South Carolina is the first to secede from the Union, Captain America appears for the first time, and the film "It's a Wonderful Life" premiers - with a reading from Eugene Debs' statement to the court when he was convicted of sedition.

Thomas Paine publishes his first pamphlet "The American Crisis" in support of independence for colonists. Happy birthdays to Carter Woodson and Edith Piaf - with a reading from Woodson's "The Mis-Education of the Negro."

"The Nutcracker" premiers in Russia and happy birthdays to Saki and Joel Hirschhorn - with a reading from Saki's "The Chronicles of Clovis."

"Vogue" publishes its first issue and happy birthdays to Ford Madox Ford and William Safire - with a reading from Ford's "The Good Soldier."

Happy birthday to Jane Austen - with a reading from her masterpiece "Pride and Prejudice."

Italo Marchiony gets the patent for an ice cream cone maker, the film "Gone With the Wind" premiers, and psychiatrists declare that homosexuality is not a disorder, and the Downing Street Declaration makes it possible for Irish self-governance - with a reading from Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment."

The first trans-Pacific cables were run from California to Hawaii and UNESCO adopts the Convention against Discrimination in Education. Happy birthdays to Anne Conway and Shirley Jackson - with a reading from Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist."

I can't tell you how many times I've answered calls and people asked if I was real or a machine. So, I just wanted to clarify that I'm real. Really.

The atrocities of Nanjing begin and the birthday club includes Jean Gerson and Taylor Swift - with a reading from Jane Austen's "Persuasion."

The Paris Agreement on climate change and happy birthday to Gustave Flaubert - with a reading from his "Madame Bovary."