In 1789, President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Va., for New York for his inauguration.
In 1862, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law.
In 1879, Saint Bernadette, who had described seeing visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, died in Nevers, France.
In 1889, comedian and movie director Charles Chaplin, the creator of such film classics as "The Tramp," "The Gold Rush," "City Lights" and "Modern Times," was bon in London.
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Actor-director-author Peter Ustinov (1921)
Composer Henry Mancini (1924)
Actress-singer Edie Adams (1929)
Singer Bobby Vinton (1935)
Basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1947)
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"In the creation of comedy, it is paradoxical that tragey stimulates the spirit of ridicule, because ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of defiance: we must laugh in the face of our helplessness against the forces of nature - or go insane."