This Day in History
1521: While circumnavigating the globe, explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines.
1805: U.S. Marines captured Derna, a city on "the shores of Tripoli."
1865: The steamboat Sultana explodes in the Mississippi, killing some 1,450 passengers.
1947: Babe Ruth , fatally ill with cancer, makes an appearance at Yankee Stadium, while Babe Ruth Day is celebrated in ballparks around the country.
1960: Togo becomes independent.
1961: Sierra Leone becomes independent.
1969: President Charles de Gaulle of France loses a referendum on two constitutional reforms and resigns the next day.
1981: A Maryland judge finds former Vice Pres. Spiro Agnew guilty of having taken bribes from contractors when he was the state's governor and later as vice president.
1987: Because of his alleged involvement with Nazi war crimes, the United States bars Austrian Pres. Kurt Waldheim from the country.
1992: The formation of a new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is proclaimed by Serbia and Montenegro.
Today's Birthdays
1737: Edward Gibbon, historian/author (Putney, Surrey, England; died 1794)
1759: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, writer/feminist (London, England; died 1797)
1791: Samuel Morse, inventor of the magnetic telegraph and artist (Charlestown, MA; died 1872)
1820: Herbert Spencer, philosopher (Britain; died 1903)
1822: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States and Civil War general (Point Pleasant, OH; died 1885)
1896: Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (Winters, TX; died 1963)
1916: Enos Slaughter, baseball player (Roxboro, NC; died 2002)
1922: Jack Klugman, actor (Philadelphia, PA)
1927: Coretta Scott King, civil rights leader and widow of Martin Luther King Jr. (Marion, AL; died 2006)
1932: Anouk Aimee, actress (Paris, France)
1933: Casey Kasem, radio personality (Detroit, MI)
1937: Sandy Dennis, actress (Hastings, NE; died 1992)
1938: Earl Anthony, champion bowler (Tacoma, WA)
1945: August Wilson, playwright (Pittsburgh, PA; died 2005)
1952: George Gervin, basketball player (Detroit, MI)
1959: Sheena Easton, singer (Bellshill, Scotland)
