ED DONAHUE

Funeral of St. John Paul II was held at the Vatican on this day in 2005.

Pope John Paul II’s body is laid in St. Peter’s Basilica. Among the Americans attending the private visitation are from left: George W.
Bush, Laura Bush, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Condoleezza
Rice, and Andrew Card. 

It was on this day in 1973.

Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990)

Ryan White was a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a
national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after failing
to be re-admitted to school following an AIDS diagnosis. As a
hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated
blood treatment.

Hank Aaron hits 715th home run breaking Babe Ruth’s record on this
day in 1974.

Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994)

TIM MAGUIRE

The funeral of Jordan’s King Hussein was on this day in 1999.

President Clinton (center) among those attending the funeral of
King Hussein.

The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) is a 1915
American silent epic drama film directed and co-produced by D.
W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted
from the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon
Jr. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and
co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken). The film premiered on
this day in 1915.

Lillian Diana Gish
(October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993)

A civil rights protest in Orangeburg, South Carolina turned deadly
on this day in 1968. The incident became know as the Orangeburg
Massacre.

William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on this
day in 1910.

William Dickson "W. D." Boyce
(June 16, 1858 – June 11, 1929)

James Byron Dean  (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955)

Actor James Dean starred in “Rebel Without a Cause” and “East of
Eden” (both 1955). He became a cultural icon well before he died in
a car crash at age 24. He became the first actor to have received
multiple posthumous acting nominations.  

TIM MAGUIRE

It was on this day in 1963.

On this day in 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Attorney Gen.
Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran
had been diverted to rebels in Nicaragua. The National Security
Advisor John Poindexter resigned and Oliver North was fired.

From left: President Reagan and Attorney Gen. Edwin Meese.

During the Revolutionary War on this day in 1783, the British
evacuated New York. It was their last military position in the 
United States.

A group of fishermen from Florida spotted Elián Gonzales off the
coast of Fort Lauderdale. He was completely alone, floating in an
inner tube. He was rescued on this day in 1999.

The boat that Elian and his mother, and 10 other people had been traveling on to the United States from Cuba had been ripped apart
in the rough seas, and he was one of the only survivors.      

Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, 1954

Baseball’s Joe Dimaggio was born on this day in 1914.

TIM MAGUIRE

President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded on this
day in 1901 (he died eight days later) by Leon Czolgosz (below). The
American anarchist was executed the following October.

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances Spencer)  
(July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997) 

The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by
Clarence Saunders and his Piggly Wiggly stores. His first store
(above) opened on this day in 1916.

Clarence Saunders
(August 9, 1881 – September 23, 1953)

George Roger Waters is 74 years old today.

Roger Waters was the Bass player, composer, vocalist, and front man of the
English rock band Pink Floyd, the group known for songs like "Shine On
You Crazy Diamond." He was the chairman of the Cambridge Youth
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at age fifteen. Waters helped
compose the soundtrack to the 1970 documentary The Body.

Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and began a legal dispute with the remaining
members over their use of the band’s name and material. They settled out
of court in 1987, and nearly eighteen years passed before he performed
with them again. As a member of Pink Floyd, Waters was inducted into
the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of
Fame in 2005

ED DONAHUE

On this day in 2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, center, blesses
the coffin containing the body of Pope John Paul II during his
funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973)

It was on this day in 1974.