This Day in History

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<em class="date"> May 1, 1931: Empire State Building dedicated </h2>  On this day in 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City 's Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turns on the building's lights. Hoover's gesture, of course, was symbolic; while the president remained in Washington, D.C. , someone else flicked the switches in New York .  <em class="date"> May 1, 1926: Ford factory workers get 40-hour week </h2> On this day in 1926, Ford Motor Company becomes one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories. The policy would be extended to Ford's office workers the following August.   <em class="date"> May 1, 1960: American U-2 spy plane shot down </h2> An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union . The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month.  <em class="date"> May 1, 2002: Former NBA All-Star indicted </h2> On May 1, 2002, former NBA All-Star Jayson Williams was indicted on a series of charges, including aggravated manslaughter, in connection with the shooting death of limousine driver Costas Christofi at Williams' estate on February 14.  <em class="date"> May 1, 2003: Record-breaking tornado wave begins </h2> A record-breaking wave of tornadoes begins across the southern and midwestern United States on this day in 2003. By the time the wave is over, more than 500 tornadoes are recorded for the month, shattering the previous record by more than 100  <em class="date"> May 1, 1963: An American tops Everest </h2> James Whittaker of Redmond, Washington, becomes the first American to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world.  <em class="date"> May 1, 1786: Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna </h2> By 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was probably the most experienced and accomplished 30-year-old musician the world has ever seen, with dozens of now-canonical symphonies, concertos, sonatas, chamber works and masses already behind him. He also had 18 operas to his name, but none of those that would become his most famous. Over the final five years of his life (he died in 1791), Mozart would compose four operas that are among the most important and popular in the standard repertoire. This remarkably productive period of creative, critical and popular success for Mozart began with Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), which received its world premiere in Vienna, Austria, on May 1, 1786.  <em class="date"> May 1, 1991: Rickey Henderson breaks stolen base record </h2> On May 1, 1991, Oakland Athletics outfielder Rickey Henderson steals his 939th base to break Lou Brock's record for stolen bases in a career. Henderson stole a total of 1,406 bases in his major league career, almost 500 more than the next closest player. Henderson was also the premiere lead-off hitter of his generation.  history.com

 

