This Day in History
1927: Leon Trotsky and his followers are expelled from the Communist Party by the Soviet Communist Congress. The musical Show Boat opens in New York.
1941: Rubber rationing begins in the United States.
1947: Howdy Doody, the first popular children's TV show, premieres.
1979: The Soviet Union Afghanistan.
2002: Four days after starting to reopen a plutonium processing plant, North Korea announces that it will expel all international inspectors from the country. Chechen rebels explode two bombs near the pro-Russian government offices in Grozny, killing at least 63.
Today's Birthdays
1571: Johannes Kepler, astronomer (Wurttemberg, Germany; died 1630)
1822: Louis Pasteur, chemist/bacteriologist (Dole, Jura, France; died 1895)
1879: Sydney Greenstreet, actor (England; died 1954)
1901: Marlene Dietrich, actress (Berlin, Germany; died 1992)
1915: William H. Masters, physician and sex researcher (Cleveland, OH; died 2001)
1926: Lee Salk, child psychologist (New York, NY; died 1992)
1942: John Amos, actor (Newark, NJ)
1943: Cokie Roberts, TV journalist (New Orleans, LA)
1948: Gerard Depardieu, actor (Chateauroux, France)
