Gregor D Macgregor (1921 - 2005)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Gregor's lifetime.

In 1921, in the year that Gregor D Macgregor was born, in May, the Emergency Quota Act - or Emergency Immigration Act - was passed. The law restricted the number of immigrants to 357,000 per year. It also established an immigration quota in which only 3 per cent of the total population of any ethnic group already in the USA in 1910, could be admitted to America after 1921. Although the Act was supposed to be temporary, it stayed in effect until 1965.

In 1940, when he was 19 years old, on September 16th, the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, was enacted - the first peacetime draft in U.S. history. Men between 21 and 36 were required to register with their draft boards. When World War II began, men between 18 and 45 were subject to service and men up to 65 were required to register.

In 1974, by the time he was 53 years old, on February 5th, Patty Hearst, age 19 - granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst and daughter of publisher of the San Francisco Examiner Randolph Hearst - was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a left wing terrorist group. She was found, alive, 19 months later.

In 1989, he was 68 years old when on March 24th, the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker, struck a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and oil began spilling out of the hold. The oil would eventually contaminate more than a thousand miles of coastline. It is estimated that over 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Sound - killing 100,000 to 250,000 seabirds, over 2,800 sea otters, about 12 river otters, 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles, and 22 orcas - as well as an unknown number of salmon and herring.

In 1991, when he was 70 years old, on November 7th, legendary basketball player Magic Johnson announced that he had HIV. In 1991, the public was confused about the difference between HIV and AIDS (HIV is a virus that can lead to AIDS) and there was little treatment for either. Most thought that Johnson would die within a year or so. Also, the transmission of AIDS wasn't understood so he had to retire from basketball. Magic Johnson is still alive and well.