And a witty American journalist remarked over a century ago what is even more true today, `` Many a writer seems to think he is never profound except when he can't understand his own meaning ''.

* 1955 – Rob Epstein, American filmmaker and journalist

* 1952 – Ralph Wiley, American journalist ( d. 2004 )

* 1973 – Karenna Gore Schiff, American journalist, lawyer, and author

* 1964 – Hoda Kotb, American journalist

* 1970 – Christopher Cuomo, American journalist

* 1971 – James Kim, American journalist and technology expert ( d. 2006 )

* 1971 – Adam Housley, American journalist

* 1973 – Molly Henneberg, American journalist

* 1949 – James Fallows, American journalist

* 1953 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist

* 1954 – James Gleick, American author, journalist, and biographer

* 1900 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist ( d. 1945 )

* 1933 – Jerry Pournelle, American author and journalist

* 1951 – Randy Shilts, American journalist and author ( d. 1994 )

* 1958 – Deborah Norville, American journalist

* 1933 – Ike Pappas, American journalist ( d. 2008 )

* 1946 – Margot Adler, American journalist

* 1978 – John Buffalo Mailer, American author, playwright, actor, producer, and journalist

* Adrian Holovaty ( born 1981 ), American web developer, journalist and entrepreneur

* 1944 – Linda Ellerbee, American journalist

* 1915 – Ring Lardner, Jr., American journalist and screenwriter ( d. 2000 )

* 1951 – Harry Smith, American journalist

* 1931 – Hal Fishman, American journalist ( d. 2007 )

* 1922 – Richard Blackwell, American actor, journalist, fashion designer, and critic ( d. 2008 )

The CTCA program of activities was profuse: William Farnum and Mary Pickford on the screen, Elsie Janis and Harry Lauder on the stage, books provided by the American Library Association, full equipment for games and sports -- except that no `` bones '' were furnished for the all-time favorite pastime played on any floor and known as `` African golf ''.

Thus at the same time that William Henry Harrison was preparing to pacify the aborigines of Indiana Territory and winning fame at the battle of Tippecanoe, Anglo-Saxon settlement made a great leap into the center of the North American continent to the west of the American agricultural frontier.

The American part of the evening consisted of Paul Creston's Dance Overture, William Schuman's `` Chester '' From `` New England Triptych '' and two works of Wallingford Riegger, Dance Rhythms, Op. 58, and a Romanza For Strings, Op. 56A.

* The Atlas ( novel ), by American author William T. Vollmann

* 1909 – William M. Branham, American evangelist ( d. 1965 )

* 1874 – William B. Bankhead, American politician ( d. 1940 )

* 1939 – William Least Heat-Moon, American author

* 1911 – William Alfred Fowler, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1996 )

* 1911 – William Bernbach, American advertiser, co-founder of DDB Worldwide ( d. 1982 )

* 1770 – William Clark, American soldier, explorer, and politician ( d. 1838 )

* 1809 – William B. Travis, American lawyer and soldier ( d. 1836 )

* 1934 – William Calhoun, American wrestler ( d. 1989 )

* 1877 – William B. Ogden, American politician, 1st Mayor of Chicago ( b. 1805 )

* 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina.

* 1921 – William Asher, American director, screenwriter, and producer ( d. 2012 )

* 1981 – Ray William Johnson, American comedian

* 1812 – War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.

* 1908 – William Keepers Maxwell, Jr., American novelist ( d. 2000 )

* 1931 – William Goldman, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter

* 1919 – William P. Foster, American bandleader and educator ( d. 2010 )

* 1864 – During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.

* 1928 – F. William Free, American advertising executive ( d. 2003 )

* 1940 – William Cohen, American politician and author, 20th United States Secretary of Defense

* 1935 – William Friedkin, American director