In 1635 the first public school in the US – the Boston Latin School – was established. In 1914 the first baseball game was held in Wrigley Field (then called Weeghman Park). In 2005 the first YouTube video – called “me at the zoo” was published by co-founder Jawed Karim. And during the era of the Vietnam War, protestors took over the administration building of Columbia University and shut down classes.
This is the birthdate of a President and one who wanted to be President. Our 15th and only bachelor President James Buchanan was born in 1791. And Senator and one of 4 presidential candidates in 1860 Stephen Douglas was born in 1813. He beat Abraham Lincoln in the debate-driven Illinois Senate campaign but lost to him for the presidency. It was the birthdate of Shirley Temple (1928) a child star who survived and grew up to serve twice as a US Ambassador, as well as Herve Villechaize (1943) the diminutive French actor who played sidekick (“the plane, , the plane”) to Richardo Montalbalm on Fantasy Island.
It was also the birthdate for a trio of athletes – runner and author Jim Fixx (1932), Chicago Blackhawks great goalie Tony Esposito (1943), and Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder Chloe Kim (2000).
This day saw the passing of a number of political leaders: Russian Tsar Boris Godunov (1605), US VP (30th) and Nobel Peace Prize winner Charles Dawes (to Coolidge, 1951), Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee Sam Ervin(1985), Utah Senator and arch-conservative Orrin Hatch (2022), and Russian leader and first President of the non-Soviet Russia Boris Yeltsin (2007).
William Shakespeare fell silent in 1616, William Wordsworth in 1850, as well as Margaret Fell, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1702.
Today is recognized as World Book Day, UN English Language Day, and UN Spanish Language Day.
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