ΕVENTS OF THIS DAY IN THE PAST 13/3

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• 624 – Battle of Badr: a key battle between Muhammad's army – the new followers of Islam and the Quraysh of Mecca. The Muslims won this battle, known as the turning point of Islam, which took place in the Hejaz region of western Arabia.
• 874 – The bones of Saint Nicephorus are interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople.
• 1138 – Cardinal Gregorio Conti is elected Antipope as Victor IV, succeeding Anacletus II.
• 1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel north of Antwerp, traditionally seen as the beginning^[1] of the Eighty Years' War.
• 1591 – Battle of Tondibi: In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi dynasty led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.
• 1639 – Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard.
• 1697 – Nojpetén, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom, fell to Spanish conquistadors, the final step in the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
• 1781 – William Herschel discovers Uranus.
• 1809 – Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden is deposed in a coup d'état.
• 1845 – Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto receives its première performance in Leipzig with Ferdinand David as soloist.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The U.S. federal government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African-American troops.
• 1881 – Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him. (Gregorian date: it was March 1 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.)
• 1884 – The Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins, ending on January 26, 1885.
• 1897 – San Diego State University is founded.
• 1900 – Second Boer War: British forces occupy Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
• 1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousts the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.
• 1921 – Mongolia is proclaimed an independent monarchy, ruled by Russian military officer Roman von Ungern-Sternberg as a dictator.
• 1930 – The news of the discovery of Pluto is telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory.
• 1933 – Great Depression: Banks in the U.S. begin to re-open after President Franklin D. Roosevelt mandates a "bank holiday".
• 1940 – The Russo-Finnish Winter War ends.
• 1943 – The Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
• 1954 – First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French to begin the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, the climactic battle in the First Indochina War.
• 1957 – Cuban student revolutionaries storm the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt on the life of President Fulgencio Batista.
• 1962 – Lyman Lemnitzer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivers a proposal, called Operation Northwoods, regarding performing terrorist attacks upon Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The proposal is scrapped and President John F. Kennedy removes Lemnitzer from his position.
• 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
• 1979 – The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts Prime Minister Eric Gairy in a nearly bloodless coup d'état in Grenada.
• 1985 – The Kenilworth Road riot takes place at an association football match at Kenilworth Road in Luton, England with disturbances before, during and after an FA Cup 6th Round tie between Luton Town F.C. and Millwall F.C..
• 1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the longest undersea tunnel in the world, opens between Aomori and Hakodate, Japan.
• 1991 – The United States Department of Justice announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
• 1992 – The Mw 6.7 Erzincan earthquake strikes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). At least 498 were killed in this strike-slip event on the North Anatolian Fault.
• 1996 – Dunblane school massacre: in Dunblane, Scotland, 16 primary school children and one teacher are shot dead by spree killer Thomas Watt Hamilton who then committed suicide.
• 1997 – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
• 1997 – The Phoenix Lights are seen over Phoenix, Arizona by hundreds of people, and by millions on television.
• 2003 – The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints have been found in Italy.
• 2008 – Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.
• 2012 – At least 28 people are killed in a bus crash in a motorway tunnel near the town of Sierre in the Swiss canton of Valais.
• 2013 – Pope Francis is elected, in the papal conclave, as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church.
• 2016 – An explosion occurs in central Ankara, Turkey, with at least 37 people killed and 127 wounded.
• 2016 – Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing at least 18 people and injuring 33 others.

