ED DONAHUE

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs
a declaration of war.

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.

ROSS SIMPSON

It was on this day in 1967.

On this day in 1999, NATO suspended air strikes in Yugoslavia after Slobodan Milosevic agreed to withdraw his forces from Kosovo.

Alcoholic Anonymous was founded by William G. Wilson and Dr.
Robert Smith on this day in 1935.

Dr. Robert Smith (Left) and William G. Wilson.

Judy Garland from the Wizard of Oz, 1939.

Judy Garland (Frances Ethel Gumm) (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969)

Movie icon Judy Garland played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and became the youngest winner of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the
age of 39. She was nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in the films
A Star is Born (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). Judy Garland began
performing vaudeville at the age of two and a half. She received a Grammy
Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1997. 

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004)

Among friends and fellow musicians singer Ray Charles preferred being
called "Brother Ray". He was often referred to as "The Genius". Charles
was blind from the age of seven. He pioneered the soul music genre
during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel
styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records.

Ray Charles died at his home in Beverly Hills, California of complications
resulting from acute liver disease. He was 73. 

ED DANAHUE

NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Vojvodina) on this day in 1999. The attacks marked the
first time in its 50-year history that NATO attacked a sovereign
country. The bombings were in response to Serbia’s refusal to
sign a peace treaty with ethnic Albanians who were seeking independence for the province of Kosovo.

On this day in 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of
oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound after it ran aground.

Elvis Presley was sworn in as a private in the U.S. Army on this
day in 1958.

Elvis Presley receives a haircut on his first full day
as a member of the US Army.

On this day in 1955, Tennessee Williams’ play
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" debuted on Broadway.

Ben Gazzara (left) and Burl Ives.

Barbara Bel Geddes

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III
(March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983)

Denzel Washington and Halle Berry with their Academy Awards in 
2002.

Denzel Washington and Halle Berry famously became the first black actors to
win both lead acting awards in the same year. That same night, Sidney Poitier,
the first black man to win an Oscar, received an honorary award.