This Day in History
1856: The free-soil town of Lawrence, KS, is sacked by proslavery protestors from Missouri.
1881: The American Red Cross was established.
1927: Capt. Charles A. Lindbergh reaches Le Bourget airfield in Paris, completing the first nonstop flight from New York in 33 hours.
1972: A Hungarian named Lazlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's sculpture Pieta in Rome, Italy, seriously damaging the Madonna image.
1991: Former Indian Prime Min. Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a bomb during a campaign rally.
1998: Following a long and autocratic rule, Indonesian Pres. Suharto resigns amid violent protests. Kipland Kinkel, 15, is arrested in Springfield, OR, and charged with the fatal shootings of his parents and 2 students at his high school.
2003: More than 2,260 people are killed and more than 10,000 injured in an earthquake near Algiers, Algeria.
Today's Birthdays
1471: Albrecht Dürer, painter/engraver (Nuremberg, Germany; died 1528)
1527: Philip II, Habsburg king of Spain (Valladolid, Spain; died 1598)
1688: Alexander Pope, poet (London, England; died 1744)
1758: Joseph Fouché, Duc d'Otrante, statesman, known as the father of modern political espionage (near Nantes, France; died 1820)
1878: Glenn Curtis, pioneer aviator and inventor of the hydroplane (Hammondsport, NY; died 1930)
1898: Armand Hammer, industrialist/philanthropist (New York, NY; died 1990)
1901: Sam Jaffe, producer/talent agent (New York, NY; died 2000)
1902: Marcel Breuer, architect, designer, and teacher, (Pécs, Hungary; died 1981)
1904: Fats Waller, jazz pianist/songwriter (New York, NY; died 1943)
1909: Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, teacher/artist and creator of Hummel figurines (Massing, Bavaria; died 1946)
1916: Harold Robbins, novelist (New York, NY; died 1997)
1917: Raymond Burr, actor (New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada; died 1993)
1921: Andrei Sakharov, physicist and human rights activist/Soviet dissident (Moscow, Russia; died 1989)
1924: Peggy Cass, actress (Boston, MA; died 1999)
1926: Robert Creeley, poet (Arlington, Massachusetts; died 2005)
1944: Janet Dailey, romance novelist (Storm Lake, IA). Mary Robinson, former Irish president, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland)
1948: Leo Sayer, singer/songwriter (Shoreham, England)
1951: Al Franken, comedian/actor/writer (New York, NY)
1952: Mr. T (Lawrence Tero), actor (Chicago, IL)
1956: Judge Reinhold, actor (Wilmington, DE)
