- 1789: In a letter, Benjamin Franklin made one of his famous
                 statements: "In this world nothing can be said to be certain except
                 death and taxes."
               - 1830: Oliver Wendell Holmes published "Old Ironsides."
               - 1843: In the state of Washington, Mount Rainier erupted.
               - 1865: The first gold certificates were issued by the U.S.
               - 1907: The first helicopter to achieve free flight carrying a man,
                 designed by Paul Cornu, rose 6 feet above the ground at Lisieux,
                 France.
               - 1913: The first modern elastic brassiere was patented by Mary Phelps
                 Jacob. She initially made the brassiere from two handkerchiefs, a
                 piece of ribbon and a piece of cord.
               - 1938: America's first saint, Mother Frances Cabrini, was beatified.
               - 1940: Walt Disney's film "Fantasia," depicting various pieces of
                 music set to cartoons, opened in New York.
               - 1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the draft age from to
                 18 from 21.
               - 1946: The first artificial snow was produced in Massachusetts.
               - 1952: False fingernails were first sold.
               - 1956: The Supreme Court ruled that segregation of the races on
                 public buses was unconstitutional.
               - 1967: Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of a major U.S. city
                 when he was inaugurated mayor of Cleveland.
               - 1980: The U.S. spacecraft Voyager I sent back the first close-up
                 pictures of the planet Saturn.
               - 1986: President Reagan admitted the U.S. sent defensive weapons and
                 spare parts to Iran hoping to improve relations, but said the
                 shipments were not part of a deal to free hostages in Lebanon.
               - 1992: A group of retired military officers made an unsuccessful
                 attempt to assassinate Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and
                 overthrow the government.
               - 1994: Swedes voted by 52.2% in a referendum to join the European
                 Union.
               - 1995: A bomb attack on a U.S.-run military center in Riyadh, Saudi
                 Arabia, killed seven people, five of them Americans. Israel began
                 pulling troops out of the West Bank city of Jenin to end 28 years
                 of occupation.

               *Happy Birthday*
               ----------------
               - Jack Elam, 82, actor, "How the West Was Won"
               - Whoopi Goldberg, 43, actress/comedienne, "The Color Purple"
                 "Sister Act" I & II
               - Garry Marshall, 64, producer/director/writer "Pretty Woman"
               - Richard Mulligan, 66, actor, "Empty Nest"
               - Chris Noth, 41, actor, "Law & Order"
               - Gilbert Perreault, 48, NHL center, over 500 goals
               - Robert Sterling, 81, actor, "Ichabod & Me"