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Loch Ness Monster sighted </h2>    Although accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland's Loch Ness date back 1,500 years, the modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster is born when a sighting makes local news on May 2, 1933. The newspaper Inverness Courier related an account of a local couple who claimed to have seen an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface. The story of the monster (a moniker chosen by the Courier editor) became a media phenomenon, with London newspapers sending correspondents to Scotland and a circus offering a 20,000 pound sterling reward for capture of the beast.  <em class="date"> May 2, 1918: GM buys Chevrolet </h2> On this day in 1918, General Motors Corporation (GM), which will become the world's largest automotive firm, acquires Chevrolet Motor Company.  <em class="date"> May 2, 1997: Sandstorm in Egypt kills 12, topples buildings </h2>   On this day in 1997, a sandstorm sweeps across much of Egypt, causing widespread damage and killing 12 people. Most of the casualties were victims of the strong winds, which also toppled trees and buildings.  <em class="date"> May 2, 1670: Hudson's Bay Company chartered </h2> King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company, made up of the group of French explorers who opened the lucrative North American fur trade to London merchants. The charter conferred on them not only a trading monopoly but also effective control over the vast region surrounding North America's Hudson Bay.  <em class="date"> May 2, 1972: End of an era at the FBI </h2> After nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover dies, leaving the powerful government agency without the administrator who had been largely responsible for its existence and shape.  <em class="date"> May 2, 2008: Iron Man released </h2> On May 2, 2008, Iron Man, the latest big-budget action film based on a Marvel Comics character, debuts in some 4,100 theaters in the United States and Canada, raking in an estimated $32.5 million on its opening day.  <em class="date"> May 2, 1960: Dick Clark survives the Payola scandal </h2> He's been called America's Oldest Living Teenager, but behind his famously boyish demeanor, Clark was a razor-sharp businessmansharp enough to be accused of questionable practices during the early years of rock and roll, yet smart enough to set those practices aside when public scrutiny demanded it. On April 2, 1960, Dick Clark concluded his second day of testimony in the so-called Payola hearingstestimony that both saved and altered the course of his career. If Alan Freed, the disk jockey who gave rock and roll its name, was Payola's biggest casualty, then Dick Clark was its most famous survivor.  <em class="date"> May 2, 1874: John B. Jones becomes major in Texas Rangers </h2> John B. Jones begins his adventurous career as a lawman with an appointment as a major in the Texas Rangers.  <em class="date"> May 2, 2001: George W. Bush forms commission on Social Security </h2>   On this day in 2001, President George W. Bush appoints a commission to investigate potential changes to the nation's Social Security system. The commission was charged with examining the feasibility of unprecedented and controversial changes Bush had proposed for a Social Security system that had been largely unchanged since it was created by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. In an executive order to create the bipartisan commission, Bush wrote that he intended to preserve Social Security for senior Americans while building wealth for younger Americans.  <em class="date"> May 2, 1939: Gehrig ends streak </h2> On May 2, 1939, New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig benches himself for poor play and ends his streak of consecutive games played at 2,130. The Iron Horse was suffering at the time from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now known as Lou Gehrigs Disease.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 3, 1469: Niccolo Machiavelli born </h2>  On this day in 1469, the Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli is born. A lifelong patriot and diehard proponent of a unified Italy, Machiavelli became one of the fathers of modern political theory.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1980: MADD founder's daughter killed by drunk driver </h2> On this day in 1980, 13-year-old Cari Lightner of Fair Oaks, California , is walking along a quiet road on her way to a church carnival when a car swerves out of control, striking and killing her. Cari's tragic death compelled her mother, Candy Lightner, to found the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which would grow into one of the country's most influential non-profit organizations.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1992: Exxon executive is murdered </h2> Exxon executive Sidney Reso dies in a storage vault in New Jersey . Four days earlier, he was abducted from the driveway of his Morris Township, New Jersey, home. Reso was shot in the arm, bound and gagged, and then placed in a wooden box that was hidden in a virtually airless storage space. Despite his death, the kidnappers continued with their ransom plans.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1962: Trains collide near Tokyo </h2> Two commuter trains and a freight train collide near Tokyo, Japan , killing more than 160 people and injuring twice that number on this day in 1962.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1946: Japanese war crimes trial begins </h2> In Tokyo, Japan , the International Military Tribunals for the Far East begins hearing the case against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during World War II .  <em class="date"> May 3, 1947: New Japanese constitution goes into effect </h2> On May 3, 1947, Japan 's postwar constitution goes into effect. The progressive constitution granted universal suffrage, stripped Emperor Hirohito of all but symbolic power, stipulated a bill of rights , abolished peerage, and outlawed Japan's right to make war. The document was largely the work of Supreme Allied Commander Douglas MacArthur and his occupation staff, who had prepared the draft in February 1946 after a Japanese attempt was deemed unacceptable.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1952: Fletcher lands on the North Pole </h2> A ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma and Lieutenant Colonel William P. Benedict of California becomes the first aircraft to land on the North Pole. A moment later, Fletcher climbed out of the plane and walked to the exact geographic North Pole, probably the first person in history to do so.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1948: U.S. Supreme Court decides Paramount antitrust case </h2> On this day in 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court issues a decision in U.S. v. Paramount Pictures, et al., the governments long-running antitrust lawsuit against Paramount Pictures and seven other major Hollywood movie studios.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1933: James Brown is born </h2> Soul Brother #1, The Godfather of Soul, Mr. Dynamite, Sex Machine, The Minister of the New New Super Heavy Funk. These are some of the names by which the world would eventually know James Joseph Brown, Jr., the revolutionary musical figure who was born on this day in 1933. The story Brown himself would often tell is that he appeared stillborn when he first came into the world, but that an aunt attending his birth managed to breathe life into him.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1961: JFK receives honorary degree </h2> On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy receives an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from George Washington University, the same institution from which his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. (Prior to attending George Washington, Jackie studied at Vassar College and, thorough a Smith College exchange program, at the Sorbonne.) In his acceptance speech he quipped, my wife beat me to this honor by about 8 or 9 years. It took her 2 years to get this degree and it took me 2 minutes.  <em class="date"> May 3, 1986: Shoemaker becomes oldest man to win Kentucky Derby </h2> On May 3, 1986, 54-year-old Willie Shoemaker, aboard 18/1 shot Ferdinand, becomes the oldest jockey ever to win the Kentucky Derby. The victory was just one of Shoemakers 8,833 wins, a record that stood until 1999, when it was broken by Laffit Pincay.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 4, 1994: Rabin and Arafat sign accord for Palestinian self-rule </h2>  On May 4, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat reached agreement in Cairo on the first stage of Palestinian self-rule.  <em class="date"> May 4, 1984: Bruce Springsteen releases Pink Cadillac </h2> On this day in 1984, New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen releases Pink Cadillac as a B-side to Dancing in the Dark, which will become the first and biggest hit single off Born in the U.S.A., the best-selling album of his career.  <em class="date"> May 4, 1990: An inhumane execution </h2>   Jesse Tafero is executed in Florida after his electric chair malfunctions three times, causing flames to leap from his head. Tafero's death sparked a new debate on humane methods of execution. Several states ceased use of the electric chair and adopted lethal injection as their means of capital punishment.  <em class="date"> May 4, 2002: Nigerian aircraft crashes in crowded city </h2>   On this day in 2002, an EAS Airline plane crashes into the town of Kano, Nigeria, killing 148 people. The Nigerian BAC 1-11-500 aircraft exploded in a densely populated section of the northern Nigerian city.  <em class="date"> May 4, 1970: National Guard kills four at Kent State </h2> In Kent, Ohio , 28 National Guardsmen fire their weapons at a group of antiwar demonstrators on the Kent State University campus, killing four students, wounding eight, and permanently paralyzing another.  <em class="date"> May 4, 1929: Audrey Hepburn born </h2>   On this day in 1929, Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston--who will one day be better known to legions of film fans as Audrey Hepburn--is born near Brussels, Belgium.  <em class="date"> May 4, 1956: Gene Vincent records Be-Bop-A-Lula </h2> When a music critic wants to indicate that a song lacks lyrical sophistication, he or she will often refer to its lyrics as being of the moon in June sort. It's a label left over from the Tin Pan Alley era, when even great composers like Irving Berlin churned out a hundred uninspired Moon/June tunes for every highly original classic like Blues Skies or Puttin' On The Ritz. If rock and roll has an equivalent in the area of clichéd lyrics, it is probably Baby and Maybe a rhyming pair made most famous in the smoldering early-rock classic Be-Bop-A-Lula, which was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee , by the rockabilly legend Gene Vincent on this day in 1956.  <em class="date"> May 4, 1865: Lincoln is buried in Springfield, Illinois </h2> On this day in 1865, Abraham Lincoln is laid to rest in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois .  <em class="date"> May 4, 1965: Willie Mays breaks National League home run record </h2> On May 4, 1965, San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays hits his 512th career home run to break Mel Otts National League record for home runs. Mays would finish his career with 660 home runs, good for third on the all-time list at the time of his retirement  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 5, 1961: The first American in space </h2>  From Cape Canaveral, Florida , Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) .  <em class="date"> May 5, 1995: Hail storm surprises Dallas residents </h2> The Dallas , Texas , area is hit by torrential rains and a severe hailstorm that leaves 17 dead and many others seriously wounded on this day in 1995. The storm, which hit both Dallas and Tarrant counties, was the worst recorded hail storm to hit the United States in the 20th century.  <em class="date"> May 5, 2004: Human remains found in suitcase near Virginia Beach </h2> On May 5, 2004, a suitcase holding what is later identified as the partial remains of William McGuire, a 39-year-old Navy veteran and computer analyst is pulled from the water near Virginia Beach. A second suitcase of body parts was found nearby on May 11, and a third washed up near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel on May 15.  <em class="date"> May 5, 1821: Napoleon dies in exile </h2> Napoleon Bonaparte , the former French ruler who once ruled an empire that stretched across Europe, dies as a British prisoner on the remote island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean.  <em class="date"> May 5, 1862: Cinco de Mayo </h2> During the French-Mexican War, a poorly supplied and outnumbered Mexican army under General Ignacio Zaragoza defeats a French army attempting to capture Puebla de Los Angeles , a small town in east-central Mexico . Victory at the Battle of Puebla represented a great moral victory for the Mexican government, symbolizing the country's ability to defend its sovereignty against threat by a powerful foreign nation.  <em class="date"> May 5, 2002: Spider-Man is first movie to top $100 million in opening weekend </h2> Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in the title role, the eagerly awaited comic book adaptation Spider-Man was released on Friday, May 3, 2002, and quickly became the fastest movie ever to earn more than $100 million at the box office, raking in a staggering $114.8 million by Sunday, May 5.  <em class="date"> May 5, 1816: The Examiner publishes John Keats' first poem </h2>   The first published poem by 20-year-old John Keats appears in The Examiner on this day in 1816.  <em class="date"> May 5, 1979: Peaches and Herb top the pop charts with Reunited </h2> To paraphrase Shakespeare, that which we call a peach by any other name would taste as sweet. But would it sound as catchy? This was the question that faced Herbert Feemster as he contemplated his future in the music business in the mid-1970s . The answer he came up with led directly to the highlight of his musical career, when Peaches & Herb reached #1 on the Billboard pop chart on May 5, 1979 with Reunited.  <em class="date"> May 5, 1904: Cy Young throws perfect game </h2> On May 5, 1904, Boston Red Sox pitcher Cy Young throws a perfect game against the Detroit Tigers, who had fellow future Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell on the mound. This was the first perfect game of the modern era; the last had been thrown by John Montgomery Ward in 1880. It was the second of three no-hitters that Young would throw, and the only perfect game.  history.com

