This Day in History
1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain aboard the Santa Maria.
1914: In World War I, Germany and France declare war on each other.
1981: Federal air traffic controllers walk out in an illegal nationwide strike.
1992: In South Africa, millions of blacks begin a 2-day general strike to show their support for ending white minority rule.
Today's Birthdays
1900: Ernie Pyle, journalist/columnist (Dana, IN; died 1945). John T. Scopes, defendant in the 1925 "Monkey Trial," for teaching evolution, in violation of a Tennessee law (Paducah, KY; died 1970)
1908: Dolores Del Rio, actress (Durango, Mexico; died 1983)
1919: Walter Bigelow Wriston, chief executive of New York City's Citibank (Middletown, Connecticut; died 2005)
1920: P. D. James, mystery writer (Oxford, England)
1924: Leon Uris, novelist (Baltimore, MD; died 2003)
1926: Tony Bennett, singer (New York, NY)
1940: Martin Sheen, actor (Dayton, OH)
1941: Martha Stewart, homemaking adviser/entrepreneur/TV personality (Nutley, NJ)
1946: Jack Straw, British foreign secretary (Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England)
1950: John Landis, director (Chicago, IL)
1958: Victoria Jackson, actress/comedian (Miami, FL)
