Birth of St. John the Baptist Day of solemnity. He was the cousin and precursor of Christ.

1990 New Kids On The Block Donnie Wahlberg is badly hurt when he falls through a trap door on stage during a New York concert.

1983 Twilight Zone-The Movie premiers.

1982 Presidential Immunity The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the president could not be sued for actions taken while in office.

1981 Medjugorje Six children claim to see the Mother Mary carrying a baby on a hill just outside this Yugoslavian (now Bosnia-Herzegovina) town.

1964 Smoking The Federal Trade Commission announces that beginning the next year, cigarette packages will require health warnings.

1948 Selective Service Act Pres. Truman signs the act providing for the registration of men between the ages 18 and 25.

1947 First Official UFO Report Kenneth Arnold files a report on an unidentified flying object he sighted while flying near Mt. Rainier in Washington state.

1936 First black woman to hold a major federal office Mrs. Mary McLeod is appointed director of Negro affairs for the National Youth Administration.

1922 Football The American Professional Football Conference, which had been formed in 1920, becomes the National Football League (NFL).

1807 First Arrest of a U.S. Vice-President Former Vice-Pres. Aaron Burr, arrested four months earlier, is indicted for treason against the U.S. He had organized an armed militia of about 60 men; the exact purpose of which has never been determined. He was acquitted.

1795 First U.S. extradition treaty with a foreign country The Jay Treaty - signed with Great Britain in 1794 - is ratified by the Senate.

1675 King Philip's War The first and bloodiest war between the New England settlers and the Indians begins when Wampanoag Indian leader King Philip massacres Plymouth colonists.

1647 First American feminist Margaret Brent gains the honor by demanding the right to vote in the Maryland colonial assembly.

1497 Newfoundland discovered By Italian-born English explorer John Cabot.

1495 Columbus The explorer sends five ship-loads of Indians to Seville to be sold as slaves.

1974 Hayley Vaughn character on All My Children.

1961 jeff denson American computer hack and trivia buff.

1950 Nancy Allen American actress. Film: Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), and Robocop (1987).

1949 John Illsley British guitarist, with Dire Straits. Music: Sultans of Swing (1978) and Money For Nothing (1985, #1).

1943 Georg Stanford Brown American actor, Emmy-winning director. TV: The Rookies (officer Terry Webster), Cagney & Lacey (director), and Hill Street Blues (director).

1942 Mick Fleetwood British drummer, with Fleetwood Mac. Music: Rumours (1977) and Tusk (1979).

1942 Michele Lee (Michele Dusiak), American actress, singer. TV: Knots Landing (Karen Fairgate MacKenzie).

1930 Claude Chabrol French film director. Film: Les Cousins (1959) and Les Bonnes Femmes (1960).

1923 Jack Carter (Jack Chakrin), American comedian. TV: The Jack Carter Show (1950-51).

1919 Al Molinaro American actor. TV: The Odd Couple (Murray the cop) and Happy Days (Al Delvecchio, owner of Arnold's).

1915 Sir Fred Hoyle d. 2001 British astronomer, mathematician, a proponent of the "steady-state" theory, in which the universe has no definite beginning. In 1950 he coined the term "big bang" as a derogatory description of the alternate theory in which the universe was created 10 to 20 billion years ago when a single point expanded.

1915 Norman Cousins d. 1990 American publisher, political journalist, editor of Saturday Review (1942-71). Quote: Nixon's motto was, if two wrongs don't make a right, try three. Source: Fifth 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said

1911 Juan Manuel Fangio d. 1995 Argentine Hall of Fame auto racer, 5-time Formula One World Champion (1951, 54-57). He is considered one of the greatest racecar drivers of all time.

1895 Jack Dempsey d. 1983 (William Harrison Dempsey), American boxer, "The Manassa Mauler," world heavyweight champion (1919-26).

1839 Gustavus Franklin Swift d. 1903 American merchant, founder of Swift and Co. He developed refrigerated railroad cars.

1830 Bernard John Dowling Irwin d. 1917 American military leader. He received the first U.S. Medal of Honor (1894) for his action against Apache Indians (1861).

1813 Henry Ward Beecher d. 1887 American preacher. Writings: Seven Lectures to Young Men (1844). He was one of the leading opponents to slavery in his time.

1771 Eleuthère Irénée du Pont d. 1834 French-born American industrialist. He founded E.I. du Pont Company (1801) in Delaware to manufacture gunpowder.

1542 Saint John of the Cross d. 1591 (San Juan de la Cruz), Spanish poet.

2006 Patsy Ramsey b. 1957 Miss West Virginia (1977), mother of child beauty pageant queen and murder victim JonBenét.

2005 Paul Winchell b. 1922 American ventriloquist. He worked with a couple of dummies named Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff.  He was also the voice of Tigger in "Winnie the Pooh" features.

1987 Jackie Gleason b. 1916 (Herbert John Gleason), American Tony-winning actor. Broadway: Take Me Along (1959, Tony, as the hard-drinking Uncle Sid). TV: The Honeymooners (Ralph Kramden).

1969 Frank O. King b. 1883 American cartoonist, creator of Gasoline Alley (1919).

1908 Grover Cleveland b. 1837 22nd and 24th U.S. President (1885-89, 1893-97). He avoided the Civil War draft by hiring someone to take his place. His portrait graces the U.S. $1,000 bill.

1870 Adam Lindsay Gordon b. 1833 Australian horsebreaker, steeplechase rider, poet. He is the only Australian poet whose bust is in Westminster Abbey.

1817 Thomas McKean b. 1734 American politician, member of (1774-83) and 8th president (1781) of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Although present during its drafting, he didn't sign until 1781.

1803 Matthew Thornton b. circa 1714 Irish-born American physician, president of the provincial congress (1775), member of the Continental Congress (1776), and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

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