Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

May 14

2003
Iraq War: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld states at a Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense hearing, "I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons." Just a two months earlier on March 16, Vice President Dick Cheney had declared, "We believe [Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."

1992
World's largest Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton is seized by the FBI from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, claiming it had been illegally taken from federal land.

1973
Skylab: The U.S. space station is launched. About a minute after take-off a protective shield and a solar panel broke off, damaging the other solar panel in the process. The crew was sent up on the 25th and made repairs.

1948
The state of Israel is proclaimed.

1904
First Olympic games held in the U.S.: After starting again in 1896 (after a 1600 year absence), the games make their way to he U.S., opening at the St. Louis Exposition.

1856
First camels imported to the U.S. for commercial purposes: American naval officer David Dixon Porter arrives in Texas with a shipload of camels from Turkey. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1804
Lewis and Clark expedition: The famed explorers depart from St. Louis, Missouri to begin exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. Their work established a route to the Pacific.

1796
First vaccination: English physician Edward Jenner gives one to an 8-year-old boy for protection against smallpox.

1787
Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia.

1969
Danny Wood (Daniel Wood Jr.), American pop musician, member of New Kids on the Block.

1944
George Lucas, American director. Film: American Graffiti (1973) and Star Wars (1977).

1943     d. 1994
Derek "Lek" Leckenby, English guitarist, with Herman's Hermits. Music: I'm Into Something Good (1964, #1 in UK), Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1965, #1), I'm Henry VII, I Am (1965, #1), and There's a Kind of Hush (1967).

1936     d. 1973
Bobby Darin (Walden Robert Cassotto), American pop singer. Music: Splish Splash (1958) and Mack the Knife (1959).

1924
Brad Jay Anderson, American cartoonist, creator of Marmaduke (1954).

1905     d. 1989
Herbert Morrison, American radio reporter.  He reported the Hindenburg explosion exclaiming, "Oh, the Humanity!"

1727     d. 1788
Thomas Gainsborough, English artist. Paintings: Blue Boy (1779).

1686     d. 1736
Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, German physicist. He created the mercury thermometer (1714) and devised the Fahrenheit temperature scale (1714).

1316     d. 1378
Charles IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Bohemia (1347-78).

2003     b. 1919
Robert Stack (Charles Langford Modini Stack), American actor. Film: Bwana Devil (1952, the first 3-D movie). TV: The Untouchables (1959-63, Eliot Ness) and Unsolved Mysteries (host). He placed 2nd in the National Skeet Shooting Championship (1935).

1998     b. 1915
Frank Sinatra (Francis Albert Sinatra), American singer, actor. Music: Strangers in the Night (1966). He did it his way.

1992     b. 1949
Lyle Alzado, American football player, two-time All-Pro. As an amateur boxer, he fought an exhibition match against Muhammad Ali. He died of brain cancer, which he believed was caused by steroid abuse.

1983     b. 1900
Miguel Alemán, Mexican president (1946-52). As the first non-military candidate ever elected president of Mexico, he promoted industrialization and agriculture.

1982     b. 1909
Hugh Beaumont, American actor. TV: Leave It to Beaver (Ward Cleaver).

1978     b. 1902
William "Bill" Powell Lear, American inventor, businessman, founder of Lear Jet, Inc. He also developed the 8-track cartridge and was co-inventor of the first practical car radio

1975     b. 1878
Ernst Frederik Werner Alexanderson, Swedish-born American engineer. A pioneer in transoceanic radio communication, he developed tuned-frequency receivers. In 1927 he developed a TV with a seven-foot screen.

1970     b. 1885
Billie Burke, American actress. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939, the Good Witch Glinda).

1965     b. 1880
Frances Perkins, American politician, first woman U.S. presidential cabinet member (1933, F.D. Roosevelt's secretary of labor).

1919     b. 1844
Henry John Heinz, American food manufacturer, founder of H.J. Heinz Co. (1888).

1643     b. 1601
Louis XIII, King of France. His death made his 5-year-old son, Louis XIV, king.

964     b. ????
John XII, religious leader, 130th Pope (955-964). He gambled and is reputed to have run a brothel, for which he was temporarily deposed in 963.

649     b. ????
Theodore I, Greek-born religious leader, 73rd Pope (642-649).

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