Martin Luther King Jr. awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1964), and U-47 sinks HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow (1939). Born on this day: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Hannah Arendt and Lillian Gish. Died: Bing Crosby, Erwin Rommel and Julius Nyerere.
33 events, 76 births and 51 deaths on this date.
The Nobel committee honoured King for fighting racial inequality through nonviolent protest, a method he had used across the American South. He received it while the fight for voting and desegregation rights was still under way.
Associated Press · Public domainA German U-boat slipped into the anchorage at Scapa Flow in Orkney and torpedoed the battleship while her crew slept or ate. The loss of more than 800 men shook the Royal Navy and exposed the weakness of its home fleet base.
A German bomb hit the street above Balham Underground station, which was packed with people sheltering from air raids. At least 64 people died in the blast, one of the deadliest single incidents of the Blitz in the capital.
The Egyptian novelist who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Egyptian to do so, was the target of a murder bid and lived. He is best known for The Cairo Trilogy, and his novels all take place in Egypt.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Ambedkar led a mass public conversion to Buddhism, rejecting Hinduism's caste hierarchy. The move launched the Dalit Buddhist movement, which still carries his name and inspires followers today.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Ariel Sharon's Unit 101 raided Qibya, a village on the West Bank, levelling 45 buildings and killing 42 villagers. The attack drew wide international condemnation and became one of the most controversial reprisal raids of the period.
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Eisenhower led Allied forces in Europe during the Second World War, including the D-Day landings in Normandy. He later served two terms as the 34th president of the United States, from 1953 to 1961.
White House · Public domain
Hannah Arendt was a German-American philosopher whose study of totalitarian regimes changed how many people think about power. She covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann and suggested that ordinary, unthinking people could carry out monstrous crimes while following orders.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Lillian Gish was an American silent film star, best known for her leading role in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. Her acting career stretched across 75 years, and she later became a committed campaigner for preserving silent cinema.
Bain News Service; Uploaded by Calliopejen ; Edited by jjron . · Public domain
Bing Crosby was one of the first multimedia stars, a singer and actor whose easy, intimate style shaped generations of male vocalists. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Going My Way in 1944 and was among the best-selling recording artists of his era.
Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain
Known as the Desert Fox, Rommel led German and Italian forces in North Africa, earning a reputation as one of the war's ablest tank commanders. He was later implicated in the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler.
Winkelmann · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Tanzania's first president, a teacher who led the country from British rule to independence and promoted Ujamaa, his own form of African socialism. He died in 1999, aged 77, after decades shaping the nation he helped create.
Rob Mieremet / Anefo · CC0
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