Happy birthday, Queen Mary II

It is the birthday of Queen Mary II (1662), who reluctantly married her first cousin, William III and II, and jointly ruled England, Scotland, and Ireland with him from 1689 until her death. Theirs was an arranged marriage designed to solidify an alliance with Holland, and Mary wept at her wedding. Mary’s father was King James II of England and Ireland and King James VII of Scotland. He was deposed and exiled to France, and William and Mary became joint monarchs, an arrangement that satisfied prevailing attitudes because William and Mary were Protestants and her father was Catholic, not a popular thing to be in England at the time. Mary grew to be devoted to her husband and didn’t really want to run things in the realm. When her husband was out of town waging wars in various countries, though, Mary proved to be a capable leader. In 1693, Mary endowed the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Happy birthday, William Randolph Hearst

It is the birthday of publisher William Randolph Hearst (1863), whose newspapers’ sensationalized stories pushed public opinion to a frenzy that led to the Spanish-American War. He built the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world. Hearst served two terms as congressman from New York but could never get elected mayor of New York City or governor of New York. His famous mansion, Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California, is now a museum. Orson Welles used Hearst’s life as a basis for his title character in the movie Citizen Kane (1941). Hearst tried unsuccessfully to stop release of the movie but he did succeed in limiting its run, hurting ticket sales and Welles’ career.

Happy birthday, author Harper Lee

President George W. Bush presented Harper Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.

It is the birthday of novelist Harper Lee (1926), whose novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) won the Pulitzer Prize. It is considered a modern classic in American literature, and is her only published book. The book deals with racial prejudice in a small Southern town and is told through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl, Scout Finch. It is based on Lee's childhood in Monroeville, Alabama (where she still lives), and includes the themes of loss of innocence, gender roles, compassion, class and courage.

Happy birthday, Emperor Marcus Aurelius

It is the birthday of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 AD), who is remembered as the philosopher king. His personal writing he called To Myself became a celebrated 12-book philosophy series, Meditations, that recorded his ideas on Stoic philosophy, a school of thought that held that the truly wise were unaffected by emotion, thus avoiding the errors in judgement that might be caused by such external factors. Aurelius also addressed his ideas on duty and a government of service. His work has been highly regarded by such leaders as Frederick the Great and Bill Clinton. Scholars believe Aurelius wrote most of his work during ten years beginning in 170 AD while he was planning military campaigns.