MIKE GRACIA

Pope John Paul II died on this day in 2005 at age 84. He was one of
the most influential leaders of the 20th and early 21st centuries, he worked tirelessly to build a moral foundation in the modern world,
while playing a crucial role in overthrowing communism and
fostering peace.

President Woodrow Wilson presented a declaration of war against Germany to the U.S. Congress on this day in 1917.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson
(December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924)

Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida on this
day in 1513. The next day he went ashore.

Argentina invaded the British-owned Falkland Islands on this day in 1982. The following June Britain took the islands back.

Hans Christian Andersen (April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875)

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a writer of plays, travelogues, novels and poems, he is best remembered for his fairy tales,
of which no fewer than 3381 works. Andersen’s popularity is not limited
to children: his stories express themes that transcend age and nationality.

Lolly Willowes, or The Loving Huntsman, was the first Book-
of-the-Month Club selection. It was published by Viking Press.

Sylvia Townsend Warner (December 6, 1893 – May 1, 1978)

John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968)

American author John Steinbeck is well-known for his novels The Grapes
of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men. He won both the Pulitzer
and Nobel Prizes for his work. 

Steinbeck grew up in central California and attended Stanford University
for several years. He later returned to California following failed attempts
at writing jobs in New York and worked as a tour guide and caretaker at
a fish hatchery in Tahoe City.    
   
John Steinbeck, a lifelong heavy smoker, died in New York City of heart
disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66.
    

JOHN BELMONT

Mark Twain’s "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was
published in the United States for the first time on
this day in 1885.

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)
(November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

In Montgomery, AL, on this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis was
inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States.

Jefferson Davis was sworn in as Provisional President
of the Confederate States of America on the steps of
the Alabama State Capitol (above/below).

On this day in 1970, The Chicago Seven defendants were found
innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic
national convention.

Police arrest protesters outside of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

John Joseph Travolta is 64 years old today. Born in Englewood, NJ.

John Travolta starred in the 1970s hit films Saturday Night Fever and 
Grease. He later went on to play Vincent Vega in the critically acclaimed
1994 film Pulp Fiction.

On this day in 2001, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was
killed in a crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500 race. He
died instantly from blunt force trauma to the skull.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1964, The Beatles made the first of three record-
breaking appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show." 73 million
people watched the show. It was their American TV debut.

It was on this day in 1950.

During World War II on this day in 1943, the battle of Guadalcanal
ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.

Pictured are Japanese prisoners. The Guadalcanal campaign had
ended with the loss of nearly 30,000 Japanese soldiers.

Yuri Andropov died on this day in 1984.

Yuri Andropov was General Secretary of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Presidium from
June 16, 1983 until his death in 1984.

Alice Malsenior Walker is 74 today. She was born in Putnam County, Georgia.

Alice Walker is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and activist
who wrote the novel The Color Purple (1982) for which she won the National
Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She also wrote the novels
Meridian (1976) and The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970), among many
other works.