On this day in history —

• The term “Gerrymander” first appears in print (1812)
• The Book of Mormon is published (1830)
• Explorer 3 is launched (1958)
• The Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty is signed (1979)
• Groundbreaking for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial begins (1982) – cover
• The Heaven’s Gate religious group commits mass suicide to join the spaceship accompanying Comet Hale-Bopp (1997)

It’s the birthday of —

• Keira Knightley, actress (1985)
• Sara Jean Underwood, playmate (1984)
• John Stockton, basketball player (1962)
• Jennifer Grey, dirty dancer (1960)
• Marcus Allen, football player (1960)
• Leeza Gibbons, talk show host (1957)
• Curtis Sliwa, guardian angel (1954)
• Martin Short, comedian (1950)
• Teddy Pendergrass, singer (1950)
• Vicki Lawrence, actress and singer (1949)
• Steven Tyler, singer (1948)
• Diana Ross, singer (1944)
• Bob Woodward, journalist (1943)
• Erica Jong, fearful flier (1942)
• Richard Dawkins, atheist (1941)
• Nancy Pelosi, speaker (1940)
• James Caan, actor (1940)
• Wayne Embry, basketball player (1937)
• مَحْمُود عَبَّاس (Mahmoud Abbas), Palestinian prime minister (1935)
• Alan Arkin, actor (1934)
• Leonard Nimoy, actor (1931)
• Sandra Day O’Connor, jurist (1930)
• William Westmoreland, general (1914)
• 公文 公 (Toro Kumon), math teacher (1914)
• Paul Erdős, mathematician (1913)
• Tennessee Williams, playwright (1911)
• T. Hee, animator (1911)
• Joseph Campbell, mythologist (1904)
• Guccio Gucci, fashion designer (1881)
• 이승만 (Syngman Rhee), strongman (1875)
• Robert Frost, poet (1874)
• A. E. Housman, Shropshire lad (1859)
• Nathaniel Bowditch, practical navigator (1773)

Deaths —

• Geraldine Ferraro, vice presidential candidate (2011)
• Daniel Patrick Moynahan, sociologist and politician (2003)
• Edmund Muskie, presidential candidate (1996)
• David Packard, Hewlett partner (1996)
• Eazy-E, rapper (1995)
• Halston, fashion designer (1990)
• Anthony Blunt, spy and art historian (1983)
• Roland Barthes, literary theorist (1980)
• 林語堂 (Lin Yutang), writer and translator (1976)
• Noël Coward, playwright and composer (1973)
• “Gorgeous George” Sisler, baseball player (1973)
• Raymond Chandler, novelist (1959)
• David Lloyd-George, prime minister (1945)
• Eddie Lang, jazz guitarist (1933)
• Sarah Bernhardt, actress (1923)
• Cecil Rhodes, diamond miner (1902)
• Walt Whitman, poet (1892)
• Ludwig van Beethoven, composer (1827)
• Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, did not invent the device named for him (1814)
• John Winthrop, puritan (1649)

Holidays —

• Martyr’s Day and Democracy Day (Mali)
• National Nougat Day (United States)
• Prince Kūhiō Day (Hawaii)
• স্বাধীনতা দিবস Shadhinata Dibôsh (Independence Day and National Day (Bangladesh)
• Purple Day for Epilepsy (Canada)
• Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel and the Apodosis of the Annunciation (Orthodox Christianity)