Tuesday, July 12

This Day In History

• 1543   England's King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.
• 1690   Protestant forces led by William of Orange defeated the Roman Catholic army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.
• 1817   Writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Mass.
• 1854   George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera, was born in Waterville, N.Y.
• 1862   Congress authorized the Medal of Honor.
• 1933   A minimum wage of 30 cents an hour was established in the U.S.
• 1949   Football quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, a student at the University of Oregon, decided against another year of college and signed a professional NFL contract to play with the Los Angeles Rams.
• 1954   The Major League Baseball Players Association was organized in Cleveland, OH. Its purpose was to represent ball players in policy decisions with baseball club owners.
• 1957   Prince Karim left Harvard University in Cambridge, MA to become the leader of 20 million Ismaili Moslems. He became the Aga Khan for the religious sect. Prince Karim was 20 years old at the time of his calling.
• 1960   The first Etch-A-Sketch went on sale. Over 50 million units were sold during the next 25 years. It was the favorite toy of many moms because it was self-contained and so-o-o quiet.
• 1972   George McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Miami Beach.
• 1974   John Ehrlichman, a former aide to President Richard Nixon, and three others were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Daniel Ellsberg's former psychiatrist.
• 1977   President Jimmy Carter defended Supreme Court decisions limiting government payments for poor women's abortions, saying, ''There are many things in life that are not fair.''
• 1990   Russian republic president Boris N. Yeltsin resigned from the Communist Party.
• 1993   A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck northern Japan, killing 196 people.
• 1994   President Bill Clinton visited the eastern sector of Berlin, the first president to do so since Harry Truman.
• 1998   In Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, three young brothers who had been asleep in their beds burned to death in a sectarian attack.
• 2001   Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant tortured in a New York City police station, agreed to an $8.7 million settlement.
• 2003   The USS Ronald Reagan, the first carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Va.

Happy Birthday To

• 1817   Henry David Thoreau (philosopher, writer: On Walden Pond; died May 6, 1862)
• 1849   Sir William Osler (physician, author: Principles and Practice of Medicine; died Dec 29, 1919)
• 1854   George Eastman (inventor: Kodak camera; flexible roll film; died Mar 14, 1932)
• 1865   George Washington Carver (botanist: developed multiple uses for peanuts and sweet potatoes; died Jan 5, 1943)
• 1895   Oscar (Greeley Clendenning) Hammerstein II (lyricist, songwriter w/Richard Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song, Sound of Music; died Aug 23, 1960)
• 1908   Milton Berle (Berlinger) (comedian: Uncle Miltie, Mr. Television: The Milton Berle Show, Texaco Star Theatre; actor: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Oscar, Side by Side; died Mar 27, 2002)
• 1934   Van (Harvey Lavan) Cliburn (piano virtuoso)
• 1937   Bill Cosby (Emmy Award-winning comedian, actor: I Spy [1965-66; 1966-67, 1967-68], The Bill Cosby Special [1968-69]; The Cosby Show, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids, Leonard VI, California Suite)
• 1948   Richard Simmons (weight loss expert, entertainer: Sweatin’ to the Oldies)
• 1951   Cheryl Ladd (Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor) (actress: Dancing with Danger, Changes, The Grace Kelly Story, One West Waikiki, Charlie’s Angels, Poison Ivy)