This Day in History
1821: Missouri is admitted to the Union as the 24th state.
1949: Pres. Harry Truman signs the National Security Act, creating the Dept. of Defense from the War Dept.
1989: Army Gen. Colin Powell is nominated by Pres. George Bush as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first black to hold the post.
1993: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is sworn in as the 2nd female Supreme Court justice.
1999: White supremacist Buford Furrow Jr. opens fire in the lobby of a Los Angeles Jewish community center, wounding 3 young children and 2 staff members; he then kills a Filipino-American letter carrier a few miles away.
2001: UNITA rebels in Angola kill 250 people after planting a land mine on railroad tracks outside the capital of Luanda.
Today's Birthdays
1729: William Howe, British commander during the American Revolution (Britain; died 1814)
1874: Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States (West Branch, IA; died 1964)
1902: Norma Shearer, actress (Montreal, Quebec, Canada; died 1983)
1911: Jane Wyatt, actress (Campgaw, NJ)
1923: Rhonda Fleming, actress (Hollywood, CA)
1928: Jimmy Dean, singer (Plainview, TX). Eddie Fisher, singer (Philadelphia, PA)
1942: Betsey Johnson, fashion designer (Wethersfield, CT)
1945: Harriet Miers, White House counsel, Supreme Court nominee (Dallas, TX)
1947: Ian Anderson, singer/musician and member of Jethro Tull (Dunfermline, Scotland)
1948: Patti Austin, singer (New York, NY)
1959: Rosanna Arquette, actress (New York, NY)
1960: Antonio Banderas, actor (Málaga, Spain)
1967: Riddick Bowe, heavyweight boxer (Brooklyn, NY)
