The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL. on this day in 1960.
The musical "West Side Story" opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on this day in 1957.
The Broadway production ran for 732 performances before going on tour. It was nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Musical in 1957, but the Best Musical award went to Meredith Willson‘s The Music Man.
On this day in 1519, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan left Spain to find a route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Magellan was killed during the trip, but one of his ships eventually made the journey.
Ferdinand Magellan (1480 – April 27,1521)
Magellan was killed in the Philippines during the Battle of Mactan by soldiers of leader Lapu-Lap.
James Joseph "Jim" Croce (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973)
On this day in 1973, pop singer Jim Croce was killed along with five others in a plane crash on his way to Sherman, TX, for a concert. He was only 30 years old.
Dr. Emil A. Naclerio, member of the surgical team that operated on the Rev. Martin Luther King, is shown at King’s bedside in Harlem Hospital in New York on Sept. 21, 1958.
The first All-Star baseball game was held in Chicago on this day in 1933. The American League beat the National League 4-2.
The Biafran War erupted on this day in 1967. The war lasted two- and-a-half years. About 600,000 people died.
Late Odumegwu Ojukwu (left) leader of the breakaway Republic of Biafra from 1967 to 1970.
One of the casualties of the war.
Mexican painter Frida Kahlo de Rivera(Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón)(July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954)
Althea Gibson won the Wimbledon women’s singles tennis title on this day in 1957. She was the first black athlete to win the event.
Roy Rogers (Leonard Franklin Slye) (November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998)
Roy Rogers was one of the most popular Western stars of his era. Known as the "King of the Cowboys", he appeared in over 100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of The Roy Rogers Show.
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.
Rogers died of congestive heart failure on July 6, 1998. He had been residing in Apple Valley, CA. Roy was buried at Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Apple Valley, as was his wife Dale Evans three years later.
Pictured from left: Elvis Presley, bass player Bill Black, guitarist Scotty Moore and Sun Records and Memphis Recording studio head Sam Phillips take a break from a recording session in Memphis. Elvis Presley’s first commercial recording session took place in Memphis, TN. on this day in 1954. He recorded "That’s All Right (Mama)" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky."
The bikini bathing suit, created by Louis Reard, made its debut during a fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris on this day in 1946. Micheline Bernardini wore the two-piece outfit.
Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title when he defeated Jimmy Connors on this day in 1975.
Jimmy Connors (left) congratulates Arthur Ash.
On this day in 1947, Larry Doby signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in the American League.
Lawrence Eugene Doby(December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003)
Ted Williams in 1939.
Theodore Williams (Theodore Samuel Williams) (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002)
Ted Williams finished his playing career with a .344 batting average, 521 home runs, and a .482 on-base percentage, the highest of all time. His career batting average is the highest of any MLB player whose career was played primarily in the live-ball era, and ranks tied for 7th all-time (with Billy Hamilton). Williams retired from playing in 1960 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. He died of cardiac arrest at the age of 83 on July 5, 2002.
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.
