polio – Time Rewind

On This Day April 26

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On This Day March 26

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Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost (d. 1963)

1911 – Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams (“The Glass Menagerie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire”) (d. 1983)

1931 – Actor-director-writer Leonard Nimoy, best known for his portrayal of Mr. Spock in the “Star Trek” TV and movie series (d. 2015)

1934 – Actor Alan Arkin (“Wait Until Dark,” “The In-Laws,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Argo”)

1940 – Actor James Caan (“The Godfather,” “Brian’s Song,” “Rollerball,” “Alien Nation,” “Misery”)

1944 – Legendary Motown singer-actress Diana Ross, formerly of The Supremes

1948 – Rock singer-songwriter and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler

1950 – Comedian-actor and “SCTV” and “SNL” alum Martin Short

1950 – R&B soul singer Teddy Pendergrass (d. 2010)

1968 – Country music singer-songwriter and producer Kenny Chesney

1985 – Actress Keira Knightley (“Bend It Like Beckham,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Pride & Prejudice,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Atonement,” “The Imitation Game”)

History Highlights

1953 – Dr. Jonas Salk goes on national radio to announce that he has successfully tested a vaccine against polio, a crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease.

1979 – At a White House ceremony, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign a peace treaty ending 30 years of war between their two countries.

1982 – Ground is broken in Washington, D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was founded by Jan Scruggs, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1969-70 as an infantry corporal. Scruggs wanted to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of all who served in Vietnam.

2000 – Comedian Billy Crystal hosts the 72nd annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Best Picture honors go to “American Beauty,” and Best Actor to its star, Kevin Spacey. Hilary Swank wins Best Actress for her role in “Boys Don’t Cry.”

Musical Milestones

1955 – “Ballad of Davy Crockett,” by Bill Hayes, begins a five-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart.

1966 – Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler mans his post at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Ballad of the Green Berets.”

1971 – The Rolling Stones introduce their iconic tongue logo, known officially as “Tongue and Lips.”

1975 – The film version of The Who’s 1969 rock opera “Tommy” opens in London, featuring Elton John as The Champ, singing “Pinball Wizard,” and Tina Turner as the Acid Queen.

1976 – Wings, featuring Paul McCartney, release the “At the Speed of Sound” album, containing classics like “Silly Love Songs” and “Let ‘Em In.” Less than a month later, it reaches the top of the Billboard album chart.

1983 – Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” is in the midst of a six-week ride on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1994 – “The Sign,” by the Swedish band Ace of Base, Is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. The track enjoys six non-consecutive weeks in the top spot and goes on to become an international smash.

2005 – “Candy Shop,” by 50 Cent featuring Olivia, is in the middle of a nine-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On This Day February 23

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Celebrity Birthdays

1868 – American civil rights activist, sociologist, educator, historian and writer W.E.B. Du Bois (d.1963)

1940 – Actor Peter Fonda (“Easy Rider,” “Ulee’s Gold,” “The Passion of Ayn Rand,” “Wild Hogs,” “3:10 to Yuma”) (d. 2019)

1955 – 80s synth-pop singer-songwriter Howard Jones (“Things Can Only Get Better,” “Life in One Day,” “No One Is To Blame”)

1965 – Entrepreneuer and Dell Computer founder-CEO Michael Dell

1976 – Actress Kelly Macdonald (“Trainspotting,” “Gosford Park,” “The Girl in the Café,” “Boardwalk Empire”)

1983 – Golden Globe-winning actress Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “Gideon’s Daughter,” “The Adjustment Bureau,” “The Five-Year Engagement,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Sicario,” “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” “The Girl on the Train”, “A Quiet Place”, “Mary Poppins Returns”)

1994 – Actress Dakota Fanning (“I Am Sam,” “Man on Fire,” “War of the Worlds,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “Coraline,” “The Twilight Saga”)

History Highlights

1836 – The Battle of the Alamo begins as Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna and his army arrive in San Antonio, Texas. Undaunted, William Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and a few hundred others prepare to defend the mission together, holding out for 13 days. “Remember the Alamo!” becomes a rallying cry for the Texian Army.

1945 – During the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima, five U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. His iconic World War II image — a symbol of American military heroism — wins a Pulitzer Prize and becomes the inspiration for the national U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

1954 – Elementary school children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania receive the first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk.

1968 – Considered a basketball legend, Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first NBA player to score more than 25,000 points during his professional sports career.

1980 – American speed skater Eric Heiden wins the 10,000-meter race at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, setting a world record with his time and winning an unprecedented fifth Gold medal at the games.

1997 – Scientists in Scotland announce that they have cloned a sheep named Dolly — the first successful cloning of a mammal from an adult cell. This development sparks widespread speculation about the possibility of human cloning.

Musical Milestones

1963 – Paul & Paula wrap up their three-week ride on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hey Paula.”

1974 – Barbra Streisand dominates the pop chart for a third week with the Oscar and Grammy-winning theme from the movie “The Way We Were.”