 

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English Channel tunnel opens </h2> In a ceremony presided over by England's Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English Channel was officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age.  <em class="date"> May 6, 1991: Harry Gant is oldest NASCAR winner -- again </h2> On this day in 1991, 51-year-old race car driver Harry Gant racks up his 12th National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Winston Cup career victory in the Winston 500 in Talladega, Alabama . In doing so, Gant bettered his own record as the oldest man ever to win a NASCAR event.  <em class="date"> May 6, 1937: Hindenburg explodes in New Jersey </h2>   On this day in 1937, the German airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built, explodes as it arrives in Lakehurst, New Jersey . Thirty-six people died in the fiery accident that has since become iconic, in part because of the live radio broadcast of the disaster.  <em class="date"> May 6, 1954: First four-minute mile </h2>   In Oxford, England, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister cracks track and field's most notorious barrier: the four-minute mile. Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.  <em class="date"> May 6, 2004: Final episode of Friends airs on NBC </h2> At 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on this day in 2004, that familiar theme song (Ill Be There For You by the Rembrandts) announces the beginning of the end, as an estimated 51.1 million people tune in for the final original episode of NBCs long-running comedy series Friends.  <em class="date"> May 6, 1940: John Steinbeck wins a Pulitzer for The Grapes of Wrath </h2> On this day in 1940, John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.  <em class="date"> May 6, 1933: FDR creates the WPA </h2> On this day in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was just one of many Great Depression relief programs created under the auspices of the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which Roosevelt had signed the month before. The WPA, the Public Works Administration (PWA) and other federal assistance programs put unemployed Americans to work in return for temporary financial assistance. Out of the 10 million jobless men in the United States in 1935, 3 million were helped by WPA jobs alone.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 7, 1994: Munch's The Scream recovered </h2>  On May 7, 1994, Norway's most famous painting, The Scream by Edvard Munch, was recovered almost three months after it was stolen from a museum in Oslo. The fragile painting was recovered undamaged at a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo, police said.  <em class="date"> May 7, 1998: Daimler-Benz announces purchase of Chrysler Corp. </h2> On this day in 1998, the German automobile company Daimler-Benz--maker of the world-famous luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz--announces a $36 billion merger with the United States -based Chrysler Corporation.  <em class="date"> May 7, 1960: Brezhnev becomes president of the USSR </h2> Leonid Brezhnev, one of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's most trusted proteges, is selected as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Sovietthe Soviet equivalent to the presidency. This was another important step in Brezhnev's rise to power in Russia, a rise that he later capped by taking control of the Soviet Union in 1964.  <em class="date"> May 7, 1902: Volcanic eruption buries Caribbean city </h2> On this day in 1902, Martinique's Mount Pele begins the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. The following day, the city of Saint Pierre, which some called the Paris of the Caribbean, was virtually wiped off the map.  <em class="date"> May 7, 1915: Lusitania sinks </h2> On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people were drowned, including 128 Americans. The attack aroused considerable indignation in the United States , but Germany defended the action, noting that it had issued warnings of its intent to attack all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain.  <em class="date"> May 7, 1901: Gary Cooper born </h2> On this day in 1901, Gary Cooper, who will become famous for his performances in such movies as High Noon and The Pride of the Yankees, is born in Helena, Montana  <em class="date"> May 7, 1965: Satisfaction comes to Keith Richards </h2> In the early morning hours of May 7, 1965, in a Clearwater, Florida , motel room, a bleary-eyed Keith Richards awoke, grabbed a tape recorder and laid down one of the greatest pop hooks of all time: The opening riff of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. He then promptly fell back to sleep.  <em class="date"> May 7, 1995: Reggie Miller leads Pacers to victory over Knicks </h2> Indiana Pacers guard Reggie Miller scores eight points in 11 seconds to lead his team over the New York Knicks 107-105 on this day in 1995. Miller was famous throughout his career for what became known as Miller Time, clutch performances to finish games. This 1995 Eastern Conference semifinal playoff was Millers greatest late-game display, and one of the most shocking endings to a game in NBA history.  history.com

 

