MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 2001, the U.S. and Great Britain began airstrikes in Afghanistan in response to that state’s support of terrorism and
Osama bin Laden. The act was the first military action taken in
response to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11,
2001.

A cross marked the fence where 21-year-old Matthew Shepard
was robbed, beaten and left to die on this day in 1998. He was
lured by two men pretending to also be gay. Shepard was taken
to a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he died six days
later from severe head injuries. The fence has since been torn
down.

Matthew Wayne "Matt" Shepard
(December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998)

Shepard’s death inspired the play The Laramie Project, later
turned into a television movie, countless songs, a foundation
devoted to his memory along with a political lobbying effort
that pressed for, and eventually obtained, a new federal hate
crimes statute named after him. 

From left: Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney
were charged with the murder of Matthew Shepard
and are both serving long prison terms.

John J Mellencamp (previously known as John Cougar Mellencamp)
is 67 years old today.

Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp is best known for his #1 hit song, "Jack
& Diane." He has been nominated for more than ten Grammy Awards and
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

TIM MAGUIRE

The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard
M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL. on this
day in 1960.

The musical "West Side Story" opened at the Winter Garden Theatre
on this day in 1957.

The Broadway production ran for 732 performances before going on tour. It
was nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Musical in 1957, but the
Best Musical award went to Meredith Willson‘s The Music Man.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Statue of Nathan Hale in City Hall Park,
New York.

It was on this day in 1975.

President Gerald Ford (center) is pushed into his limousine after
Sara Jane Moore (below) took a shot at him as he was leaving the
Post Street entrance of the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco.

,

Sara Jane Moore was a political radical, a follower of Marxism.

 Sara Jane Moore (Kahn) became 88 in February.

SANDY KOZEL

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty
on this day in 1939.

It was on this day in 1927, despite worldwide demonstrations in
support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco
and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for murder.

On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South
Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his
guard.

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

Former priest John Geoghan, a notorious pedophile
whose case sparked the clergy molestation scandal 
for 18 months, died on this day in 2003 after being
attacked at the state prison in Shirley.

It was on this day in 1926.

1921

Rudolph Valentino
(Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi)
(May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926)

SANDY KOZEL

It was on this day in 1956.

Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby, was born in Oldham,
England on this day in 1978. She had been conceived through
in-vitro fertilization.

Louise Brown with her parents.

William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997)

Professional golfer Ben Hogan is generally considered to be one of the
greatest players in the history of the game. He is one of only five golfers
to have won all four major championships. Hogan died in Fort Worth,
Texas on July 25, 1997 at the age of 84, and is interred at Greenwood
Memorial Park there.

On this day in 1975, "A Chorus Line" debuted at the Shubert
Theatre on Broadway. The show closed in 1990 after 6,137
performances.