This Day in History
1639: The first constitution written in America, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, is ratified.
1784: The Continental Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the American Revolution .
1794: Operating on his wife, Dr. Jesse Bennett of Virginia performs the first successful Cesarean section.
1943: The Casablanca Conference, a WWII strategy meeting between U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill , begins in Casablanca, Morocco .
1985: A unilateral pullout of Israeli troops from Lebanon is approved by Israel's cabinet.
2004: Andrew Fastow, former CEO of Enron, agrees to cooperate with authorities in a plea bargain that gives him ten years in prison. Libya ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a month after agreeing to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.:
Today's Birthdays
1741: Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary War general and traitor (Norwich, CT; died 1801)
1845: Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquis of Lansdowne, British statesman (London, England; died 1927)
1875: Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, and missionary (Kayserberg, Upper Alsace; died 1965)
1892: Martin Niemöller, German anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor (Lippstadt, Germany; died 1984). Hal Roach, director/producer (Elmira, NY; died 1992)
1896: John Dos Passos, novelist/journalist (Chicago, IL; died 1970)
1919: Andy Rooney, TV commentator (Albany, NY)
1921: Murray Bookchin, leftist political philosopher (New York, NY; died 2006)
1938: Jack Jones, singer/actor (Hollywood, CA)
1940: Julian Bond, civil rights leader (Nashville, TN)
1941: Faye Dunaway, actress (Bascom, FL)
1943: Shannon Lucid, astronaut (Shanghai, China)
1944: Nina Totenberg, TV journalist (New York, NY)
1948: Carl Weathers, actor (New Orleans, LA)
1949: Lawrence Kasdan, filmmaker (Miami Beach, FL)
1963: Steven Soderbergh, director (Baton Rouge, LA)
1967: Emily Watson, actress (London, England)
1968: L. L. Cool J, singer (New York, NY)
1969: Jason Bateman, actor (Rye, NY)
