| On this date in: |
| 1794 |
President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. |
| 1808 |
Salmon P. Chase, U.S. senator, secretary of the treasury and chief justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Cornish, N.H. |
| 1893 |
Britain’s Independent Labor Party, a precursor to the Labor Party, first met. |
| 1898 |
Novelist Emile Zola’s “J’accuse” – a defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew falsely convicted of treason – was published in a Paris newspaper. |
| 1964 |
Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was appointed archbishop of Krakow, Poland, by Pope Paul VI. |
| 1966 |
Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson. |
| 1968 |
Country musician Johnny Cash recorded a live concert at Folsom Prison in California. |
| 1978 |
Former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, Minn., at age 66. |
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| AP Photo |
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| 1982 |
An Air Florida 737 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., after takeoff and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people. |
| 1989 |
New York City subway gunman Bernhard H. Goetz was sentenced to one year in prison for possessing an unlicensed gun that he used to shoot four youths he said were about to rob him. |
| 1990 |
L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation’s first elected black governor, took the oath of office in Richmond. |
| 2000 |
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stepped aside as chief executive. |
| 2002 |
The off-Broadway musical “The Fantasticks” ended a run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 performances. |
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| Today’s Birthdays: |
| Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Seinfeld”) turns 55 years old today. |
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| AP Photo/Evan Agostini |
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| Name |
Profession |
Age |
| Frances Sternhagen |
Actress |
86 |
| Rip Taylor |
Comedian |
82 |
| Billy Gray |
Actor (“Father Knows Best”) |
78 |
| Richard Moll |
Actor (“Night Court”) |
73 |
| Trevor Rabin |
Rock musician (Yes) |
62 |
| Trace Adkins |
Country singer |
54 |
| Penelope Ann Miller |
Actress |
52 |
| Shonda Rhimes |
TV writer, producer (“Scandal”) |
46 |
| Nicole Eggert |
Actress |
44 |
| Orlando Bloom |
Actor (“Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Lord of the Rings” movies) |
39 |
| Actor Patrick Dempsey (“Grey’s Anatomy”) turns 50 years old today. |
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| AP Photo/Evan Agostini |
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