ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC
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Today is the 140th day of 2019 and the 62nd day of spring.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which provided Western settlers free land for farms.
In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received the U.S. patent for blue jeans.
In 1902, Cuba declared independence from the United States.
In 1969, the Battle of Hamburger Hill ended in South Vietnam.
In 2006, Nouri al-Maliki took office as prime minister of Iraq.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), author; John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), philosopher; William Fargo (1818-1881), Wells Fargo co-founder; Jimmy Stewart (1908-1997), actor; Joe Cocker (1944-2014), singer-songwriter; Cher (1946- ), singer-songwriter/actress; Ted Allen (1965- ), TV personality; Timothy Olyphant (1968- ), actor; Tony Stewart (1971- ), race car driver; Busta Rhymes (1972- ), rapper; Matt Czuchry (1977- ), actor; Rachel Platten (1981- ), singer-songwriter.
TODAY'S FACT: In 1916, the Saturday Evening Post published its first issue featuring a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage") on the cover.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer by a nose in the 114th Preakness Stakes, the horse race's closest margin.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -- John Stuart Mill
TODAY'S NUMBER: 270 million -- acres of U.S. land given away through the Homestead Act.
TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (May 18) and last quarter moon (May 26).