Births[edit]

• 1372 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1407)
• 1479 – Lazarus Spengler, German hymnwriter (d. 1534)
• 1593 – Georges de La Tour, French painter (d. 1652)
• 1615 – Pope Innocent XII (d. 1700)
• 1648 – Anne Henriette of Bavaria (d. 1723)
• 1683 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-English philosopher and translator (d. 1744)
• 1700 – Michel Blavet, French flute player and composer (d. 1768)
• 1719 – John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (d. 1797)
• 1720 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss historian and author (d. 1793)
• 1741 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1790)
• 1753 – Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1821)
• 1763 – Guillaume Brune, French general and diplomat (d. 1815)
• 1764 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1845)
• 1770 – Daniel Lambert, English animal breeder (d. 1809)
• 1781 – Karl Friedrich Schinkel, German painter and architect, designed the Konzerthaus Berlin (d. 1841)
• 1798 – Abigail Fillmore, American wife of Millard Fillmore, 14th First Lady of the United States (d. 1853)
• 1800 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, 212th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1858)
• 1815 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician, linguist, and missionary (d. 1911)
• 1825 – Hans Gude, Norwegian-German painter and academic (d. 1903)
• 1855 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1916)
• 1857 – B. H. Roberts, English-American historian and politician (d. 1933)
• 1860 – Hugo Wolf, Slovene-Austrian composer (d. 1903)
• 1864 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian-German painter (d. 1941)
• 1870 – Henri Étiévant, French actor and director (d. 1953)
• 1870 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (d. 1938)
• 1874 – Ellery Harding Clark, American jumper, coach, and lawyer (d. 1949)
• 1883 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1926)
• 1884 – Hugh Walpole, New Zealand-English author and educator (d. 1941)
• 1886 – Home Run Baker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1963)
• 1886 – Albert William Stevens, American captain and photographer (d. 1949)
• 1888 – Paul Morand, French author and diplomat (d. 1976)
• 1889 – Jüri Vilms, Estonian lawyer and politician (d. 1918)
• 1890 – Fritz Busch, German conductor and director (d. 1951)
• 1892 – Janet Flanner, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
• 1897 – Yeghishe Charents, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1937)
• 1898 – Henry Hathaway, American director and producer (d. 1985)
• 1899 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 1981)
• 1899 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
• 1899 – Jan Lechoń, Polish poet and critic (d. 1956)
• 1899 – Pancho Vladigerov, Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 1978)
• 1900 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
• 1902 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter (d. 1991)
• 1902 – Hans Bellmer, German-French painter and sculptor (d. 1975)
• 1904 – Clifford Roach, Trinidadian cricketer and footballer (d. 1988)
• 1906 – Evald Tipner, Estonian footballer and ice hockey player (d. 1947)
• 1908 – Walter Annenberg, American publisher, philanthropist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
• 1908 – Myrtle Bachelder, American chemist and Women's Army Corps officer (d. 1997)
• 1910 – Sammy Kaye, American saxophonist, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1987)
• 1910 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (d. 1973)
• 1911 – L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (d. 1986)
• 1911 – Dorothy Tangney, Australian politician (d. 1985)
• 1913 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1987)
• 1913 – Joe Kelly, Irish-English race car driver and businessman (d. 1993)
• 1913 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian author and playwright (d. 2009)
• 1914 – W. O. Mitchell, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1998)
• 1914 – Edward O'Hare, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
• 1916 – Lindy Boggs, American educator and politician, 5th United States Ambassador to the Holy See (d. 2013)
• 1916 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic
• 1918 – Grigory Pomerants, Russian philosopher and author (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (d. 2015)
• 1921 – Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
• 1923 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek general (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Roy Haynes, American drummer and composer
• 1926 – Carlos Roberto Reina, Honduran lawyer and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Robert Denning, American interior designer and art collector (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Ellen Raskin, American author and illustrator (d. 1984)
• 1929 – Zbigniew Messner, Polish economist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (d. 2014)
• 1930 – Blue Mitchell, American trumpet player (d. 1979)
• 1932 – Jan Howard, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1933 – Mahdi Elmandjra, Moroccan economist and sociologist (d. 2014)
• 1933 – Mike Stoller, American songwriter and producer
• 1933 – Gero von Wilpert, German author and academic (d. 2009)
• 1934 – Barry Hughart, American author and screenwriter
• 1935 – David Nobbs, English author and screenwriter (d. 2015)
• 1936 – José Mojica Marins, Brazilian actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1938 – Erma Franklin, American gospel and R&B singer (d. 2002)
• 1938 – Robert Gammage, American captain and politician (d. 2012)
• 1938 – Tochinoumi Teruyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 49th Yokozuna
• 1939 – Marion Foale, English fashion designer
