Died On This Date

July 23

Grant, Ulysses (Hiram Ulysses) S
b. April 27, 1822 d. July 23, 1885
18th United States President, Civil War Union Lieutenant General. He was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio. His birth name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. At seventeen, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduation, his first assignment was service in a border war with Mexico. After eleven years he resigned his commission and persued a number of failed civilian endeavors.

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon 'Eddie'
b. October 8, 1890 d. July 23, 1973
World War I Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient, Distinguished Service Cross Recipient, Fighter Ace, Aviator, Race Car Driver, America's 'Ace of Aces' during World War I. The son of Swiss immigrants, he first gained fame driving race cars. He raced 4 time in the Indianapolis 500 with his best finish being 10th in 1914. He enlisted in the Army in 1917 when the United States declared war on Germany.

Clift, Montgomery
b. October 17, 1920 d. July 23, 1966
Actor. He is best remembered for his role as ‘Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt’ in the motion picture "From Here to Eternity" (1953). He represented the new wave of post-World War II actors who were handsome, intelligent, soft-spoken, introspective, and acted with intensity. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta, to a banking family, his mother, Ethel, had been born out of wedlock, and she determined that the children would grow up knowing their true southern aristocratic heritage.

Griffith, D.W. (David Wark)
b. January 22, 1875 d. July 23, 1948
Motion Picture Director. Called by many as “The Father of the Motion Picture”, he was the first to recognize the new medium's potential, and invented many of the common film techniques used today, such as the Flashback, the Iris shot, the mask, and Crosscutting. He is best remembered for his epic "Birth of a Nation" (1915), considered by most his best work, despite its racist message. Born in rural Kentucky to Jacob Griffith, a Confederate Army Colonel and Civil War hero. Cause of death: Cerebral hemorrhage.