Notable Birthdays for December 18
Alfred Elzey Jones (1816-1871) - Major General for the Confederate Army,
Charles Griffin (1825-1867) - Major General for the Union Army.
Lyman Abbott (1835-1922) - Theologian.
Foxhall P. Keene (1867-1941) - Polo player and thoroughbred horse breeder.
Ty Cobb (1886-1961) - MLB player who was nicknamed the Georgia Peach.
Robert Moses (1888-1981) -Parks official involved in overseeing the rebuilding of the Long Island and NYC parks and roads.
Edwin Howard Armstrong (1890-1954) - Inventor of the FM radio.
Bill Holland (1907-1984) - Race car driver.
Esther Lederberg (1922-2006) - Microbiologist who discovered the bacterial virus lambda phage.
Gene Shue (1931-2022) - NBA player who is credited with inventing the spin move.
Steven Spielberg (1946-Still Living) - Founder of DreamWorks.
Judy Heumann (1947-2023) - Disability rights activist,
Radia Perlman (1951-Still Living) - Computer programmer who invented the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).
Elliot Easton (1953-Still Living) - Guitarist and lead singer of the Cars.
Ray Liotta (1954-2022) - Actor remembered for his roles in Goodfellas and Field of Dreams. Cop Land), born in Newark, New Jersey
Ron White (1956-Still Living) - Comedian nicknamed Tater Salad.
Brad Pitt (1963-Still Living) - Actor in films like A River Runs Through It and the Ocean's 11 series.
Katie Holmes (1978-Still Living) - Actress who rose to fame after her starring role in Dawson's Creek.
Christina Aguilera (1980-Still Living) - Pop singer.
Memorable Events for December 18
1719 - Thomas Fleet publishes Mother Goose's Melodies For Children.
1777 - The U.S. celebrates its first Thanksgiving.
1787 - N.J. becomes the 3rd state to join the Union.
1796 - The Baltimore Monitor becomes the first newspaper to appear on a Sunday.
1839 - The first portrait photograph of a female face is taken by John William Draper.
1865 - Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the 13th Amendment.
1888 - The ancient Anasazi ruins of Mesa Verde are discovered.
1917 - Prohibition is passed by Congress.
1936 - The first giant panda arrives in the U.S. from China.
1957 - The world's first full scale nuclear power plant begins to generate electricity.
1972 - President Nixon announces the U.S. will engage in a series of Christmas bombings.