Today's Birthdays
Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include:
Puritan Cotton Mather in 1663;
U.S. first lady Louisa Adams in 1775;
Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States,
in 1809; biologist Charles Darwin in 1809;
labor leader John L. Lewis in 1880;
ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1881;
artist Max Beckmann in 1884;
U.S. Gen. Omar Bradley in 1893;
actor Lorne Greene in 1915;
filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli in 1923;
Baseball Hall of Fame member Joe Garagiola in 1926;
Charles Van Doren, subject of U.S. TV quiz scandals, in 1926;
Basketball Hall of Fame member Bill Russell in 1934;
actor Joe Don Baker in 1936 (age 89);
writer Judy Blume in 1938 (age 87);
actor Maud Adams in 1945 (age 80);
musician Steve Hackett (Genesis) in 1950 (age 75);
musician Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers/Steely Dan) in 1952 (age 73);
actor Joanna Kerns in 1953 (age 72);
TV personality/actor Arsenio Hall in 1956 (age 69);
actor John Michael Higgins in 1963 (age 62);
actor Lochlyn Munro in 1966 (age 59);
actor Josh Brolin in 1968 (age 57);
musician Chynna Phillips (Wilson Phillips) in 1968 (age 57);
musician Jim Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies) in 1970 (age 55);
actor Jesse Spencer in 1979 (age 46);
actor Christina Ricci in 1980 (age 45);
musician Gucci Mane in 1980 (age 45);
musician Elle Varner in 1989 (age 36);
actor Katherine Barrell in 1990 (age 35).
Twenty.
Yes, Cotton Mather, but not for the reason people think and for which most know his name. He's most famous now because of the Salem Witch Trials, but his role in those was as misstated and misunderstood at the time as it is now. Mather was a puritan theologian, and puritanism itself is so misunderstood now (note that I do not capitalize the term, because it isn't one thing) that the average American on the street would denigrate it, without knowing that they actually embrace a number of views because of the influence of puritan theologians. Things like "all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights" and the notion that men and women are equal in the eyes of God. Yes, American feminism arguably starts with puritans (and in fact was paradoxically a major factor in how the Salem nonsense started in the first place, because young women were given credence in civil proceedings they would not have had without the influence of puritanism).
None of which is meant to suggest that puritans weren't royal pains-in-the-collective-ass that very much inspired the notion that there was a need for separation of church and state.
Anyway, yeah...you could show me a portrait of Cotton Mather, and I'd be able to name him immediately.