1978 – For the first time in Grammy Award history, two singles tie for Song of the Year: Barbra Streisand’s “Love Theme from A Star Is Born (Evergreen)” and Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life.” Other winners include Fleetwood Mac (Album of the Year for “Rumours”), Eagles (Record of the Year for “Hotel California”) and The Bee Gees (Best Pop Vocal Performance for “How Deep Is Your Love”).

1980 – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” from Queen’s “The Game” album, becomes the British rock band’s first No. 1 single in the U.S. It holds the top spot for four weeks. Freddie Mercury claimed to have written the song in about 10 minutes while taking a bath.

1991 – Whitney Houston scores her ninth No. 1 single in five years with “All the Man That I Need.”

2000 – Carlos Santana cleans up at the 42nd Annual Grammys, winning eight awards, including Album of the Year for his chart-topping “Supernatural” album.

2002 – “Always on Time,” by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti, tops the Billboard Hot 100.

On This Day January 3

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Celebrity Birthdays

1892 – English writer and poet J. R. R. Tolkien (“The Hobbit,” “Lord of the Rings”) (d. 1973)

1926 – Record producer-arranger George Martin, known as the “Fifth Beatle” (d. 2016)

1930 – Actor-director Robert Loggia (“Scarface,” “Big,” “Jagged Edge,” “Independence Day,” “Lost Highway,” “The Sopranos”) (d. 2015)

1932 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Dabney Coleman, (“9 to 5,” “Tootsie,” “WarGames,” “Buffalo Bill,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Rules Don’t Apply”)

1950 – Actress Victoria Principal, best known for her role as Pam Ewing in the hit series “Dallas”

1956 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor-producer-director Mel Gibson (“Mad Max,” “Braveheart,” the “Lethal Weapon” movie series, “The Patriot,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “The Beaver,” “Hacksaw Ridge”)

1981 – Star NFL quarterback Eli Manning of the New York Giants

History Highlights

1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his former law partner, Basil O’Connor, establish the March of Dimes (originally known as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis) to battle polio, the disease FDR contracted at the age of 39 that prevented him from ever walking on his own again.

1961 – The U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Cuba two years after Fidel Castro seized control of the island nation 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

1967 – Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who killed the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, dies of cancer in a Dallas hospital. The Texas Court of Appeals had recently overturned Ruby’s death sentence for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and was scheduled to grant him a new trial.

1969 – Apollo 8 astronauts William Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell grace the cover of TIME magazine as “Men of the Year” for becoming the first humans to orbit the moon. During their mission, the trio also captured the iconic “Earthrise” image of planet Earth hovering above the lunar surface. They were hailed for bringing a hopeful conclusion to 1968 — a year filled with social strife that included the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

1990 – Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. military troops to face charges of drug trafficking.

1993 – The Buffalo Bills stage the greatest comeback in NFL history. Backup quarterback Frank Reich leads the Bills to an improbable 41-38 overtime victory over the Houston Oilers in an AFC wild card playoff game that would forever be known to football fans as “The Comeback.” In Houston, however, it was referred to as “The Choke.”

Musical Milestones

1970 – The Beatles record their last song as a group — George Harrison’s “I, Me, Mine” — which appears on the “Let It Be” album.

1970 – “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” by B.J. Thomas, begins a four-week domination of the singles chart. The song is featured in the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

1976 – S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT! Scotland’s Bay City Rollers hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Saturday Night.”

1981 – Less than four weeks after his assassination outside his Manhattan apartment building, John Lennon has the first No. 1 single of 1981 with “(Just Like) Starting Over.”

1987 – Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1987 – The Bangles claim the top spot on the singles chart with “Walk Like an Egyptian.”

1998 – Elton John’s tribute to the late Princess Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997,” enters its 13th week as a No. 1 single.

2004 – OutKast rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hey Ya!” The track ultimately holds the top spot for nine weeks and goes on to win a Best Urban/Alternative Performance Grammy Award.

On This Day October 28

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Celebrity Birthdays

1914 – Physician and medical researcher Jonas Salk, who developed the first safe and effective polio vaccine (d. 1995)

1927 – Grammy-winning jazz vocalist and actress Cleo Laine

1936 – Grammy-winning country music singer-fiddler Charlie Daniels, best known for his 1979 smash “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”

1944 – Actor Dennis Franz (“Die Hard 2,” “NYPD Blue,” “City of Angels”)

1949 – U.S. Olympic decathlon gold medalist and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, born Bruce Jenner

1952 – Actress Annie Potts (“Ghostbusters,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2”)

1955 – Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates

1967 – Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts (“Mystic Pizza,” “Flatliners,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Pretty Woman,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Closer”)

1974 – Grammy and Golden Globe-winning actor-musician Joaquin Phoenix (“Gladiator,” “Walk the Line,” “The Master,” “Her”)

History Highlights

1886 – The Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the U.S., is dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.

