Norman Paul Martin (died 1970)

In 1837, on June 20th, 18-year-old Queen Victoria became the Queen of the United Kingdom upon the death of her uncle William IV - who had died without legitimate heirs. She would reign for more than 63 years, the longest reign of an English monarch until Queen Elizabeth II. Thus began what would be called the "Victorian Era."

In 1865, on March 4th, President Abraham Lincoln was sworn in for a second term. A little over a month later, he would be assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer - 4 days after the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, which had effectively ended the Civil War.

In 1880, on August 26th, P. T. Barnum and James A. Bailey signed a contract in Bridgeport, CT, creating the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Twenty-seven years later, the Barnum and Bailey would merge with another circus, Ringling Brothers.

In 1947, in June, the Marshall Plan was proposed to help European nations recover economically from World War II. It passed the conservative Republican Congress in March of 1948. After World War I, the economic devastation of Germany caused by burdensome reparations payments led to the rise of Hitler. The Allies didn't want this to happen again and the Marshall Plan was devised to make sure that those conditions didn't arise again.

In 1970, in the year of Norman Paul Martin's passing, on May 4th, four students at Kent State University in Ohio were shot and killed by National Guardsmen. The students were at a peaceful demonstration protesting the invasion of Cambodia by US forces. There had been precedent for the killing of American college students. The previous year, on May 15th, Alameda County Sheriffs used shotguns against U.C. Berkeley students at a protest for People's Park. One student died, one was blinded, 128 were injured.