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V-E Day is celebrated in American and Britain </h2> On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1956: Henry Ford II leaves post at Ford Foundation </h2> On this day in 1956, Henry Ford II, the namesake and grandson of the legendary automobile pioneer, resigns as chairman of his family's charitable organization, the Ford Foundation.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1988: Woman convicted for tampering with Excedrin </h2> Stella Nickell is convicted on two counts of murder by a Seattle, Washington, jury. She was the first person to be found guilty of violating the Federal Anti-Tampering Act after putting cyanide in Excedrin capsules in an effort to kill her husband.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1950: Flash floods in Nebraska kill 23 </h2> In Nebraska on this day in 1950, a flood caused by 14 inches of rain kills 23 people. Most of the victims drowned after being trapped in their vehicles by flash flooding.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1984: Soviets to boycott L.A. Olympics </h2> Citing fears for the safety of its athletes in what it considered a hostile and anti-communist environment, the Soviet government announces a boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games to be held in Los Angeles , California .  <em class="date"> May 8, 1963: Sean Connery stars in his first Bond movie, Dr. No </h2>   On this day in 1963, with the release of Dr. No, moviegoers get their first look--down the barrel of a gun--at the super-spy James Bond (codename: 007), the immortal character created by Ian Fleming in his now-famous series of novels and portrayed onscreen by the relatively unknown Scottish actor Sean Connery.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1899: Yeats' The Countess Cathleen opens at the Irish Literary Theatre </h2> On this day, The Countess Cathleen by William Butler Yeats opens at the Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin, the theater's inaugural performance.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1976: The theme song from Welcome Back, Kotter is the #1 song in America </h2> In 1975, John Sebastian, former member of the beloved 60s pop group the Lovin' Spoonful, was asked to write and record the theme song for a brand-new ABC television show with the working title Kotter. As any songwriter would, Sebastian first tried working that title into his song, but somehow the rhymes he came up with for Kotter otter, water, daughter, slaughterdidn't really lend themselves to a show about a middle-aged schoolteacher returning to his scrappy Brooklyn neighborhood to teach remedial students at his own former high school. So Sebastian took a more thoughtful approach to the task at hand and came up with a song about finding your true calling in a life you thought you'd left behind. That song, Welcome Back, not only went on to become a #1 pop single on this day in 1976, but it also led the show's producers to change its title to Welcome Back, Kotter.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1884: Harry S. Truman is born </h2>   On this day in 1884, Harry S. Truman is born in Lamar, Missouri . The son of a farmer, Truman could not afford to go to college. He joined the army at the relatively advanced age of 33 in 1916 to fight in World War I . After the war, he opened a haberdashery in Kansas City. When that business went bankrupt in 1922, he entered Missouri politics. Truman went on to serve in the U.S. Senate from 1934 until he was chosen as Franklin D. Roosevelt 's fourth vice president in 1945; it was during his Senate terms that he developed a reputation for honesty and integrity.  <em class="date"> May 8, 1970: Knicks beat Lakers for NBA title </h2> On May 8, 1970, the New York Knicks defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the seventh game of the NBA Finals to win their first NBA championship.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 9, 1950: L. Ron Hubbard publishes Dianetics </h2>  On this day in 1950, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986) publishes Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. With this book, Hubbard introduced a branch of self-help psychology called Dianetics, which quickly caught fire and, over time, morphed into a belief system boasting millions of subscribers: Scientology.  <em class="date"> May 9, 2008: Speed Racer movie released </h2> On this day in 2008, Speed Racer, the big-budget live-action film version of the 1960s Japanese comic book and television series MachGoGoGo, makes its debut in U.S. movie theaters.  <em class="date"> May 9, 1997: Cunanan continues murder spree </h2> The body of William Reese, 45, a cemetery caretaker, is found in rural Pennsville, New Jersey , on May 9, 1997. He had been shot in the head with a Golden Saber .38-caliber bullet. Police soon determined that the killer was Andrew Cunanan, a 27-year-old man already wanted for three murders. It appeared that Cunanan had killed Reese in the process of stealing his Chevrolet pick-up.  <em class="date"> May 9, 1997: Cunanan continues murder spree </h2> The body of William Reese, 45, a cemetery caretaker, is found in rural Pennsville, New Jersey , on May 9, 1997. He had been shot in the head with a Golden Saber .38-caliber bullet. Police soon determined that the killer was Andrew Cunanan, a 27-year-old man already wanted for three murders. It appeared that Cunanan had killed Reese in the process of stealing his Chevrolet pick-up.  <em class="date"> May 9, 1960: FDA approves the pill </h2> The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the world's first commercially produced birth-control bill--Enovid-10, made by the G.D. Searle Company of Chicago , Illinois .  <em class="date"> May 9, 1971: Last Honeymooners episode airs </h2> On this day in 1971, the last original episode of the sitcom The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason as Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden, airs.  <em class="date"> May 9, 1964: An unlikely challenger ends the Beatles' reign atop the U.S. pop charts </h2> Following the ascension of I Wanna Hold Your Hand to #1 in early February, the Beatles held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three and a half solid monthslonger than any popular artist before or since. Over the course of those months, the Fab Four earned three consecutive #1 singles (a record); held all five spots in the top five in early April (a record); and had a total of 14 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-April (yet another record). But just when it seemed that no homegrown act would ever stand up to the British invaders, one of least likely American stars imaginable proved himself equal to the task. On May 9, 1964, the great Louis Armstrong, age 63, broke the Beatles' stranglehold on the U.S. pop charts with the #1 hit Hello Dolly.  <em class="date"> May 9, 1914: Woodrow Wilson proclaims the first Mother's Day holiday </h2> On this day in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issues a presidential proclamation that officially establishes the first national Mother's Day holiday to celebrate America's mothers.  <em class="date"> May 9, 1973: Johnny Bench hits three home runs off Steve Carlton </h2> On May 9, 1973, Johnny Bench, All-Star catcher for the Cincinnati Reds, hits three home runs in one game off All-Star pitcher Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies. As Bench had homered in his previous at-bat the game before as well, this gave him four home runs in four consecutive trips to the plate.

 

