U.S. Pres. George Washington quashes the Whiskey Rebellion, Thor Heyerdahl's hand-made raft arrives in the South Pacific Islands, and Frances Kelsey refuses to greenlight the use of thalidomide. The birthday club includes Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and Ralph Bunche - with a reading from Flynn's "Sabotage."

The U.S. drops the first atomic bomb used in a military attack, U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law, and "www" appears for the first time. The birthday club includes Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Susie King Taylor - with a reading from John Hersey's "Hiroshima."

Freedom of the press becomes a big deal in the American colonies, and the Union levies its first income tax, and the birthday club includes Guy de Maupassant, Mary Ritter Beard, and Wendell Berry - with a reading from Maupassant's "Bel Ami."

The U.S. Fairness Doctrine is rescinded and the birthday club includes Nicolas-Jacque Conte, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Robert Hayden. This episode also includes a reading from Tina Fey's "Bossypants."

Christopher Columbus sets sail for Asia, and the birthday club includes Ernie Pyle and Leon Uris - with a reading from Pyle's "Here is Your War."

US Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt receives the letter from Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard and it is the birthday of James Baldwin - with a reading from Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time."

England abolishes slavery, Henry Perky patents shredded wheat, Harriet Quimby gets her pilot's license, and Frank Herbert's novel "Dune" is published. The birthday club includes Francis Scott Key and Herman Melville - with a reading from Melville's classic "Moby Dick."

Daniel Defoe is locked in a pillory, it is "Black Tot" Day, and the birthday club includes Ignacio Cervantes, Primo Levi, and Ahmet Ertegun - with a reading from Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe."

Explorer Samuel de Champlain unwittingly starts a nearly a century of war, Walt Disney releases his first Oscar winner, and US Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act. And the birthday club includes Maria Anna Mozart and Emily Bronte - with a reading from Bronte's "Wuthering Heights."

Physicist Augusten Fresnel publishes "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light," the world's major powers sign a treaty defining war crimes, and the birthday club includes Alexis de Tocqueville and Mary Lee Settle - with a reading from Tocqueville's landmark book, "Democracy in America."