Famous People Born in 1918 Part I - Politics and Music

Getting perspective is always good.  Looking back 100 years helps do that.  So as 2018 begins, let's look at who was born 100 years ago.  And remember the babies you see this year may be on a list like this in 2118.  Treat them well.

Also, consider that if they lived in the same neighborhood, these folks would have been classmates at school.  We don't always recognize famous folks who were cohorts.  I'm grouping them by areas they gained fame and in order of their deaths.  These are just a few of the 1918 birth group who did noteworthy (a non-judgmental term) things.  I'll do one or two more posts with other categories.

Politics/Government

Two African leaders and Nobel Peace Prize winners, but overall a sketchy group.  One assassinated and two others executed.

	Died	Comment
Julius Rosenberg	1953	Death Penalty Convicted Spy
Anwar el-Sadat	1981	President of Egypt, Nobel Peace Prize, Assassinated
Nicolae Ceausecu	1989	Romanian Communist leader, Executed after fall of Soviet Union
Spiro Agnew	1996	Disgraced Vice President under Nixon, forced to resign
Kurt Waldheim	2007	President of Austria, UN Gen Sec.  Nazi past exposed late in his life.
Howard Hunt	2007	Nixon WH plumber, organized dirty tricks for Nixon
Betty Ford	201l	First Lady, Gerald Ford, Betty Ford Foundation Addiction Help
Nelson Mandela	2013	Political prisoner then President of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize,

[UPDATE Jan 2, 2018:  AKBright reminded me in a comment below that Anchorage's Ruth Sheridan was born in 1918.  She's still visible around town and still fighting for justice.  Somewhere I must have a picture of her, but not sure where.]

Music

Some great ones in this group.

	Died	Comments
Professor Longhair	1980	"rattled the keys with a mélange of boogie-woogie, New Orleans parade beats and Caribbean rhythm."
Leonard Bernstein	1990	West Side Story and so much more
Pearl Bailey	1990	Singer extraordinaire
Brigit Nilsson	2005	Swedish soprano opera great
Marian McPartland	2013	Jazz pianist, NPR piano jazz host
Alan Jay Learner	2014	Lyricist for My Fair Lady and other musicals

Part 2 is coming.

For a longer list, see this page at Biography.

When I first did a post like this back in 2007, I had to work hard to pull names together.  Now there are lots of sites that do this, so I don't think my efforts here need to be as extensive as the original ones.