Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este and the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Initially he was only third in line to the throne, but after his cousin’s suicide and his father’s unexpected death due to illness, Ferdinand was made the heir to the throne. His assassination in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, precipitated Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Serbia’s allies to declare war on each other, starting World War I. Ferdinand was born on December 18, 1863 and died on June 28, 1914.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the “Lost Generation” of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby (his best known) and Tender Is the Night. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with age and despair. He was born on September 24, 1896 and died on December 21, 1940.
Jane Addams was a pioneering American social worker, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in women’s suffrage and world peace. In an era when presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent reformers of the Progressive Era. She campaigned for better social conditions and led investigations into child welfare, local public health and education. She introduced the idea of the settlement house to the United States, co-founding Hull House in 1889. In 1920, she co-founded the ACLU. In 1931, she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the U.S. Addams was born on September 6, 1860 and died on May 21, 1935.
Margaretha MacLeod, better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Frisian exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy and executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I. The idea of an exotic dancer working as a lethal double agent using her powers of seduction to extract military secrets from her many lovers made Mata Hari an enduring archetype of the femme fatale. Her life inspired multiple films, including Mata Hari (1931) starring Greta Garbo, which further popularized the Mata Hari legend. Mata Hari was born on August 7, 1876 and died on October 15, 1917.
Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921) and leader of the Progressive Movement. To date the only U.S. President to have held a Ph.D., he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910. Wilson induced a conservative Democratic Congress to pass a progressive legislative agenda, unparalleled until the New Deal in 1933. This included the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act and an income tax. Wilson’s second term was dominated by American entry into World War I. For his sponsorship of the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. Wilson has consistently been ranked by scholars and the public as one of the top 10 presidents. He was born on this day in 1856 and died on February 3, 1924.
Ernest Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His minimalist style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s. In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He was born on July 21, 1899 and committed suicide in 1961.
Vladimir Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years (1917-1924), as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a socialist economic system. He was born on April 22, 1870.
Note: Happy Earth Day on Sunday! In Soviet Russia, Earth Day celebrates you.
A British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century. Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States. He died on this day in 1965.
A Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic healer (and/or debauched religious charlatan) who influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Some people called Rasputin the “Mad Monk.” It is believed that Rasputin helped to discredit the tsarist government, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. He was born on this day in 1869.
