Buddy Holly and Maria Elena Santiago (above) were married in a
private ceremony at his parents home in Lubbock, TX.

Buddy and Elena with Buddy’s parents.

María Elena Holly will be 85 on December 20.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

It was announced on this day in 1945 by President Truman that Japan had 
surrendered unconditionally. The surrender ended World War II.

President Harry Truman announcing the surrender of Japan.

It happened on this day in 2003.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act
into law on this day in 1935. The act created unemployment
insurance and pension plans for the elderly.

On this day in 1969, British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Polish demonstrators carrying banners with the name of the trade
union Solidarność (“Solidarity”).

Polish shipyard worker and strike leader, Lech Walesa,  speaks to
fellow workers.

Stephen Glenn Martin is 72 years old today.

Comedian, actor and musician, Steve Martin is best known for his films 
The Jerk (1979), Father of the Bride (1991), Three Amigos (1986), Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and Planes,Trains and Automobiles (1987). He
hosted the Academy Awards in 2001, 2003 and 2010 and he has hosted
NBC’s Saturday Night Live on a number of occasions.

Martin has increasingly dedicated his career to music since the 2000s,
acting less and spending much of his professional life playing banjo,
recording, and touring with various bluegrass acts, including Earl
Scruggs, with whom he won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental
Performance in 2002.

Camille Bohannon

It was on this day in 1977.

David Richard Berkowitz (Richard David Falco) turned
64 June 1.

On this day in 1969.

Charles Milles Manson (Charles Milles Maddox)
will be 83 November 12.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was diagnosed with polio on this day in 1921.

On this day in 1988, President Reagan signed a measure that
provided $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who were
interned by the U.S. government during World War II.

On this day in 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was chartered by
the U.S. Congress. The "Nation’s Attic" was made possible by
$500,000 given by scientist Joseph Smithson (below).

James Smithson (1765 – June 27, 1829)

Smithson was an English chemist and mineralogist 
who became the patron of the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, D.C. despite having never visited the 
United States.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1974, President Nixon announced that he would
resign the following day.

It was on this day in 1942.

Dustin Lee Hoffman is 80 years old today.

Famous method actor Dustin Hoffman won the Academy Award for Best
Actor for Kramer vs. Kramer in 1979 and Rain Man in 1988. He had his
breakthrough role as Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 classic The Graduate.

He began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse with his roommate
and fellow actor Gene Hackman. 

1969

1982

The song “The Twist” became a national sensation after Chubby
Checker (above) performed it on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand
(below).

Chubby Checker (Ernest Evans) will be 76 years old in October.