This Day in History
1611: The first edition of the King James Bible is published.
1863: The Battle of Chancellorsville, an engagement of the American Civil War, begins near Fredericksburg, Va., and results in a Confederate victory, frustrating Union plans for an assault on Richmond.
1923: Lt. Oakley Kelly and Lt. John A. Macready start the first nonstop transcontinental flight, from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, to Rockwell Field, San Diego, Calif., arriving the next day.
1939: NY Yankees great Lou Gehrig ends his playing streak of 2,130 consecutive baseball games.
1945: The German Nazi government surrenders to the Soviet Union, as Berlin falls to Red Army troops.
1997: White House and congressional negotiators reach agreement on a pact intended to achieve a balanced federal budget by 2002.
1999: Denver Broncos football team quarterback John Elway, the winningest starting quarterback in NFL history, announces his retirement.
Today's Birthdays
1660: Alessandro Scarlatti, composer (Italy; died 1725)
1729: Catherine II (Catherine the Great), empress of Russia (Prussian Pomerania; died 1796)
1860: Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism (Budapest, Hungary; died 1904)
1895: Lorenz Hart, lyricist and collaborator with Richard Rodgers (New York, NY; died 1943)
1903: Benjamin Spock, physician/author/child-rearing expert and political activist (New Haven, CT; died 1998)
1904: Bing Crosby, singer/songwriter/actor (Tacoma, WA; died 1977)
1924: Theodore Bikel, actor/singer (Vienna, Austria)
1925: Roscoe Lee Brown, actor (Woodbury, NJ)
1945: Bianca Jagger, actress/activist and ex-wife of singer Mick Jagger (Managua, Nicaragua)
1946: Lesley Gore, singer (Tenafly, NJ). David Suchet, actor (London, England)
1948: Larry Gatlin, country singer/songwriter (Seminole, TX)
1952: Christine Baranski, actress (Buffalo, NY)
1977: Jenna Von Oy, actress (Newtown, CT)
