Thomas "Tom T." Hall is a retired country music singer-songwriter
who had written 11 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more reaching the Top
10, including the No. 1 international pop crossover song "Harper
Valley PTA" and the hit “I Love", which reached No. 12 on the
Billboard Hot 100.

   
    1973

Leslie Uggams is a actress and singer, best known for her
work in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977). She made her
singing debut on the Lawrence Welk Show and was a
regular on NBC’s Sing Along with Mitch (1961-1964),
starring record producer-conductor Mitch Miller. She
also appeared in her own CBS television variety show,
The Leslie Uggams Show in 1969. 

Mitch Miller and Leslie Uggams

Leslie Uggams as Kizzy in a scene from Roots

   
Ross Simpson

Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman) is 72 today

Abraham Lincoln and the Army discharge note (inset)

(FoxNews) – A hastily scrawled note by President Abraham Lincoln just two months
before his assassination ordering a disabled 14-year-old boy released from the
Army in response to an impassioned plea from the boy’s father went on sale
today in Philadelphia.

The message saying “Let this boy be discharged,” and signed A. Lincoln was 
written on a telegram from Col. Thomas W. Harris about his son, Perry. It had
been in a private collection and was valued at $15,000 by Nathan Raab of the
Raab Collection, which offered the previously unknown document for sale. 

The letter is considered rare because there are few Lincoln documents relating
to children.

Lincoln’s order came just two months before he was assassinated by John Wilkes
Booth at Ford’s Theatre on April 15, 1865. Ironically, Perry Harris was discharged
from the Army the same day.