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<em class="date"> May 10, 1869: Transcontinental railroad completed </h2>  On this day in 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah , and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. This made transcontinental railroad travel possible for the first time in U.S. history. No longer would western-bound travelers need to take the long and dangerous journey by wagon train, and the West would surely lose some of its wild charm with the new connection to the civilized East.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1980: Government gives Chrysler $1.5 billion loan </h2> On this day in 1980, United States Secretary of the Treasury G. William Miller announces the approval of nearly $1.5 billion dollars in federal loan guarantees for the nearly bankrupt Chrysler Corporation. At the time, it was the largest rescue package ever granted by the U.S. government to an American corporation.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1863: Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson dies </h2> The South loses one of its boldest and most colorful generals on this day, when 39-year-old Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson dies of pneumonia a week after his own troops accidentally fired on him during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia . In the first two years of the war, Jackson terrorized Union commanders and led his army corps on bold and daring marches. He was the perfect complement to Robert E. Lee .  <em class="date"> May 10, 1924: J. Edgar Hoover begins his legacy with the FBI </h2> J. Edgar Hoover is named acting director of the Bureau of Investigation (now the FBI) on this day in 1924. By the end of the year he was officially promoted to director. This began his 48-year tenure in power, during which time he personally shaped American criminal justice in the 20th century.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1996: Death on Mount Everest </h2> Eight climbers die on Mount Everest during a storm on this day in 1996. It was the worst loss of life ever on the mountain on a single day. Author Jon Krakauer, who himself attempted to climb the peak that year, wrote a best-selling book about the incident, Into Thin Air, which was published in 1997. A total of 15 people perished during the spring 1996 climbing season at Everest. Between 1980 and 2002, 91 climbers died during the attempt.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1994: Nelson Mandela inaugurated </h2>   In South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is sworn in as the first black president of South Africa. In his inaugural address, Mandela, who spent 27 years of his life as a political prisoner of the South African government, declared that the time for the healing of the wounds has come. Two weeks earlier, more than 22 million South Africans had turned out to cast ballots in the country's first-ever multiracial parliamentary elections. An overwhelming majority chose Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) party to lead the country.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1977: Joan Crawford dies </h2> On this day in 1977, the legendary actress Joan Crawford dies of a heart attack in her New York City apartment.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1749: The final volume of Tom Jones is published </h2> The 10th volume of Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones was printed on this day in 1749  <em class="date"> May 10, 1909: Mother Maybelle Carter is born </h2>   From the late 1920s all the way through the 1950s , she was a familiar presence on American radio and a powerful influence on the course of country music. First as part of a trio in partnership with her cousin Sara and her brother-in-law A.P., and later alongside her own three daughters, Helen, Anita and June, she helped make the Carter family of southwestern Virginia the First Family of Country Music. Known universally by her affectionate nickname, Mother Maybelle Carter was born Maybelle Addington near Nickelsville, Virginia, on May 10, 1909.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1877: Hayes has first phone installed in White House </h2> On this day in 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes has the White House 's first telephone installed in the mansion s telegraph room. President Hayes embraced the new technology, though he rarely received phone calls. In fact, the Treasury Department possessed the only other direct phone line to the White House at that time. The White House phone number was 1. Phone service throughout the country was in its infancy in 1877. It was not until a year later that the first telephone exchange was set up in Connecticut and it would be 50 more years until President Herbert Hoover had the first telephone line installed at the president's desk in the Oval Office.  <em class="date"> May 10, 1970: Bobby Orr leads Bruins to Stanley Cup title </h2> Bobby Orr scores the winning goal 40 seconds into sudden-death overtime to lift the Boston Bruins over the St. Louis Blues for the Stanley Cup title on this day in 1970. It was the Bruins first championship in 29 years.

 

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<em class="date"> May 11, 1934: Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern states </h2>  On this day in 1934, a massive storm sends millions of tons of topsoil flying from across the parched Great Plains region of the United States as far east as New York , Boston and Atlanta.  <em class="date"> May 11, 1947: B.F. Goodrich Co. announces development of tubeless tire </h2> On this day in 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio , announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient.  <em class="date"> May 11, 1985: Fire kills 50 at soccer stadium </h2> Fifty people die in a fire in the grandstand at a soccer stadium in Bradford, England, on this day in 1985. The wooden roof that burned was scheduled to be replaced by a steel roof later that same week.  <em class="date"> May 11, 1812: British prime minister assassinated </h2> In London, Spencer Perceval, prime minister of Britain since 1809, is shot to death by demented businessman John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons. Bellingham, who was inflamed by his failure to obtain government compensation for war debts incurred in Russia, gave himself up immediately.  <em class="date"> May 11, 1858: Minnesota enters the Union </h2> Minnesota enters the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858.  <em class="date"> May 11, 1981: Bob Marley dies </h2> In what would prove to be the next to the last concert of his tragically short life, Bob Marley shared the bill at Madison Square Garden with the hugely popular American funk band The Commodores. With no costumes, no choreography and no set design to speak of, The reggae star had the majority of his listeners on their feet and in the palm of his hand, according to New York Times critic Robert Palmer. After this show of strength, and Mr. Marley's intense singing and electric stage presence, the Commodores were a letdown. Only days after his triumphant shows in New York City , Bob Marley collapsed while jogging in Central Park and later received a grim diagnosis: a cancerous growth on an old soccer injury on his big toe had metastasized and spread to Marley's brain, liver and lungs. Less than eight months later, on May 11, 1981, Bob Marley, the soul and international face of reggae music, died in a Miami, Florida , hospital. He was only 36 years old.  <em class="date"> May 11, 1961: President Kennedy orders more troops to South Vietnam </h2> President Kennedy approves sending 400 Special Forces troops and 100 other U.S. military advisers to South Vietnam. On the same day, he orders the start of clandestine warfare against North Vietnam to be conducted by South Vietnamese agents under the direction and training of the CIA and U.S. Special Forces troops. Kennedy's orders also called for South Vietnamese forces to infiltrate Laos to locate and disrupt communist bases and supply lines there.  <em class="date"> May 11, 1997: Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess match </h2> On May 11, 1997, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov resigns after 19 moves in a game against Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer developed by scientists at IBM. This was the sixth and final game of their match, which Kasparov lost two games to one, with three draws.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 12, 1957: Race car driver A.J. Foyt gets first pro victory </h2>  On this day in 1957, race car driver A.J. Foyt (1935- ) scores his first professional victory, in a U.S. Automobile Club (USAC) midget car race in Kansas City, Missouri .  <em class="date"> May 12, 2000: Fourth-generation NASCAR driver Adam Petty dies in crash </h2> On this day in 2000, 19-year-old Adam Petty, son of Winston Cup driver Kyle Petty and grandson of National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) icon Richard Petty, is killed after crashing into a wall during practice for a Grand National race at Loudon, New Hampshire .  <em class="date"> May 12, 1932: Body of Lindbergh baby found </h2>   The body of aviation hero Charles Lindberghs baby is found on this day in 1932, more than two months after he was kidnapped from his familys Hopewell, New Jersey , mansion.  <em class="date"> May 12, 1987: Forest fire sweeps across China </h2> Firefighters finally contain a giant fire sweeping eastward across China on this day in 1987, but not before 193 people are killed.  <em class="date"> May 12, 1949: Berlin blockade lifted </h2> On May 12, 1949, an early crisis of the Cold War comes to an end when the Soviet Union lifts its 11-month blockade against West Berlin. The blockade had been broken by a massive U.S.-British airlift of vital supplies to West Berlin's two million citizens.  <em class="date"> May 12, 1907: Katharine Hepburn born </h2> On this day in 1907, Katharine Hepburn, who due to her performances in such films as The Philadelphia Story and On Golden Pond, will become one of the most celebrated actresses of the 20th century, is born in Hartford, Connecticut .  <em class="date"> May 12, 1963: Bob Dylan walks out on The Ed Sullivan Show </h2> By the end of the summer of 1963, Bob Dylan would be known to millions who watched or witnessed his performances at the March on Washington , and millions more who did not know Dylan himself would know and love his music thanks to Peter, Paul and Mary's smash-hit cover version of Blowin' In The Wind. But back in May, Dylan was still just another aspiring musician with a passionate niche following but no national profile whatsoever. His second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, had not yet been released, but he had secured what would surely be his big break with an invitation to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. That appearance never happened. On May 12, 1963, the young and unknown Bob Dylan walked off the set of the country's highest-rated variety show after network censors rejected the song he planned on performing.  <em class="date"> May 12, 1903: Teddy Roosevelt's trip to San Francisco is captured on film </h2> On this day in 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt's trip to San Francisco is captured on moving-picture film, making him the first president to have an official activity recorded in that medium.  <em class="date"> May 12, 1970: Ernie Banks hits 500th home run </h2> On this day in 1970, Chicago Cubs slugger Ernie Banks hits the 500th home run of his career. Mr. Cub was known for his engaging personality and love of the game, traits on display even as the dismal Cubs suffered through losing season after losing season.  <em class="date"> May 12, 1961: Lyndon B. Johnson visits South Vietnam </h2> Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon during his tour of Asian countries. Calling Diem the Churchill of Asia, he encouraged the South Vietnamese president to view himself as indispensable to the United States and promised additional military aid to assist his government in fighting the communists. On his return home, Johnson echoed domino theorists, saying that the loss of Vietnam would compel the United States to fight on the beaches of Waikiki and eventually on our own shores. With the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Johnson became president and inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. Over time, he escalated the war, ultimately committing more than 500,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam. History.com A personal note today in TDIH.  Diane  Gaye Langworthy.  My Mother was born May 12th 1935.  My Birthday is only 2 days from hers and we used to celebrate our Birthdays together when she was alive.  We would throw Mothers Day in there too, and have a wonderful celebration.  She has been gone now 31 years come June, and I miss her very much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM...I LOVE AND MISS YOU.

