In 1703 Russian Tsar Peter the Great founded the city of Saint Petersburg and made it his capital. in 1883 Alexander III became the next to last tsar of Imperial Russia. In 1937 the Golden Gate Bridge was opened to pedestrian traffic, connecting San Francisco with Marin County California. In 1941 the great German battleship Bismark was hunted down and sunk by the British navy with the loss of almost 2,100 men. And in 2016 Barack Obama became the first, and only, US President to visit Hiroshima Memorial Park and visit with survivors.

On this date, we were joined on the planet by American poet, songwriter, suffragette, and abolitionist Julia Ward Howe (1819) who wrote the Civil War anthem Battle Hymn of the Republic, Wild West sheriff Wild Bill Hickok (1837), Vice President Hubert Humphrey (1911), and Secretary of State and secret visitor to Bejing, Henry Kissinger (1923). It was also the birthdate for two legends of cinema – Vincent Price (1911) and Christopher Lee (1922) as well as a writer who gave us one of the most memorable original Star Trek episodes – City on the Edge of Forever – Harlan Ellison (1934).

We also lost an actor who starred in another iconic Star Trek episode – “The Cage” – Jeffrey Hunter (1969, Captain Christopher Pike) as well as Protestant Reformer John Calvin (1564), American cartoonist Robert Ripley (1949) famous for Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru (1964), and rocker and Cher ex Gregg Allman (2017).