• 1939 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1941 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author (d. 2008)
• 1941 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (d. 2001)
• 1942 – Dave Cutler, American computer scientist and engineer
• 1942 – Scatman John, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1999)
• 1944 – Terence Burns, Baron Burns, English economist and academic
• 1945 – Anatoly Fomenko, Russian mathematician and academic
• 1946 – Yonatan Netanyahu, American-Israeli colonel (d. 1976)
• 1947 – Lesley Collier, English ballerina and educator
• 1947 – Beat Richner, Swiss pediatrician and cellist
• 1949 – Sian Elias, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 12th Chief Justice of New Zealand
• 1949 – Julia Migenes, American soprano and actress
• 1950 – Joe Bugner, Hungarian-English boxer and actor
• 1950 – Bernard Julien, Trinidadian cricketer
• 1950 – Danny Kirwan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Fleetwood Mac)
• 1950 – Charles Krauthammer, American physician, journalist, and author
• 1950 – William H. Macy, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1951 – Charo, Spanish-American singer, guitarist, and actress
• 1952 – Wolfgang Rihm, German composer and educator
• 1952 – Tim Sebastian, English journalist and author
• 1953 – Andy Bean, American golfer
• 1953 – Nicola Davies, Welsh lawyer and judge
• 1954 – Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, Guyanese-English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for International Development
• 1954 – Robin Duke, Canadian actress and screenwriter
• 1955 – Bruno Conti, Italian footballer and manager
• 1955 – Glenne Headly, American actress
• 1955 – Olga Rukavishnikova, Russian pentathlete
• 1956 – Dana Delany, American actress and producer
• 1956 – Jamie Dimon, American banker and businessman
• 1956 – Jonathan Rutherford, English political scientist and academic
• 1957 – John Hoeven, American banker and politician, 31st Governor of North Dakota
• 1957 – Moses Hogan, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
• 1958 – Rick Lazio, American lawyer and politician
• 1958 – Caryl Phillips, Caribbean-English author and playwright
• 1959 – Kathy Hilton, American actress and fashion designer
• 1959 – Dirk Wellham, Australian cricketer
• 1960 – Yurii Andrukhovych, Ukrainian poet and author
• 1960 – Adam Clayton, English-born Irish musician and songwriter
• 1960 – Joe Ranft, American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor (d. 2005)
• 1962 – Terence Blanchard, American trumpet player and composer
• 1962 – Seyhan Erözçelik, Turkish poet and author (d. 2011)
• 1963 – Vance Johnson, American football player
• 1963 – Fito Páez, Argentinian singer-songwriter, pianist, and director
• 1964 – Will Clark, American baseball player
• 1964 – Craig Dimond, Australian rugby league player
• 1964 – Trevor Gillmeister, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1966 – Chico Science, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
• 1967 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (d. 1994)
• 1967 – Pieter Vink, Dutch footballer and referee
• 1970 – Tim Story, American director and producer
• 1971 – Annabeth Gish, American actress
• 1972 – Common, American rapper and actor
• 1972 – Khujo, American rapper
• 1972 – Augenijus Vaškys, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
• 1973 – Edgar Davids, Surinamese-Dutch footballer and manager
• 1973 – David Draiman, American hard rock singer and songwriter (Disturbed)
• 1973 – Bobby Jackson, American basketball player and coach
• 1974 – James Brinkley, Scottish cricketer
• 1974 – Thomas Enqvist, Swedish tennis player and sportscaster
• 1975 – Chris Ashworth, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1975 – Glenn Lewis, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1976 – James Dewees, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
• 1976 – Troy Hudson, American basketball player and rapper
• 1976 – Danny Masterson, American actor and producer
• 1977 – Mohammed Sylla, Guinean footballer
• 1977 – Kay Tse, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
• 1978 – Tom Danielson, American cyclist
• 1978 – Kenny Watson, American football player
• 1979 – Johan Santana, Venezuelan-American baseball player
• 1979 – Cédric Van Branteghem, Belgian sprinter
• 1980 – Caron Butler, American basketball player
• 1980 – Flavia Cacace, Italian-English dancer
• 1980 – Brad Watts, Australian rugby league player
• 1982 – Jeremy Curl, Japanese-English explorer, author, and photographer
• 1982 – Nicole Ohlde, American basketball player
• 1982 – Adam Thomson, New Zealand rugby player
• 1983 – George Rose, Australian rugby league player
• 1983 – Kaitlin Sandeno, American swimmer
• 1983 – Erkan Veyseloğlu, Turkish basketball player
• 1985 – Alcides Araújo Alves, Brazilian footballer
• 1985 – Emile Hirsch, American actor
• 1985 – Ben Lowe, Australian rugby league player
• 1986 – Neil Wagner, South African-New Zealand cricketer
• 1987 – Marco Andretti, American race car driver
• 1987 – Andreas Beck, German footballer
• 1988 – Furdjel Narsingh, Dutch footballer
• 1989 – Holger Badstuber, German footballer
• 1989 – Marko Marin, German footballer
• 1992 – Kaya Scodelario, English actress
• 1994 – Gerard Deulofeu, Spanish footballer

Deaths[edit]

• 601 – Leander of Seville, Spanish bishop and saint (b. 534)
• 731 – Gerald of Mayo, Anglo-Saxon abbot
• 1164 – Fujiwara no Tadamichi, Japanese regent (b. 1097)
• 1202 – Mieszko III the Old, king of Poland (b. c. 1121)
• 1271 – Henry of Almain (b. 1235)
• 1332 – Theodore Metochita, Byzantine Empire statesman and author (b. 1270)
• 1395 – John Barbour, Scottish priest and poet (b. 1320)
• 1447 – Shahrukh Mirza, Persian ruler (b. 1377)
• 1490 – Charles I, Duke of Savoy (b. 1468)
• 1516 – Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (b. 1456)
• 1569 – Louis, Prince of Condé (b. 1530)
