TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1869, Abraham Lincoln won a four-way race as the sixteenth president of the United States.

John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932)

John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor, known
primarily for military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of
march composition, he is known as "The March King"

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 25, 1840 – November 6, 1893)  

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, was a Russian composer of the romantic
period, some of whose works are among the most popular music
in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer
whose music made a lasting impression internationally.

Monument to the Russian classical composer Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky outside the Conservatory in Moscow, Russia.

Mike Nichols with his mother.

Mike Nichols (Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky)
(November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014)

Film and theatre director, producer, actor and comedian Mike Nichols was
noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and an aptitude for
getting the best out of actors regardless of their acting experience. He
began his career in the 1950s with the comedy improvisational troupe,
The Compass Players.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1962, President Kennedy went on radio and television to inform
the United States about his order to send U.S.forces to blockade Cuba. The blockade was in response to the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the
island.

On this day in 1979, the ousted Shah of Iran, Mohammad Riza
Pahlavi (below), was allowed into the U.S. for medical treatment.

It was on this day in 1931.

The body of gangster Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd is shown propped
on a slab in the county morgue in East Liverpool, Ohio.

On this day in 2002, bus driver Conrad Johnson was shot at 5:56 a.m. while standing on the steps of his bus at the 14100 block of Grand Pre Road in
Aspen Hill, Maryland. He was the last victim in the D.C. Sniper shootings.

The snipers

Pablo Casals (Pau Casals i Defilló)
(December 29, 1876 – October 22, 1973)

Pablo Casals was a cellist, composer, and conductor from Catalonia,
Spain. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first
half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time. He
made many recordings throughout his career and was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy.

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993)

Considered one of the greatest jazz trumpeters in history, Dizzy Gillespie 
was instrumental in the evolution of bebop and modern jazz. His first pro
gig was in 1935 with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra, followed by stints with
the orchestras of Edgar Hayes, Teddy Hill, and Cab Calloway.

“Summertime’’ (1970)

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.

On this day in 1980, the Cuban government abruptly closed Mariel Harbor to
end the freedom flotilla of Cuban refugees that began the previous April.

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

George Jacob Gershwin (September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937)

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin’s compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most
popular melodies are widely known. Among his best-known works are
the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American
in Paris (1928) as well as the opera Porgy and Bess (1935).

Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965) 

T.S. Eliot was a British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social
critic, and "one of the twentieth century’s major poets".  Eliot attracted
widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
(1915), which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement.

Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782)

Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh surviving child and
youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as "the
London Bach" or "the English Bach", due to his time spent living in the British
capital, where he came to be known as John Bach. He is noted for influencing
the concerto style of Mozart.