On July 4th, 1826, the 5oth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams, former president of the United States of America and one of the original signers of the Declaration, lay dying at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts. As he took his last breaths, his thoughts turned to the past, and to the only other signer of the Declaration of Independence to have served as president, his one-time colleague and sometime bitter rival, Thomas Jefferson. As his family members and friends looked on, Adams uttered what were to be his final words: "Jefferson survives."
THOMAS JEFFERSON
JOHN ADAMS
Actually, Thomas Jefferson had died at his home in Monticello, Virginia several hours earlier. Still, the fact that both men, both of whom had been instrumental in the creation of the Declaration of Independence and in the formation of the government of the United States, died on the very day on which Americans celebrate their independence, is almost too coincidental to be...well, a coincidence. Not that they planned it that way, of course. Both men were old. John Adams was 91. Thomas Jefferson was 83. Although both expired of "unspecified causes", it can be assumed that their respective ages had something to do with it. Why, then? How was it that two former U.S. presidents, both signers of the Declaration of Independance, just happened to expire on the Fourth of July?
We'll never know, of course. At least not while still in this world. But we can still ponder the fact that Adams and Jefferson weren't the only famous Americans to have a special association with the date of America's most indigenous holiday. Another president, James Monroe, died on the Fourth of July as well, six years after Adams and Jefferson. And Calvin Coolidge ("Silent Cal" to voters), the 30th president of the United States, was born on July 4th, 1872, although he died on January 5, 1932. And then there's Stephen Foster, the quintessential American composer, whose iconic songs include "Old Folks At Home" and "Jeannie With The Light Brown Hair", who was born on the magical date the same year that Jefferson and Adams died on it. And we can't forget (or at least we shouldn't) Nathanial Hawthorne, author of "Anne of Green Gables", Louis B. Mayer, founder of MGM, and Abigail van Buren and her twin sister, Ann Landers, who are still considered this country's most famous advice columnists, although Ann Landers (Esther Lederer) died in 2002, and Abigail van Buren (Pauline Phillips) retired that same year following the onset of Alzhiemer's Disease...all of whom were born on the Fourth of July.
ABIGAL VAN BUREN AND TWIN SISTER ANN LANDERS
All of which leads us to yet another famous American who, although not actually born on July 4th. claimed to have been in the song which made him one of the most well-known performers of the 1930s and 40s, namely George M. Cohan. Known during his heyday as "the man who owned Broadway", Cohan hit the stageboards running, as a member of an Irish-American family act called "The Four Cohans", and managed to parlay that early success into a career that peaked with a 1942 film biopic in which he was portrayed by James Cagney, whose performance in the movie garnered him an Academy Award for Best Actor. Although his birth certificate states that he was born on July 3, 1878, Cohan and his family always insisted that the date was wrong and that he was actually born on July 4. To drive the point home, Cohan included the lyrics "born on the fourth of July" in his signature song "
Yankee Doodle Dandy", which, of course, was also the name of the movie for which Jimmy Cagney won his Oscar. What's the truth? We'll never know. But at least we'll always have the song.
GEORGE M. COHAN
Oh...and Tom Cruise? The guy who starred in the 1989 movie "Born On The Fourth of July" and whose affiliation with the Church of Scientology is supposedly the reason that Katie Holmes, his wife of five years, is now divorcing him? He was born on July 3, 1962...for real.
TOM CRUISE
Enjoy your Fourth.
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