ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1968, U.S.troops in Vietnam destroyed a village
consisting mostly of women and children. The event is known
as the My-Lai massacre.

Over 500 babies, children, women and men were slaughtered by American
soldiers. Many Vietnamese women and girls had been raped. Huts were
burned, livestock was killed, food supplies destroyed.

Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only one
Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was
convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given
a life sentence, but served only three and a half years under house
arrest.

William Laws Calley Jr. will be 76 on June 8.

This U.S. Army photo shows the aftermath of the Mỹ Lai Massacre 
with mostly women and children lying dead on a road.

The My Lai Massacre memorial site.

The Apr. 12, 1971, cover of TIME.

SANDY KOZEL

Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin on this day in 1794.

Sir Michael Caine (Maurice Joseph Micklewhite) is 86 today.

Michael Caine is an English actor, producer and author. He has appeared in
more than 130 films in a career spanning 70 years and is considered a British
film icon.

1966

Quincy Delight Jones Jr. is also 86 day.

Quincy Jones is Influential record producer, arranger, and musician of
many film scores, classic albums, and hit songs. He is perhaps best
known for producing multiple albums by the great Michael Jackson,
including 1982’s Thriller and 1987’s Bad. In 2013, he was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The first Barbie doll was officially unveiled on March 9,
1959, at the New York Toy Fair and 60 years later she’s
still a sensation among children and the adults who
grew up playing with her and her friends.

Barbie doll was created by Ruth Handler, the co-founder
of Mattel, whose daughter was named Barbara.

The full name of the first doll was Barbie Millicent Roberts,
and she was from Willows, Wisconsin. Barbie’s job was a teenage fashion model. Now, however, the doll has been
made in versions connected to over 125 different careers, including President of the United States.

Mattell founders Ruth and Elliott Handler with a Barbie doll.

   
    
    
    
  
MIKE  GRACIA

The 13-day siege of the Alamo by Santa Anna and his army ended 
on this day in 1836. The Mexican army of about four thousand men 
under President General Santa Anna defeated 189 Texas volunteers fighting for independence from Mexico.

Rob Reiner (Robert Norman Reiner) is 72 years-old today.

Actor and director Rob Reiner is known especially for his role as
Michael (“Meathead”) Stivic in the CBS television series All in the
Family (1971–79) and for his direction of such culturally resonant
films as This Is Spinal Tap (1984), The Princess Bride (1987), When
Harry Met Sally… (1989), and A Few Good Men (1992).

DAVID MELENDY
   

African American taxi driver Rodney King was severely beaten by
Los Angeles police officers on this day in 1991 during an arrest 
that followed a pursuit through the streets of Los Angeles. The
scene was captured on amateur video, one of the first police 
brutality videos of its kind. It forever changed the conversation
about police and race in America.

National Guardsmen patrol Los Angeles during the rioting after the acquittal of officers involved in the beating of Rodney King.

The first issue of Time magazine was published on this day in 1923
by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce. It was the first weekly news
magazine in the United States. The distinctive red border for which
the magazine has come to be known was lacking. On the cover
was the now-obscure Joseph G. Cannon, former House Speaker.
.