 

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<em class="date"> May 13, 1846: President Polk declares war on Mexico </h2>  On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly votes in favor of President James K. Polk 's request to declare war on Mexico in a dispute over Texas .  <em class="date"> May 13, 1958: Vice President Nixon is attacked </h2> During a goodwill trip through Latin America, Vice President Richard Nixon 's car is attacked by an angry crowd and nearly overturned while traveling through Caracas, Venezuela. The incident was the dramatic highlight of trip characterized by Latin American anger over some of America's Cold War policies.  <em class="date"> May 13, 1981: Pope John Paul II is shot </h2> Pope John Paul II is shot and wounded at St. Peter's Square in Rome, Italy. Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, an escaped fugitive already convicted of a previous murder, fired several shots at the religious leader, two of which wounded nearby tourists. Agca was immediately captured.  <em class="date"> May 13, 1972: Fire breaks out at club in Japan </h2> On this day in 1972, a fire breaks out at the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan , that kills 118 people. Only 48 people at the trendy nightclub survived the horrific blaze because safety equipment was faulty and safety procedures were not followed.  <em class="date"> May 13, 1898: Edison sues over new motion-picture technology </h2> On this day in 1898, Thomas Edison sues the American Mutoscope Company, claiming that the studio has infringed on his patent for the Kinetograph movie camera.  <em class="date"> May 13, 1907: Daphne Du Maurier, author of Rebecca, is born </h2> British writer Daphne Du Maurier is born on this day in 1907. Du Maurier wrote many romantic suspense novels, including the popular Rebecca (1938).  <em class="date"> May 13, 1971: Stevie Wonder comes of age </h2> In 1961, Berry Gordy signed 11-year-old Steveland Hardaway Morris to a contract with Tamla Records. The artist later known as Stevie Wonder and the label later known as Motown would grow up side by side over the course of the 1960s , with Motown coming to define the Sound of Young America and Wonder helping lead the way with hits like Fingertips (Pt. II) (1963), Uptight (Everything's Alright) (1965), I Was Made to Love Her (1967), My Cherie Amour (1969) and Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours (1970). But while he was busy turning out hits for Hitsville, Stevie Wonder was also developing from a young pop phenom into a mature musician with serious creative ambitions. Faced with a rigid creative system at Motown, and resistance from Berry Gordy to loosening it, Stevie Wonder asserted control over his artistic future by exercising his right to leave Motown Records on his 21st birthday, May 13, 1971.  <em class="date"> May 13, 1973: First Battle of the Sexes </h2> On May 13, 1973, during the early years of the women's liberation movement, tennis stars Bobby Riggs and Margaret Court face off in a $10,000 winner-take-all challenge match. The 55-year-old Riggs, a tennis champion from the late 1930s and 40s who was notoriously skeptical of women's talents on the tennis court, branded the contest a battle of the sexes. The match, which was played on Mother's Day and televised internationally, was held on Riggs' home turf, the San Vincente Country Club in Ramona, California , northeast of San Diego . Proceeds were promised to the American Diabetes Association.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 14, 1804: Lewis and Clark depart </h2>  One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase , the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri , on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.  <em class="date"> May 14, 2007: DaimlerChrysler sells most of Chrysler for $7.4 billion </h2> On this day in 2007, the European-American carmaker DaimlerChrysler, created in 1998 in a $36 billion merger, announces that it is selling 80.1 percent of the Chrysler group to the U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.  <em class="date"> May 14, 1991: Two trains crash in Japan </h2>   On this day in 1991, two diesel trains carrying commuters crash head-on, killing more than 40 people and injuring 400 near Shigaraki, Japan . This was the worst rail disaster in Japan since a November 1963 Yokohama crash killed 160 people.  <em class="date"> May 14, 1796: Jenner tests smallpox vaccine </h2> Edward Jenner, an English country doctor from Gloucestershire, administers the world's first vaccination as a preventive treatment for smallpox, a disease that had killed millions of people over the centuries.  <em class="date"> May 14, 1948: State of Israel proclaimed </h2> On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel, prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel's first premier.  <em class="date"> May 14, 1973: Skylab launched </h2> Skylab, America's first space station, is successfully launched into an orbit around the earth. Eleven days later, U.S. astronauts Charles Conrad, Joseph Kerwin, and Paul Weitz made a rendezvous with Skylab, repairing a jammed solar panel and conducting scientific experiments during their 28-day stay aboard the space station.  <em class="date"> May 14, 1998: Frank Sinatra dies </h2>   On this day in 1998, the legendary singer, actor and show-business icon Frank Sinatra dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles , at the age of 82.  <em class="date"> May 14, 1999: Clinton apologizes to Chinese leader for embassy bombing </h2> On this day in 1999, President Bill Clinton apologizes directly to Chinese President Jiang Zemin on the phone for the accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, that had taken place six days earlier. Clinton promised an official investigation into the incident.  <em class="date"> May 14, 1913: Scoreless inning streak ends </h2> On May 14, 1914, Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson throws his 54th consecutive scoreless inning in Sportsman Park, Illinois , leading his Washington Senators to victory over the St. Louis Browns, 10-5. With the win, Johnson broke a 1910 record set by Jack Coombs of the Philadelphia Athletics, who threw 53 innings in a row without letting up a run.  History.com

 

[PSP]

I don't see anything about an important birthday today ...

