This Day in History
1776: Nathan Hale is executed as a spy by the British, proclaiming, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
1911: Baseball player Cy Young pitches the 511th and final victory of his career, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0.
1927: Gene Tunney defends his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey, after being given a controversial "long count" by the referee.
1961: The U.S. Congress formally approves the legislation establishing the Peace Corps.
1973: Henry Kissinger is sworn in as secretary of state, becoming the first naturalized citizen to hold the post.
1975: Pres. Gerald Ford is unharmed after an assassination attempt by radical Sara Jane Moore, who fires a revolver at him.
1987: NFL football players go on strike over free agency and other issues.
2001: U.S. Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld deploys surveillance and intelligence-gathering aircraft to the Middle East.
2002: Germany's governing center-left coalition narrowly retains its majority in parliamentary elections.
Today's Birthdays
1515: Anne of Cleves, queen consort of Henry VIII of England (Dusseldorf, Germany; died 1557)
1694: Lord Chesterfield (Philip Dormer Stanhope), writer and statesman (London, England; died 1773)
1791: Michael Faraday, chemist/physicist who discovered electrical induction and invented the dynamo (Newington, Surrey, England; died 1867)
1829: Tu Duc, emperor of Vietnam (Hue, Vietnam; died 1883)
1878: Yoshida Shigeru, Japanese prime minister (Tokyo, Japan; died 1967)
1885: Erich von Stroheim, director (Austria; died 1957)
1895: Paul Muni, actor (Austria; died 1967)
1902: John Houseman, actor/producer/director (Bucharest, Romania; died 1988)
1920: Bob Lemon, baseball pitcher (San Bernardino, CA; died 2000)
1927: Tommy Lasorda, baseball manager (Norristown, PA)
1942: David J. Stern, basketball commissioner (New York, NY)
1951: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., newspaper publisher (Mount Kisco, NY)
1956: Debby Boone, singer (Hackensack, NJ)
1960: Joan Jett, singer/guitarist (Philadelphia, PA)
1961: Scott Baio, actor (Brooklyn, NY)
1964: Bonnie Hunt, actress (Chicago, IL)
