Rescuers reach the Donner Party, Edison patents the phonograph, the Soviet Union launches the Mir space station, and Fidel Castro resigns as Cuban president, all on this day.
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1955: Actor Jeff Daniels, best known for movies such as "The Purple Rose of Cairo," "Terms of Endearment," "Speed" and "Dumb and Dumber," and the HBO drama "The Newsroom," is born in Athens, Ga.