Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe Commemorating the sighting in 1531 of the Virgin Mary by Juan Diego on Tepayac hill outside Mexico City.

2002 Iraq War CIA Director George Tenet is said to have assured Pres. Bush that the evidence against Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction was a slam dunk.  Pres. Bush would later declare "George Tenet did a superb job for America."

1992 Swift-Tuttle comet reaches its closest point to the Sun. It was discovered during its last approach in 1862.

1985 Pres. Reagan signs the Gramm-Rudman bill, which was supposed to end the federal deficit.

1983 Pres. Reagan tells the Congressional Medal of Honor Society the stirring story of a Congressional Medal of Honor winner; unfortunately the story was not true.

1983 Nancy Reagan sits on Mr. T's lap and kisses him on top of his head.

1963 Kenya The British colony declares its independence.

1957 Jerry Lee Lewis The singer secretly marries his 13-year-old third cousin Myra Gale Brown. It was his third marriage. Source: Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis

1957 Elvis Presley Portland, Oregon DJ Al Priddy is fired for playing Elvis Presley's version of White Christmas. The station management said, "it's not in the spirit we associate with Christmas."

1952 First nuclear reactor accident The Chalk River nuclear plant in Canada experiences a melt down and explosion of its reactor core.

1937 Mae West seduces dummy Charlie McCarthy on radio causing a public outcry which lead to an FCC investigation.

1925 First U.S. motel Motel Inn in San Luis Obispo, California opens.

1901 First transatlantic wireless telegraph communication Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi sends a message from England to Newfoundland.

1899 Golf tee George F. Grant receives a patent for the first golf tee.

1897 Katzenjammer Kids comic strip premiers.

1870 First black member of the U.S. House of Representatives J.H. Rainey of South Carolina is sworn in.

1790 First American bishop Father Carroll is installed and placed in charge of the Diocese of Baltimore.

1787 Pennsylvania becomes the 2nd state.

1962 Tracy Ann Austin American tennis Hall-of-Famer. She won her first Wimbledon match at age 14 and became the youngest player to earn $1,000,000.

1956 Ana Alicia (Ana Alicia Ortiz), Mexican-born actress. TV: Falcon Crest (Melissa).

1946 Emerson Fittipaldi Brazilian auto racer. Winner of the Formula World Champion (1972, '74) and Indianapolis 500 (1989, '93).

1943 Grover Washington Jr d. 1999 American saxophonist. Music: Just the Two of Us (1981, #2). He was one of the most commercially successful jazz musicians of the '70s and '80s.

1940 Dionne Warwick American Grammy-winning singer. Music: Valley of the Dolls (1968), Do You Know The Way To San Jose (1968, Grammy), Then Came You (1974, #1), I'll Never Love This Way Again (1979, Grammy), We Are The World (1985, #1), and That's What Friends Are For (1985, #1).

1938 Connie Francis (Concetta Franconero), American singer, actress. Music: Who's Sorry Now (1958) and Where The Boys Are (1961).

1927 Robert Norton Noyce d. 1990 American businessman, nicknamed "Mayor of Silicon Valley. He co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor (1957) and Intel (1968). He and Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit (1961).

1924 Edward I. Koch American politician, ex-mayor of New York City.

1923 Bob Barker American TV personality. TV: Truth or Consequences (host), Miss USA Pageant (emcee), Miss Universe Pageant (emcee), and Price Is Right.

1915 Frank Sinatra d. 1998 (Francis Albert Sinatra), American singer, actor. Music: Strangers in the Night (1966). He did it his way.

1906 Zack Mosley d. 1993 American cartoonist, creator of Smilin' Jack (1933-73).

1893 Edward G. Robinson d. 1973 (Emmanuel Goldenberg), American actor. Film: Little Caesar (1931, the gangster boss).

1821 Gustave Flaubert d. 1880 French author. Writings: Madame Bovary.

1745 John Jay d. 1829 6th president of the Continental Congress (1778-79), co-author of the Federalist papers (1787), Secretary of State ad interim (until Thomas Jefferson could take office, 1790), the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1789-95) and governor of New York (1795-1801).

2007 Ike Turner b. 1931 (Izear Luster Turner Jr.), American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Grammy-winning singer, guitarist, with wife Tina. Music: Rocket 88 (1951, is considered by many to be the first rock and roll song) and Proud Mary. Quote: "One of two things happen when you hit a woman. Either she heads for the door or she's all yours."

2006 Peter Boyle b. 1935 (Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr.), American Emmy-winning actor, ex-monk with the Christian Brothers order. Film: Young Frankenstein (1974, the monster) and Taxi Driver (1976, Wizard the philosophical taxi driver). TV: Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005, Frank Barone).

1999 Joseph Heller b. 1923 American author. Writings: Catch-22 (1961).

1985 Anne Baxter b. 1923 American Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Razor's Edge (1946, Oscar) and All About Eve (1950, title role). TV: Hotel (Victoria Cabot).

1971 David Sarnoff b. 1891 Russian-born American radio and TV pioneer, president of RCA (1930-70), and founder of NBC (1926). He started out as a telegraph operator.

1968 Tallulah Bankhead b. 1903 American actress. Stage: The Little Foxes (1939, Regina) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943, Sabrina). Film: Lifeboat (1944).

1939 Douglas Fairbanks b. 1883 (Douglas Elton Ullman), American actor, first of the Hollywood swashbucklers. He co-founded United Artists (1919).

1922 John Wanamaker b. 1838 American merchant, U.S. Postmaster General (1889-93). He introduced the use of mailboxes in an effort to make mail delivery more efficient (1891). Until then the mailman would knock on your door and hand deliver the mail.

1757 Colley Cibber b. 1671 English actor, dramatist. He wrote the first opera performed in America: Flora; or Hob in the Well (1735).

1721 Alexander Selkirk b. 1676 Scottish sailor. He was the basis for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. In October 1704, he had himself put ashore on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile. He wasn't rescued until February 1709.

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