President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas (1963), and Lebanon proclaims independence from France (1943). Born on this day: Charles de Gaulle, Scarlett Johansson and André Gide. Died: C.S. Lewis, Jack London and Aldous Huxley.
31 events, 74 births and 58 deaths on this date.
Kennedy was shot while riding in an open car through Dallas, Texas, and died within the hour. He was the first Catholic president and was 46 years old, and his death shocked a nation already gripped by Cold War tension.
Cecil W. Stoughton · Public domainThe Cuban Missile CrisisHear the story in ChunksOn this day in 1943, Lebanon declared itself independent after decades under French mandate rule. The move set up a power-sharing system among its major religious communities, a structure that shaped the country for decades to come.
The Soviet Union dropped a two-stage hydrogen bomb, RDS-37, over the Semipalatinsk test site. Designed by Andrei Sakharov, it yielded about 1.6 megatons, showing the country could build thermonuclear weapons deliverable by air.
Discovery lifted off on STS-33 for the US Department of Defense, and the purpose of the flight was withheld from the public. It showed the shuttle was also used for classified military work, not only civilian science.
Thatcher resigned after eleven years in Downing Street, the first woman to hold Britain's top office. Her free-market reforms, known as Thatcherism, had sold off state firms and weakened trade unions.
derivative work by Begoon · Copyrighted free use
Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, placed the foundation stone for a new educational body in Birmingham, meant to bring science, literature and the arts to ordinary working people. The institute went on to become a lasting centre of learning and public lectures in the city.
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Charles de Gaulle was a French general who refused to accept his country's armistice with Germany in 1940 and led the Free French Forces from Britain. He later founded the Fifth Republic and served as its first president.
The National Archives UK · No restrictions
American actress and singer, known for Lost in Translation, which won her a BAFTA, and for playing Black Widow across many Marvel films. She has also won a Tony for her stage work in A View from the Bridge.
Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0
French author whose fiction and autobiographical writing explored the struggle between strict Protestant upbringing and personal desire. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947 and wrote more than fifty books.
Ottoline Morrell (1873-1938) · Public domain
Lewis was a British writer and Oxford and Cambridge scholar, best remembered for The Chronicles of Narnia. He also wrote The Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity, and was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Unknown author · Public domain
Jack London wrote The Call of the Wild and White Fang, adventure novels set during the Klondike Gold Rush, and was among the first American authors to win worldwide fame. He also championed workers' rights and socialism, themes he explored in The Iron Heel.
published by L C Page and Company Boston 1903 · Public domain
Huxley wrote Brave New World, a bleak vision of a future society built on comfort and control. He also wrote about mysticism and his experiments with mescaline, and was widely seen as one of the great intellectuals of his age.
Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain
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