1969 Inter-American Foundation is established, supports social and economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

1959 First nuclear submarine capable of launching missiles The USS George Washington is commissioned.

1907 Baseball A commission chaired by the president of the National League issues a report crediting Abner Doubleday with the invention of baseball. However, modern historians now dispute their findings - which were in part based on the testimony of a man who two years later was committed for life to an institute for the criminally insane.

1903 Iroquois Theater Fire A fire in this Chicago theater killed 588 people, making it the deadliest fire in U.S. history.

1862 Civil War The Union's first iron-clad warship, Monitor, sinks off the coast of North Carolina. Source: The Civil War Day by Day

1854 First U.S. oil company Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of Connecticut.

1853 Gadsden Purchase U.S. buys 30,000 square miles of territory in New Mexico and southern Arizona from Mexico.

1961 Ben Johnson Canadian track athlete, stripped of his 1988 Olympic gold medals for using steroids.

1959 Tracey Ullman English pop singer, Emmy-winning actress. TV: The Tracey Ullman Show (1988), on which The Simpsons made their debut.

1947 Michael Burns American actor. TV: Wagon Train (orphan Barnaby West).

1946 Davy Jones English singer, actor, one of The Monkees, with hits Last Train to Clarksville (1966) and I'm a Believer (1966).

1942 Michael Nesmith American singer, actor, one of The Monkees.

1939 Del Shannon d. 1990 (Charles Westover), American singer. Music: Runaway (1961, #1).

1935 Sandy Koufax American baseball Hall of Famer, sportscaster.

1930 Jack Lord (John Joseph Ryan), American actor. TV: Hawaii Five-O (detective Steve McGarrett).

1928 Bo Diddley (Ellas Bates), American rhythm and blues singer, composer.

1919 Jo Van Fleet American Oscar-Tony-winning actress. Theater: The Trip to Bountiful (1954, Tony). Film: East of Eden (1955, Oscar). TV: Cinderella (1965, the wicked Stepmother).

1914 Bert Parks (Bert Jacobson), American emcee, host of the Miss America pageant (1955-80, 1990).

1911 Jeanette Nolan American actress. TV: The Virginian (Holly Grainger).

1906 Sergei Korolev d. 1966 Soviet scientist, rocket pioneer. He designed the rocket systems used for launching the first Soviet satellites and rockets to the moon.

1884 Tojo Hideki d. 1948 Japanese prime minister (1941-44) during World War II. He and six others were hanged together as war criminals.

1867 Simon Guggenheim d. 1941 American philanthropist. He and his wife created the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1925) in memory of their son.

1865 Rudyard Kipling d. 1936 English Nobel-winning author, poet. Writings: The Jungle Book (1894).

2006 Saddam Hussein b. 1937 Iraqi president (1979-2003).  He was hanged to death for crimes against humanity for the 1982 actions against the residents of Dujail, which included the murder of 148 people.  These actions were in retaliation to an assassination attempt against him.

2004 Artie Shaw b. 1910 (Arthur Arshawsky), American band leader, Jazz clarinetist. Music: Begin the Beguine (1938, #1). Quote: "I could never understand why people wanted to dance to my music. I made it good enough to listen to."

1996 Lew Ayres b. 1908 (Lewis Frederick Ayre III), American actor. Film: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Young Dr. Kildare (1938, title role).  Rejected for a TV version of Dr. Kildare because he refused to allow cigarette sponsorship.

1993 Irving "Swifty" Lazar b. 1907 American talent agent. Clients: Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, Vladimir Nabokov, Truman Capote, Pres. Nixon, Tennessee Williams, and Neil Simon. He was known for his yearly star-studded parties on Oscar Awards night.

1979 Richard Rodgers b. 1902 American Oscar-winning composer, teamed with Oscar Hammerstein II, hits include Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), and The Sound of Music (1965).

1894 Amelia Jenks Bloomer b. 1818 American women's rights advocate. She published the Lily, the first major women's rights newspaper (1849), in which she advocated the wearing of bloomers.

1691 Robert Boyle b. 1627 British physicist, creator of Boyle's Law (1662, "The pressure of gas is proportional to the number of molecules in a given space and their temperature").

1591 Innocent IX b. 1519 Italian religious leader, 230th Pope (Oct. - Dec. 1591).

274 Saint Felix I b. ???? Italian religious leader, 26th Pope (269-274).

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