1746- Francisco de Goya (d. 1828) Spanish painter; depicted political tyranny in his works, and flowers. pretty ones.
1842 – Anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by Dr. Crawford Long.
1853 – Vincent van Gogh (d. 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter. He suffered and died largely unknown, at the age of 37, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. So did he cut his ear off and give it to a prostitute or did Gauguin slice it off with a sword? I prefer the former.
1858 - Pencil with attached eraser patented by Hyman L. Lipman.
1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2 cent/acre by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The media call this Seward's Folly.
1981- President Ronald Reagan is shot outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr. The bullet misses his heart by an inch and sticks him in the lung. White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head, agent Timothy McCarthy was shot in the side, and District of Columbia policeman Thomas Delahaney was shot in the neck. Lots of bullets.
All recovered okie dokie like, except James Brady, who suffered permanent brain damage. He later became an advocate of gun control, and in 1993 Congress passed the "Brady Bill," which established a five-day waiting period and background checks for prospective gun buyers. President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law.
Hinckley was eventually found not guilty by reason of insanity. The 25-year-old was obsessed with the Martin Scorsese film "Taxi Driver." The assassination of Reagan was intended to win Jodie Foster’s affection. Why not Cybill Shepard? I never understood that.
1986 -Actor James Cagney (b. 1899) His most famous line was never uttered. He never actually said, "MMMmmm, you dirty rat!” The closest he got to it in the film was: "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!" The more you know.
2002 – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900) bites the dust at 101.
