Notable Birthdays for November 14
Robert Fulton (1765-1815) - Engineer and developer of the first successful commercial steamboat.
Jacob Abbott (1803-1879) - Children's author who was known for implementing teaching into his stories.
James B. McPherson (1828-1864) - General for the Union Army.
Madeleine Lemoyne Ellicott (1856-1945) - Activist and founder of the League of Women Voters of Maryland.
Addie Viola Smith (1893-1975) - The first woman to serve as an Assistant Trade Commissioner (Shanghai).
Walter Jackson Freeman II (1895-1972) - Physician and psychiatrist who specialized in lobotomies.
Harold Haley (1904-1970) - Judge who was killed trying to escape a hostage situation during a trial.
Louise Brooks (1906-1985) - Silent film actress who is credited with making the bob popular.
William Steig (1907-2003) - Author and illustrator best known for Shrek!
Mabel Fairbanks (1915-2001) - Half Black and Native American figure skater who helped pave the way minorities to compete in figure skating.
Martha Tilton (1915-2006) - Singer known for the duet And the Angels Sing with Benny Goodman.
Sherwood Schwartz (1916-2011) - Creator of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch.
Stirling Colgate (1925-2013) - Nuclear physicist.
McLean Stevenson (1927-1996) - Actor remembered for his role as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake in M*A*S*H.
Jimmy Piersall (1929-2017) - LMB player who openly battled bipolar disorder.
Manon Cleary (1942-2011) - Painter that specialized in realistic paintings that looked like photographs.
Peter Norton (1943-Still Living) - Programmer who created Norton products.
Buckwheat Zydeco (1947-2016) - Acclaimed accordion player who was able to break barriers for mainstream accordion music.
James Young (1949-Still Living) - Guitarist for the rock band Styx.
Stephen Bishop (1951-Still Living) - Singer of On and On and Save It for a Rainy Day.
Condoleezza Rice (1954-Still Living) - Political scientist and academic.
Laura San Giacomo (1962-Still Living) - Actress known for her characters as Kit De Luca in the film Pretty Woman and Maya Gallo on the sitcom Just Shoot Me!
Brian Yale (1968-Still Living) - Guitarist for Matchbox Twenty.
Josh Duhamel (1972-Still Living) - North Dakota actor and model.
Adam Walsh (1974-1981) - Child whose kidnap and murder led to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.
Travis Barker (1975-Still Living) - Drummer for the band Blink-182.
Memorable Events for November 14
1732 - Louis Timothee is hired as the first professional librarian in the U.S.
1792 - Captain George Vancouver becomes the first Englishman to enter San Francisco Bay.
1832 - The first horse-drawn streetcar debuts in NY City for 12 cents a ride.
1851 - Herman Melville publishes Moby-Dick.
1881 - Charles Guiteau is put on trial for the assassination of President Garfield.
1888 - A 6 hole golf course opens in Yonkers NY.
1896 - The Niagara Falls power plant begins operation.
1906 - President Roosevelt visits Panama for the first time.
1910 - Aviator Eugene Ely successfully performs the first takeoff from a ship in VA off the USS Birmingham.
1957 - High-level Mafia figures are arrested while trying to flee a meeting in upstate NY.
1957 - Hank Aaron wins baseball National League MVP.
1960 - Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white elementary school in LA.
1965 - The first major engagement happens between regular American and North Vietnamese forces. As a result, the U.S. government sends 90,000 soldiers to Vietnam.
1967 - Theodore Maiman receives his patent for the first laser system.
1968 - National Turn in Your Draft Card Day features draft card burning.
1971 – NASA's Mariner 9 enters orbit around Mars.
1979 - President Carter issues and executive order freezing all Iranian assets.
1995 - The federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums because of a budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans.
2002 - The U.S. House of Representatives vote not to create an independent commission to investigate the September 11 attacks.