketer
1979 – Drew Brees, American football player
1979 – Ken Chu, Taiwanese singer-actor and taichi champ
1979 – Young Dro, American rapper
1979 – Michalis Morfis, Cypriot footballer
1979 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer
1980 – Matt Holliday, American baseball player
1981 – Howie Day, American singer
1981 – El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
1981 – Sean Lamont, Scottish rugby union footballer
1981 – Pitbull, American rapper
1982 – Benjamin Agosto, American skater
1982 – Armando Galarraga, Venezuelan baseball player
1982 – Brett Lebda, American hockey player
1982 – Neil Nitin Mukesh, Indian actor
1982 – Prince Philip and Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia
1982 – Francis Zé, Cameroonian footballer
1983 – Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
1983 – Matic Kralj, Slovenian ice hockey player
1983 – Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer
1984 – Megan Jendrick, American swimmer
1984 – Victor Rasuk, American actor
1985 – Rene Adler, German footballer
1985 – Enrico Patrizio, Italian rugby player
1985 – Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer
1986 – Fred Davis, American football player
1986 – Jessy Schram, American actress
1986 – Isaia Toeava, New Zealand All Black rugby player
1987 – Greg Inglis, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Aria C Jalali, American musician
1987 – Kelly Kelly, American WWE Diva
1987 – David Knight, English footballer
1987 – Michael Seater, Canadian actor
1988 – Sonny Moore (a.k.a Skrillex, American musician (From First to Last)
1989 – Alexei Cherepanov, Russian hockey player (d. 2008)
1989 – Keiffer Hubbell, American ice dancer
1990 – Fernando Forestieri, Italian footballer
1990 – Robert Trznadel, Polish footballer
1992 – Joshua King, Norwegian footballer

Deaths

69 – Galba, Roman Emperor (b. 3 BC)
570 – Saint Ita, Irish nun (b. 475)
936 – King Rudolph of France
1345 – Martin Zaccaria, Italo-Greek ruler
1595 – Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1546)
1623 – Fra Paolo Sarpi, Italian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer (b. 1552)
1672 – John Cosin, English clergyman (b. 1594)
1683 – Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (b. 1609)
1775 – Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian composer
1781 – Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, queen regent of Portugal (b. 1718)
1790 – John Landen, English mathematician (b. 1719)
1804 – Dru Drury, English entomologist (b. 1725)
1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Lord Nelson (b. 1761)
1864 – Isaac Nathan, UK-Australian composer (b. 1792)
1876 – Eliza Johnson, U.S. First Lady (b. 1810)
1885 – Leopold Damrosch, German-American orchestral conductor (b. 1832)
1893 – Fanny Kemble, British actress and author (b. 1809)
1896 – Mathew Brady, U.S. photographer (b. 1822)
1909 – Arnold Janssen, German missionary (b. 1837)
1916 – Modest Tchaikovsky, Russian writer (b. 1850)
1919 – Karl Liebknecht, German politician (b. 1871)
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (b. 1871)
1926 – August Sedlácek, Czech historian (b. 1843)
1926 – Enrico Toselli, Italian composer (b. 1883)
1936 – Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1866)
1944 – Robert J. Kirby, Warden of New York's Sing Sing Prison (b. 1890)
1945 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian mathematician (b. 1865)
1947 – Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia (b. 1924)
1948 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1862)
1950 – General Henry "Hap" Arnold, U.S. General of the Air Force (b. 1886)
1952 – Ned Hanlon, Premier of Queensland (b. 1887)
1955 – Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
1964 – Jack Teagarden, American musician (b. 1905)
1967 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist (b. 1882)
1968 – Bill Masterton, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
1970 – William T. Piper, American aircraft designer (b. 1881)
1972 – Daisy Ashford, English child writer (The Young Visiters) (b. 1881)
1973 – Coleman Francis, American film director (b. 1919)
1973 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1901)
1983 – Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (b. 1902)
1983 – Shepperd Strudwick, American actor (b. 1907)
1987 – Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1904)
1988 – Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
1990 – Dame Peggy van Praagh, British ballet dancer, choreographer, director (b. 1910)
1992 – Dee Murray, English bassist (b. 1946)
1993 – Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (b. 1913)
1994 – Georges Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist (b. 1921)
1994 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (b. 1941)
1994 – Harilal Upadhyay, Gujarati-Indian author, poet, astrologist (b. 1916)
1995 – Vera Maxwell, American fashion designer (b. 1901)
1996 – Les Baxter, American musician and composer (b. 1922)
1996 – Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938)
1996 – Minnesota Fats, American billiards player (b. 1913)
1998 – Junior Wells, American musician (b. 1934)
1999 – Betty Box, British film producer (b. 1915)
2000 – Georges-Henri Lévesque, Canadian Dominican priest and sociologist (b. 1903)
2000 – Željko Ražnatovic, aka Arkan, Serbian paramilitary leader (b. 1952)
2000 – Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)
2001 – Ted Mann, American screenwriter (b. 1916)
2001 – Leo Marks, English cryptographer, screenwriter and playwright (b. 1920)
2002 – Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (b. 1913)
2002 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player (b. 1920)
2003 – Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
2005 – Walter Ernsting, German author (b. 1920)
2005 – Elizabeth Janeway, American author (b. 1913)
2005 – Dan Lee, Canadian animator (b. 1969)
2005 – Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (b. 1923)
2005 – Ruth Warrick, American actress (b. 1915)
2006 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926)
2007 – Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court (b. 1945) (executed)
2007 – James Hillier, Canadian inventor of electron microscope (b. 1915)
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein (b. 1951) (executed)
2007 – David Vanole, American soccer player (b. 1963)
2007 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino writer and diplomat (b. 1905)
2007 – Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (b. 1908)
2008 – Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, English game designer (b. 1964)
2008 – Brad Renfro, American actor (b. 1982)
2011 – Nat Lofthouse, English footballer (b. 1925)