1919 – Congress overrides President Woodrow Wilson’s veto of the Volstead Act, paving the way for Prohibition, which remains in effect until passage of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution in 1933.

1922 – The Princeton Tigers take on the Chicago Maroons in the first nationally broadcast college football game in U.S. history. Telephone lines carry the play-by-play from Chicago’s Stagg Field to radio receivers around the country. The Tigers prevail and ultimately go 8 and 0 in the 1922 season, defeating Harvard and Yale to win the Big Three championship.

1962 – The world is pulled back from the brink of nuclear war when the Soviet Union and United States reach an agreement that ends the Cuban Missile Crisis. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agrees to remove missiles from Cuba in exchange for a U.S. promise to respect Cuba’s territorial sovereignty.

1965 – With the final stainless steel section set into place, construction is completed on the iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.

1998 – President Bill Clinton signs the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) into law to strengthen existing federal copyright protections against new threats posed by the Internet.

Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley makes his second appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” and the host presents him with a gold record for “Love Me Tender.”

1967 – Lulu is in the midst of a five-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the theme from the movie “To Sir With Love.”

1972 – Stevie Wonder releases “Talking Book,” the album that gives us the Grammy-winning “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Superstition.”

1977 – Queen’s “News of the World” is released. The sixth studio album by the British rockers contains two tracks that go on to become Billboard smashes: “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.”

1978 – The hottest song on the radio is “Hot Child in the City” by Nick Gilder.

1989 – Janet Jackson starts a four-week run at No. 1 on the album chart with “Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814,” which contains a record seven Top 5 hit singles, including “Miss You Much,” “Escapade” and “Rhythm Nation.”

2000 – “Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You),” by Christina Aguilera, is in the middle of a four-week run as a No. 1 single.

2006 – “Money Maker,” by Ludacris featuring Pharrell, kicks off two weeks on top of the pop chart.

On this Day June 23

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Celebrity Birthdays

1927 – Tony-winning director and choreographer Bob Fosse (“Cabaret”) (d. 1987)

1929 – Grammy-winning country music singer-songwriter June Carter Cash (d. 2003)

1948 – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

1956 – Grammy-winning producer and former “American Idol” judge and musician Randy Jackson

1957 – Oscar, Emmy and Tony-winning actress Frances McDormand (“Raising Arizona,” “Mississippi Burning,” “Fargo,” “Almost Famous,” “Olive Kitteridge”)

1977 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz (“The Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” “Curbside Prophet,” “You and I Both,” “I’m Yours”)

1984 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Duffy, born Aimee Anne Duffy (“Rockferry,” “Mercy”)

History Highlights

1868 – Pennsylvania native Christopher Latham Sholes receives a patent for a page-numbering machine that leads to development of the first typewriter. His machine features the QWERTY keyboard that all of us still use today on our computers, smartphones and other devices for written communication.

1956 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is elected president of Egypt.

1969 – Warren Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by retiring chief justice Earl Warren.

1972 – President Richard Nixon’s advisor, H.R. Haldeman, tells the president to put pressure on the head of the FBI to “stay the hell out of this [Watergate burglary investigation] business.” In essence, Haldeman was telling Nixon to obstruct justice, which is one of the articles for which Congress threatened to impeach Nixon in 1974.

1989 – Moviegoers are introduced to the darker side of Batman when director Tim Burton’s interpretation opens in theaters, starring Michael Keaton as the “caped crusader” and Jack Nicholson as The Joker. “Batman” earns over $400 million at the box office—enough to impress even Bruce Wayne!

1992 – Mafia boss John Gotti, who was nicknamed the “Teflon Don” after escaping unscathed from several trials during the 1980s, is sentenced to life in prison without parole after being found guilty on 14 accounts of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering.

1995 – American physician and medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk, who pioneered the first safe and effective vaccine for polio, dies of heart failure at the age of 80.

2013 – Aerialist Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to walk a high wire across the Little Colorado River Gorge near Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

2018 – Twelve members of a Thai soccer team and their coach become trapped in a flooded cave for more than two weeks until a harrowing rescue effort, covered by international media, that costs one diver his life.

Musical Milestones

1951 – “Too Young,” by Nat King Cole, begins a five-week run as the most popular single.

1962 – “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” by Ray Charles, is in the middle of a five-week domination of the singles chart.

1973 – George Harrison kicks off five weeks on top of the Billboard album chart with “Living in the Material World,” which contains his chart-topping hit, “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).”

1979 – Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” burns its way to the top of the singles chart. The song later garners Summer a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

1984 – Duran Duran kicks off two weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart with “The Reflex,” the group’s first No. 1 in the U.S.

1990 – “It Must Have Been Love,” by Roxette, is the No. 1 single.

2001 – A new interpretation of LaBelle’s 1974 smash, “Lady Marmalade,” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink, is in the middle of five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. This version was recorded for the soundtrack to the movie “Moulin Rouge!,” starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.

2007 – “Umbrella,” by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z, is in the midst of a seven-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart.