TV show host Laura Whitmore

Events in 1985 and 4-5

Events in the world in the birth year of Laura Whitmore

• Soviet leader Chernenko dies at 73 and is replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev, 54 (March 11). Under the slogans of glasnost and Perestroika, Gorbachev initiates a broad program of reform and liberalization. Background: Rulers of Russia since 1533
• Two Shi'ite Muslim gunmen capture TWA airliner with 133 aboard, 104 of them Americans (June 14); 39 remaining hostages freed in Beirut (June 30).
• PLO terrorists hijack Achille Lauro, Italian cruise ship, with 80 passengers, plus crew (Oct. 7); American, Leon Klinghoffer, killed (Oct. 8); Italian government toppled by political crisis over hijacking (Oct. 16).
• Reagan and Gorbachev meet at summit (Nov. 19); agree to step up arms control talks and renew cultural contacts (Nov. 21). Background: nuclear disarmament
• Terrorists seize Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner after takeoff from Athens (Nov. 23); 59 dead as Egyptian forces storm plane on Malta (Nov. 24).

Birthday Laura Whitmore (4-5) in history

• Day 4-5 year 1626: Dutch Governor Peter Minuit landed in Manhattan, which he later bought for $24 in cloth and brass buttons.
• Day 4-5 year 1886: The Haymarket Square riot broke out as a result of a labor demonstration.
• Day 4-5 year 1932: Public Enemy Number One, Al Capone, was jailed for tax evasion.
• Day 4-5 year 1959: The first Grammy Awards were held.
• Day 4-5 year 1961: Civil rights activists, called "freedom riders," left Washington, DC for New Orleans.
• Day 4-5 year 1970: Four Kent State University students were shot down by National Guard members during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration.
• Day 4-5 year 1998: The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, was sentenced to four life terms plus 30 years for his series of bombings that killed three and injured 23.