• 1573 – Michel de l'Hôpital, French politician (b. 1507)
• 1604 – Arnaud d'Ossat, French cardinal and diplomat (b. 1537)
• 1619 – Richard Burbage, English actor (b. 1567)
• 1711 – Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet and critic (b. 1636)
• 1719 – Johann Friedrich Böttger, German chemist and potter (b. 1682)
• 1767 – Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France (b. 1731)
• 1773 – Philibert Commerson, French historian and explorer (b. 1727)
• 1800 – Nana Fadnavis, Indian minister and politician (b. 1742)
• 1808 – Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1749)
• 1833 – William Bradley, English lieutenant and cartographer (b. 1757)
• 1842 – Henry Shrapnel, English general (b. 1761)
• 1854 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (b. 1773)
• 1873 – David Swinson Maynard, American physician, lawyer, and businessman (b. 1808)
• 1879 – Adolf Anderssen, German mathematician and chess player (b. 1818)
• 1881 – Alexander II of Russia (b. 1818)
• 1884 – Leland Stanford, Jr., American son of Leland Stanford (b. 1868)
• 1889 – Felice Varesi, French-born Italian baritone (b. 1813)
• 1901 – Benjamin Harrison, American general and politician, 23rd President of the United States (b. 1833)
• 1906 – Susan B. Anthony, American activist (b. 1820)
• 1911 – John J. Toffey, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1844)
• 1912 – Eugène-Étienne Taché, Canadian engineer and architect, designed the Parliament Building (b. 1836)
• 1912 – Hugo Treffner, German educator, founded the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium (b. 1845)
• 1914 – Hakeem Noor-ud-Din, Pakistani physician and scholar (b. 1841)
• 1918 – César Cui, Russian composer and critic (b. 1835)
• 1921 – Jenny Twitchell Kempton, American opera singer and educator (b. 1835)
• 1936 – Francis Bell, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1851)
• 1938 – Cevat Çobanlı, Turkish general (b. 1870)
• 1938 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer and author (b. 1857)
• 1941 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts, American poet and author (b. 1881)
• 1943 – Stephen Vincent Benét, American poet, short story writer, and novelist (b. 1898)
• 1965 – Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist and statistician (b. 1884)
• 1965 – Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (b. 1891)
• 1965 – Fan S. Noli, Albanian-American bishop and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1882)
• 1971 – Rockwell Kent, American painter and illustrator (b. 1882)
• 1972 – Tony Ray-Jones, English photographer (b. 1941)
• 1975 – Ivo Andrić, Yugoslav novelist, poet, and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
• 1983 – Louison Bobet, French cyclist (b. 1925)
• 1983 – Paul Citroen, German-Dutch illustrator and educator (b. 1896)
• 1989 – Fahrettin Özdilek, Turkish general and politician, Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1898)
• 1990 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychologist and author (b. 1903)
• 1990 – Karl Münchinger, German conductor and composer (b. 1915)
• 1995 – Leon Day, American baseball player (b. 1916)
• 1995 – Odette Hallowes, French nurse and spy (b. 1912)
• 1996 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish director and screenwriter (b. 1941)
• 1998 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
• 1998 – Hans von Ohain, German-American physicist and engineer (b. 1911)
• 1999 – Lee Falk, American cartoonist, director, and producer (b. 1911)
• 1999 – Garson Kanin, American director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Anton Raadik, Estonian-American boxer (b. 1917)
• 1999 – Bidu Sayão, Brazilian-American soprano (b. 1902)
• 2001 – John A. Alonzo, American actor and cinematographer (b. 1934)
• 2001 – Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian and educator (b. 1895)
• 2001 – Henry Lee Lucas, American serial killer (b. 1936)
• 2002 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (b. 1900)
• 2004 – Vilayat Khan, Indian sitar player and composer (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal (b. 1905)
• 2006 – Robert C. Baker, American chef and educator, invented the chicken nugget (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (b. 1944)
• 2006 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Elizabeth Gilels, Russian violinist (b. 1919)
• 2009 – Betsy Blair, American actress (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Alan W. Livingston, American businessman (b. 1917)
• 2010 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
• 2011 – Rick Martin, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1951)
• 2012 – Michael P. Barnett, English chemist and computer scientist (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Richard Davey, Australian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Cartha DeLoach, American FBI agent and author (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Ducky Detweiler, American baseball player and manager (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Perween Rahman, Bangladeshi-Pakistani activist (b. 1957)
• 2013 – Malachi Throne, American actor (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Reubin Askew, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of Florida (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American businessman (b. 1926)
• 2014 – Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, Irish businessman and politician (b. 1944)
• 2014 – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Icchokas Meras, Lithuanian-Israeli author and screenwriter (b. 1934)
• 2015 – Irwin Hasen, American cartoonist (b. 1918)
• 2015 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (b. 1924)
• 2016 – Hilary Putnam, American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist (b. 1926)
• 2016 – Martin Olav Sabo, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)