On this day in...

On this day in...
1907 – Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory become Oklahoma and are admitted as the 46th U.S. state.
1914 – The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens.
1938 – LSD is first synthesized by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland.
1940 – Holocaust: In occupied Poland, the Nazis close off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world.
1973 – Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.
1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
1988 – In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Births
42 BC – Tiberius, Roman emperor (d. 37)
1908 – Burgess Meredith, American actor (d. 1997)
1946 – Jo Jo White, American basketball player
1964 – Dwight Gooden, American baseball player
1977 – Oksana Baiul, Ukrainian figure skater
1977 – Maggie Gyllenhaal, American actress
1981 – Osi Umenyiora, English-born NFL football player
1982 – Amar'e Stoudemire, American basketball player

Great day for athletes with interesting and exotic names but I'd be remice if I didn't focus on the birthday boy with the most clout, Burgess Meredith. Aside from great film roles as the original Penquin from Batman and the oldest man from 'Grump Old Men,' he was of course Mickey from 'Rocky.'