This Day in History
1787: The Constitutional Convention opens in Philadelphia , with George Washington presiding.
1793: Stephen T. Badin becomes the first Catholic priest to be ordained in the U.S.
1946: Transjordan (later called Jordan ) is proclaimed an independent kingdom under King Abdullah.
1961: President John F. Kennedy announces his goal to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
1963: 30 African states meeting at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia found the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
1965: Muhammad Ali keeps his world heavyweight boxing title after besting Sonny Liston in just 1 minute, 56 seconds.
1969: The film Midnight Cowboy—the only X-rated movie to ever win an Academy Award—is released.
1979: An American Airlines DC-10 crashes after takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare, killing 275 people.
2003: Israel votes to accept steps outlined in an internationally endorsed "road map" for peace with the Palestinians.
Today's Birthdays
1803: Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet/essayist and Transcendalist (Boston, MA; died 1882)
1878: Bill ""Bojangles"" Robinson, tap dancer (Richmond, VA; died 1949)
1889: Igor Sikorsky, aeronautical engineer and developer of the helicopter (Kiev, Russia; died 1972)
1898: Gene Tunney, champion boxer (New York, NY; died 1978)
1908: Theodore Roethke, poet (Saginaw, MI; died 1963)
1926: Miles Davis, jazz trumpeter (Alton, IL; died 1991)
1927: Robert Ludlum, author (New York, NY; died 2001)
1929: Beverly Sills, opera singer (Brooklyn, NY)
1932: John Gregory Dunne, author (Hartford, CT; died 2004)
1938: Raymond Carver, short-story writer/poet (Clatskanie, OR; died 1988)
1939: Dixie Carter, actress (McLemoresville, TN). Sir Ian McKellen, actor (Burnley, England)
1943: Leslie Uggams, singer/actress (New York, NY)
1955: Connie Sellecca, actress (New York, NY)
1963: Mike Myers, actor/comedian (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
1969: Anne Heche, actress (Aurora, OH)
1971: Sheryl Swoopes, basketball player (Brownfield, TX)