 

[PSP]

Yes, that's right ...Miranda Cosgrove aka iCarly was born on this day in 1993!Any other birthdays today?

 

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OH Hey, I was born today as well. 5:50am 1968, in Flint Michigan. Happy Birthday to meHappy Birthday to meHappy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeeHappy Birthday to meeeeee.                                                                              Pam

 

[PSP]

... and belated birthday wishes to your Mom.

 

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PSP wrote: ... and belated birthday wishes to your Mom. Your so kind, and I am so glad you are here with us at NDF.                                                                                  Pam

 

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<em class="date"> May 15, 1937: Madeleine Albright is born </h2>  On this day in 1937, Madeleine Albright, America's first female secretary of state, is born Maria Jana Korbelova in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic).  <em class="date"> May 15, 1942: Seventeen states put gasoline rationing into effect </h2> On this day in 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II . By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in all 50 states.  <em class="date"> May 15, 1896: Tornado decimates Texas town </h2> A particularly intense tornado hits Sherman, Texas , on this day in 1896, and kills 73 people. It is estimated that the tornado was a rare F5 tornado, in which winds exceeded 260 miles per hour. Storms of that strength happen, on average, less than once a year.  <em class="date"> May 15, 1972: Governor George Wallace shot </h2> During an outdoor rally in Laurel, Maryland , George Wallace, the governor of Alabama and a presidential candidate, is shot by 21-year-old Arthur Bremer. Three others were wounded, and Wallace was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. The next day, while fighting for his life in a hospital, he won major primary victories in Michigan and Maryland. However, Wallace remained in the hospital for several months, bringing his third presidential campaign to an irrevocable end.  <em class="date"> May 15, 1982: Ebony And Ivory begins a seven-week run at #1 on the pop charts </h2> Without the black keys, the white keys on a piano would pretty much be stuck playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Do Re Mi.   If you want anything more interesting than thatif you want a song like Yesterday, for instanceyou're going to have to get the two sets of keys working together. From this little insight, Paul McCartney crafted the biggest hit record of his post-Beatles career: Ebony And Ivory. Recorded as a duet with the great Stevie Wonder, Ebony And Ivory took the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1982 and didn't relinquish it until seven weeks later.  <em class="date"> May 15, 1800: President John Adams orders federal government to Washington, D.C. </h2> On this day in 1800, President John Adams orders the federal government to pack up and leave Philadelphia and set up shop in the nation's new capital in Washington, D.C.  <em class="date"> May 15, 1973: Nolan Ryan pitches first no-hitter </h2> On May 15, 1973, California Angel Nolan Ryan strikes out 12 Kansas City Royals and walks three to pitch the first no-hitter of his career. The game was played under protest, as Royals Manager Jack McKeon complained that Ryan wasnt maintaining contact with the pitching rubber while throwing.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 16, 1929: First Academy Awards ceremony </h2>  On this day in 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out its first awards, at a dinner party for around 250 people held in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood , California .  <em class="date"> May 16, 1956: GM dedicates new technical center </h2> On this day in 1956, executives from the Detroit-based automotive giant General Motors (GM) dedicate the new GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan . Costing around $100 million--or about half a billion in today's dollars--to develop and staffed by around 4,000 scientists, engineers, designers and other personnel, the GM Technical Center was one of the largest industrial research centers in the world.  <em class="date"> May 16, 1849: New York City establishes hospital for cholera victims </h2> On this day in 1849, the New York City Board of Health is finally able to establish a hospital to deal with a cholera epidemic that, before it ends, kills more than 5,000 people. The rapidly growing city was ripe for an epidemic of this kind because of poor health conditions and its status as a destination for immigrants from around the world.  <em class="date"> May 16, 1975: Japanese woman scales Everest </h2> Via the southeast ridge route, Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world.  <em class="date"> May 16, 1964: Mary Wells gives Motown Records its first #1 hit with My Guy </h2> In 1959, Berry Gordy started his first record label, Tamla Records, running it out of a house he purchased at 2648 West Grand Blvd. in Detroit, Michigana location better known as Hitsville, USA. Over the next three years, Tamla made its headquarters live up to its name, turning out a string of hit records that included Money (That's What I Want) by Barrett Strong (1959), Shop Around, by The Miracles (1960) and Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes (1961)--which is why a young aspiring songwriter named Mary Wells was so excited to be offered a recording contract by Berry Gordy in 1962. The catch was that Gordy wanted to make a record with Wells and issue it on a brand new label that had no identity or reputation in the marketplace: Motown Records. Not really in a position to argue, she signed on as the fledgling label's very first artist, and two years later, Mary Wells gave Motown its first #1 hit when My Guy reached the top of the Billboard pop chart on this day in 1964.  <em class="date"> May 16, 1868: Senate acquits Johnson of high crimes and misdemeanors </h2> On this day in 1868, the U.S. Senate votes against impeaching President Andrew Johnson and acquits him of committing high crimes and misdemeanors.  <em class="date"> May 16, 1980: Magic plays center as a rookie, wins championship </h2> On May 16, 1980, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Earvin Magic Johnson steps in for injured center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and scores 42 points, leading the Lakers to a four games-to-two series win over the Philadelphia 76ers for their first championship since 1972.  history.com

 

[acecracker]

love the history I always enjoy hearing or reading about the past and i am a big fan of Washington.

 

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acecracker wrote: love the history I always enjoy hearing or reading about the past and i am a big fan of Washington.

