On this date in history…

(2008) English playwright Harold Pinter, who achieved international renown—and was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature—as one of the most complex and challenging post-World War II dramatists, died at age 78. (1997) Japanese actor Mifune Toshirō, known internationally for his energetic, flamboyant portrayals of samurai characters, especially in films directed by Kurosawa Akira, died near Tokyo. (1973) American writer Stephenie Meyer—author of the popular Twilight Saga, a series of vampire-themed novels for teenagers—was born. (1943) General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War II. (1905) American manufacturer, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes, who was known for his reclusiveness and for the uses to which he put his vast wealth, was born. (1814) The United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium, ending the War of 1812, marking a decline of American dependence on Europe, and stimulating a sense of U.S. nationalism.