1993 Nazi's son nominated to nation's top military post Pres. Clinton nominates Army general John Shalikashvili to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His father, Dimitri Shalikashvili, had been an officer in an elite Nazi military unit during World War II.

1989 Dan Quayle Apparently a little misinformed on astronomical data, the U.S. Vice-President states, "Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same distance from the sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen, that means we can breathe."

1984 Pres. Reagan The U.S. President jokingly announces "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

1981 Personal Computer IBM introduces the IBM Personal Computer (PC).

1978 First transatlantic balloon crossing Three Americans take off from Maine. They arrived in France six days later.

1966 The Beatles John Lennon apologizes for earlier statements claiming the Beatles were more popular than Jesus and that Christianity would vanish.

1965 Watts Riots Six day of rioting begins in Los Angeles after the arrest of Marquette Frye. 34 people were killed with $200,000,000 in damage.

1960 First object successfully recovered from orbit A 350-pound payload is ejected and recovered from the U.S. Earth satellite Discoverer XIII.

1892 Lizzie Borden Lizzie is arrested for the murder of her parents, who were axed to death a week earlier. She was tried and acquitted of the crime.

1877 First discovery of a Mars' moon by Asaph Hall.

1955 Joe Jackson British singer. Music: Steppin' Out (1982).

1953 Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea), American wrestler. He played Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982).

1950 Steve "Woz" Wozniak American computer engineer, co-founder of Apple Computer (1976) and creator of the Apple I and Apple II computers. He also designed the Atari game Breakout.

1933 Jerry Falwell d. 2007 American fundamentalist Baptist pastor, televangelist.

1925 Mike Douglas d. 2006 (Michael Dowd, Jr.), American Emmy-winning TV host, singer. Film: Cinderella (1950, singing voice of  Prince Charming). TV: The Mike Douglas Show (1961-81). One of his guests was two-year-old Tiger Woods who showed off his golf swing.

1925 Carl Thomas Rowan d. 2000 American columnist, "strict gun control" advocate. In 1988 he was arrested for shooting a trespasser with an illegal hand gun. He had previously stated in his column that "…anyone found in possession of a handgun except a legitimate officer of the law goes to jail—period." He also founded "Project Excellence," a college scholarship program for black high school seniors.

1921 Alex Haley d. 1992 American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: Roots (Pulitzer. It had the largest printing for a hard-cover book in U.S. history). In 1978, Haley admitted that he copied large passages of Roots from The African by Harold Courlander and settled out-of-court for $650,000.

1917 Dik Browne d. 1989 cartoonist, created Hagar the Horrible (1973).

1862 Carrie Jacobs Bond d. 1946 American composer. Music: I Love You Truly and A Perfect Day.

1807 David Rice Atchison d. 1886 American politician, on March 4, 1849 he became president of the U.S. until president-elect Zachary Taylor took the oath of office the following day.

1778 Friedrich Ludwig Jahn d. 1852 German patriot, father of gymnastics. His teaching of gymnastics (1809) to young Berlin boys quickly spread to other cities. His was arrested in 1819 and imprisoned for six years by government leaders fearing his movement was a political plot.

2006 Mike Douglas b. 1925 (Michael Dowd, Jr.), American Emmy-winning TV host, singer. Film: Cinderella (1950, singing voice of  Prince Charming). TV: The Mike Douglas Show (1961-81). One of his guests was two-year-old Tiger Woods who showed off his golf swing.

1994 Peter Cushing b. 1913 English-born American actor. Film: Star Wars (Grand Moff Tarkin) and numerous portrayals of Baron Frankenstein and Dracula.

1987 Clara Peller b. 1902 American TV personality, the "Where's the beef?" lady for the Wendy's commercials.

1919 Andrew Carnegie b. 1835 American steel-magnate, philanthropist.

1868 Thaddeus Stevens b. 1792 American political leader. He introduced the 14th Amendment and the Reconstruction Act of Feb. 6, 1867.

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