The first and only president of the Confederate States of America (from 1861 to 1865) was born on June 3, 1808, in Kentucky, and educated at Transylvania University, in Lexington, Ky., and at the U.S. Military Academy. After his graduation in 1828, he saw frontier service until ill health forced his resignation from the army in 1835. He was a planter in Mississippi from 1835 to 1845, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress. In 1846 he resigned his seat in order to serve in the Mexican War and fought at Monterrey and Buena Vista, where he was wounded. He was a U.S. senator from Mississippi from 1847 to 1851, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce from 1853 to 1857, and again U.S. senator from 1857 to 1861. As a senator he often stated his support of slavery and of states' rights, and as a cabinet member he influenced Pierce to sign the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which favored the South and increased the bitterness of the struggle over slavery. In his second term as senator he became the acknowledged spokesman for the Southern point of view. He opposed, however, the idea of secession from the Union as a means of maintaining the principles of the South. Even after the first steps toward secession had been taken, he tried to keep the Southern states in the Union, although not at the expense of their principles. When the state of Mississippi seceded, he withdrew from the Senate. On Feb. 18, 1861, the provisional Congress of the Confederate States made him provisional president. He was elected to the office by popular vote the same year for a 6-year term and was inaugurated in Richmond, Va., the capital of the Confederacy, on Feb. 22, 1862. Davis failed to raise sufficient money to fight the American Civil War and could not obtain recognition and help for the Confederacy from foreign governments. He was in constant conflict with the extreme exponents of the doctrine of states' rights, and his attempts to have high military officers appointed by the president were opposed by the governors of the states. The judges of state courts constantly interfered in military matters through their judicial decisions. Davis was nevertheless responsible for the raising of the formidable Confederate armies, the notable appointment of Gen. Robert E. Lee as commander of the Army of Virginia, and the encouragement of industrial enterprise throughout the South. His zeal, energy, and faith in the cause of the South were a source of much of the tenacity with which the Confederacy fought the Civil War. Even in 1865 Davis still hoped the South would be able to achieve its independence, but at last he realized defeat was imminent and fled from Richmond. On May 10, 1865, federal troops captured him at Irwinville, Ga. From 1865 to 1867 he was imprisoned at Fortress Monroe, Va. Davis was indicted for treason in 1866 but the next year was released on a bond of $100,000 signed by the American newspaper publisher Horace Greeley and other humane and influential Northerners. In 1868 the federal government dropped the case against him,but deprived him of his rights as a citizen. From 1870 to 1878 he engaged in a number of unsuccessful business enterprises in New Orleans. He then went to live near Biloxi, Mississipp, until his death at the age of 81, in 1889. His grave is in Richmond, Va. His citizenship was restored, posthumously, on Oct. 17, 1978, when Pres. Jimmy Carter signed an amnesty bill, and said, "Our nation needs to clear away the guilts and enmities and recriminations of the past, to finally set at rest the divisions that threatened to destroy our nation and to discredit the great principles on which it was founded. This bill," he said, "completes the long process of reconciliation that has reunited our people following the tragic conflict between the states."

MODEL: Davis was a man of principle who, called to serve the South in time of need, did so. But his service was marked by civility and intelligence. He was never a toady to Confederate extremists.

Dance around the issue. If you were born on June 3, you have a great desire to speak out, but sometimes you express yourself in such bizarre ways, others can't get your point. When you are emotional, however, you are almost too blunt. Above all, you hate to be ignored. Ruled by the number 3 and the planet Jupiter, you have a sarcastic, cynical tongue.

Boy can you talk. When jazzed about a particular topic, you'll talk a mile a minute, even continuing after your audience's attention is exhausted. Whether toppling or upholding the status-quo, you passionately defend your position. You won't hesitate to jump into a debate or discussion and will rarely back down. When annoyed, your words can cut like a knife.

Totally mental? You are mentally oriented but are not averse to using physical seduction to sway your audience. Usually you present your arguments to be considered but may just bark out orders if you are in a short mood. When you are this way, others learn to let you cool down before approaching.

Appealing to you. Whether or not you agree, you respect someone who presents a well thought out argument. You are also swayed more frequently by a soft touch as opposed to brute force and can even be bribed with a favorite pleasure.

Some advice: Watch your short fuse and think before you speak; your cut-downs can be devastating. Don't try and b.s. your way out of everything. Be more lucid and diplomatic in your approach.

Also born on this day: Leo Gorcey (comic actor, Suzi Quatro (singer, songwriter, bassist) Colleen Dewhurst (actress) Josephine Baker (dancer, actress, entertainer) Jefferson Davis (Confederacy president in Civil War) Tony Curtis (actor) Allen Ginsberg (beat poet) Paulette Goddard (actress) Jan Peerce (operatic tenor) Maurice Evans (British actor) Curtis Mayfield (singer, songwriter, guitarist) Elizabeth Koontz (first African-American pres. of Nat'l Educators Assoc.)