This Day in History
1898: French author Emile Zola's J'accuse, defending Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, is published in Paris.
1966: Robert C. Weaver is named secretary of the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, becoming the first African-American Cabinet member.
1990: Douglas Wilder is inaugurated in Virginia , becoming the nation's first African-American governor.
1993: More than 120 nations begin signing a treaty banning the manufacture, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons.
Today's Birthdays
1808: Salmon P. Chase, statesman, senator, and chief justice of the Supreme Court (Cornish, NH; died 1873)
1834: Horatio Alger Jr., author and clergyman (Revere, MA; died 1899)
1911: Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, Australian politician (Dannevirke, New Zealand; died 2005)
1919: Robert Stack, actor (Los Angeles, CA; died 2003)
1925: Gwen Verdon, actress/dancer (Los Angeles, CA; died 2000)
1929: Joe Pass, jazz guitar player (New Brunswick, NJ; died 1994)
1930: Frances Sternhagen, actress (Washington, D.C.)
1931: Charles Nelson Reilly, actor (New York, NY)
1933: Frank Gallo, artist/sculptor (Toledo, OH)
1943: Richard Moll, actor (Pasadena, CA)
1955: Jay McInerney, author (Hartford, CT)
1960: Kevin Anderson, actor (Gurnee, IL)
1961: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress (New York, NY)
1964: Penelope Ann Miller, actress (Los Angeles, CA)
1966: Patrick Dempsey, actor (Lewiston, ME)
1977: Orlando Bloom, actor (Canterbury, England)
