This Day in History
1871: The Great Chicago Fire begins.
1956: Don Larsen of the NY Yankees baseball team pitches a perfect game in the World Series.
1982: The U.S. unemployment rate reaches 10.1%, the highest since 1940. The Polish Parliament officially bans Solidarity and other labor groups.
1997: Kim Jong Il is officially named general secretary of the Communist Party in North Korea , a year after the death of his father, strongman Kim Il Sung.
1998: The U.S. House of Representatives, by a vote of 258-176, authorizes a House committee inquiry into the possible impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
2001: U.S. planes drop 37,000 meals into starvation-stricken areas of Afghanistan; it is the first in a series of daily food drops.
2005: A major earthquake strikes the northern reaches of South Asia, causing death and destruction in Pakistan, India and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of people are killed, and several million made homeless.
Today's Birthdays
1850: Henri Louis le Chatelier, chemist (Paris, France; died 1936)
1890: "Eddie" (Edward V.) Rickenbacker, aviator and war hero (Columbus, OH; died 1973)
1895: Juan Perón, Argentine political leader (Argentina; died 1974). Zog I, king of Albania (Castle Burgajet, Albania; died 1961)
1910: Gus Hall, labor/political organizer (Iron, MN; died 2000)
1920: Frank Herbert, writer (Tacoma, WA; died 1986)
1936: David Carradine, actor (Hollywood, CA)
1939: Paul Hogan, actor (New South Wales, Australia)
1941: Jesse Jackson, civil right leader (Greenville, SC)
1943: Chevy Chase, comedian/actor (New York, NY). R. L. Stine, children's book author (Columbus, OH)
1946: Dennis Kucinich, U.S. representative, 2004 presidential contender (Cleveland, OH)
1949: Sigourney Weaver, actress (New York, NY)
1951: Johnny Ramone, musician (Long Island, NY; died 2004)
1960: Darrell Hammond, actor (Melbourne, FL)
1970: Matt Damon, actor (Cambridge, MA)
1974: Rashaan Salaam, football player (San Diego, CA)
