This Date In History

51

That's right, way back in 51 AD, the Roman emperor Domitian is born.
1632
Anton von Leeuwenhoek, microbiologist and inventor of the microscope, is born.
1648
The Treaty of Westphalia is signed, bringing an end to the Thirty Years' War.
1672
British architect John Webb, most famous for his work on the Wilton House, dies.
1788
Sarah Hale, colonial poet, is born.
1852
Eminent American lawyer and statesman Daniel Webster passes away.
1868
The noted French polymath Alexandra David Neel is born.
1904
American playwright Moss Hart ("You Can't Take It With You", "The Man Who Came to Dinner") is born.
1915
Comic strip artist and creator of Batman Bob Kane is born.
1926
National Football League Hall of Famer and longtime New York Giant Y.A. Tittle is born.
1929
"Black Thursday" on the stock market sets off a firestorm that indirectly leads to The Great Depression.
1930
Ill-fated musician The Big Bopper is born J.P. Richardson.
1936
Long-time Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman is born.
1939
Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham, most famous for his role as Antonio Salieri in the Best Picture-winning film Amadeus, is born.
1944
Louis Renault, the famed French automobile pioneer (and infamous Nazi collabartor during the Vichy regime), dies.
1945
Vidkun Quisling, whose last name become synonomous with "traitor" after he helped the Germans take over Norway during World War II, is executed by firing squad.
The United Nations is formally introduced into existence.
1948
Kweisi Mfume, long time civil rights activist and Maryland Congressman, is born.
1954
President Dwight David Eisenhower pledges America's full support to South Vietnam in the fight against the Communist element of the Viet Cong.
1956
The Soviet Union invades and takes over Hungary.
1964
Northern Rhodesia is granted independence by the United Kingdom (and becomes Zambia), though Southern Rhodesia remains a colony until 1980, when after 15 years of rioting and war, it is granted indepdence and becomes Zimbabwe.
1970
Socialist Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile. Three years later he was assassinated in a coup by Augusto Pinochet, aided in part by the United States.
1972
Baseball hall of famer Jackie Robinson passes away.
1973
The Yom Kippur War comes to a close.
1991
Gene Roddenberry, creator of the "Star Trek" series, dies.
1997
Don Messick, the long-time voice of Scooby Doo, Papa Smurf, and others, passes away.