  Glad you are enjoying the thread TDIH.Hope you read each day. Thanks:                                                                               Pam

 

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Brown v. Board of Ed is decided </h2> In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas , because of the color of her skin.  <em class="date"> May 17, 2005: Toyota announces plans for hybrid Camry </h2> On this day in 2005, Toyota Motor Company announces its plans to produce a gasoline-electric hybrid version of its bestselling Camry sedan. Built at the company's Georgetown, Kentucky , plant, the Camry became Toyota's first hybrid model to be manufactured in the United States .  <em class="date"> May 17, 1974: LAPD raid leaves six SLA members dead </h2> In Los Angeles , California , police surround a home in Compton where the leaders of the terrorist group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) are hiding out. The SLA had kidnapped Patricia Hearst, of the fabulously wealthy Hearst family publishing empire, months earlier, earning headlines across the country. Police found the house in Compton when a local mother reported that her kids had seen a bunch of people playing with an arsenal of automatic weapons in the living room of the home.  <em class="date"> May 17, 1994: Fire engulfs Honduras prison </h2> A fire in an overcrowded Honduras prison kills 103 people on this day in 1994. An overheated refrigerator motor sparked the horrible blaze that raced through the outdated jail. Only a year earlier, a gang fight at the same prison had left nearly 70 people dead.  <em class="date"> May 17, 1973: Televised Watergate hearings begin </h2> In Washington, D.C. , the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, headed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina , begins televised hearings on the escalating Watergate affair . One week later, Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was sworn in as special Watergate prosecutor.  <em class="date"> May 17, 2004: First legal same-sex marriage performed in Massachusetts </h2> Marcia Kadish, 56, and Tanya McCloskey, 52, of Malden, Massachusetts , marry at Cambridge City Hall in Massachusetts, becoming the first legally married same-sex partners in the United States . Over the course of the day, 77 other same-sex couples tied the knot across the state, and hundreds more applied for marriage licenses. The day was characterized by much celebration and only a few of the expected protests materialized.  <em class="date"> May 17, 1965: The FBI Laboratory weighs in on the dirty lyrics of Louie Louie </h2> Based on outcry from parents who bought into what may have started as an idle rumor, the FBI launched a formal investigation in 1964 into the supposedly pornographic lyrics of the song Louie, Louie. That investigation finally neared its conclusion on this day in 1965, when the FBI Laboratory declared the lyrics of Louie Louie to be officially unintelligible.  <em class="date"> May 17, 1983: Islanders win fourth consecutive Stanley Cup </h2> On May 17, 1983, the New York Islanders win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup, sweeping the Edmonton Oilers four games to none with a 4-2 win at home on New Yorks Long Island.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 18, 1920: Pope John Paul II born </h2>  On May 18, 1920, Karol Jozef Wojtyla is born in the Polish town of Wadowice, 35 miles southwest of Krakow. Wojtyla went on to become Pope John Paul II, history's most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century. After high school, the future pope enrolled at Krakow's Jagiellonian University, where he studied philosophy and literature and performed in a theater group. During World War II , Nazis occupied Krakow and closed the university, forcing Wojtyla to seek work in a quarry and, later, a chemical factory. By 1941, his mother, father, and only brother had all died, leaving him the sole surviving member of his family.  <em class="date"> May 18, 1980: Mount St. Helens erupts </h2> Mount St. Helens in Washington erupts, causing a massive avalanche and killing 57 people on this day in 1980. Ash from the volcanic eruption fell as far away as Minnesota  <em class="date"> May 18, 1860: Lincoln nominated for presidency </h2>   Abraham Lincoln , a one-time U.S. representative from Illinois , is nominated for the U.S. presidency by the Republican National Convention meeting in Chicago , Illinois. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was nominated for the vice presidency.  <em class="date"> May 18, 2001: Shrek released </h2> On this day in 2001, the fledgling movie studio Dreamworks SKG, founded by Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, releases what will become its most successful film to date: the animated feature Shrek.  <em class="date"> May 18, 1980: Ian Curtis of Joy Division commits suicide </h2> On the evening of May 18, 1980, Ian Curtis, lead singer and lyricist of the British group Joy Division, hangs himself in his Manchester kitchen. He was only 23 years old.  <em class="date"> May 18, 2004: Randy Johnson throws perfect game at 40 </h2> On this day in 2004, 40-year-old Arizona Diamondbacks lefthander Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, leading his team to a 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. A perfect game is when a pitcher faces a minimum 27 batters, recording 27 outs. Through the 2006 season, only 17 perfect games had been thrown, including 15 in the modern era (post-1900).  history.com -- Edited by PMM2008 on Wednesday 18th of May 2011 08:09:57 AM

 

[Mben]

PMM2008 wrote: <em class="date"> May 18, 2004: </h2> Randy Johnson throws perfect game at 40 </h2> On this day in 2004, 40-year-old Arizona Diamondbacks lefthander Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, leading his team to a 2-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. A perfect game is when a pitcher faces a minimum 27 batters, recording 27 outs. Through the 2006 season, only 17 perfect games had been thrown, including 15 in the modern era (post-1900).

YAY Randy!!! And YAY AZ D-Backs!!! (funny he threw that perfect game against the Braves. HA HA HA Ben!!! ) 

  

 

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<em class="date"> May 19, 1935: Lawrence of Arabia dies </h2>  Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day  T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, dies as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. The legendary war hero, author, and archaeological scholar succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six days before.  <em class="date"> May 19, 2007: Smart launches U.S. road show to introduce its microcar </h2> Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day Los Angeles , California , is the first stop on a cross-country road show launched on this day in 2007 by Smart USA to promote the attractions of its ForTwo microcar, which it had scheduled for release in the United States in 2008.  <em class="date"> May 19, 1997: Avian flu kills young boy </h2> Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day A three-year-old boy dies of avian influenza in Hong Kong on this day in 1997. By the time the outbreak was controlled, six people were dead and 1.6 million domestic fowl were destroyed.  <em class="date"> May 19, 2006: The Da Vinci Code opens </h2> Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day Amid a firestorm of publicity and controversy, the director Ron Howards big-screen adaptation of Dan Browns mega-bestselling thriller The Da Vinci Code debuts in theaters on this day in 2006.  <em class="date"> May 19, 1965: Pete Townshend writes My Generation on his 20th birthday </h2> Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day From the Bible to Oedipus Rex to King Lear, literature has long concerned itself with the difficult relations that sometimes arise between members of different generations. The Fifth Commandment Honor thy father and thy mother that you may have a long life in the land which the Eternal, your God, is giving you is perhaps the earliest known acknowledgment of the human potential for intergenerational conflict. Yet it seems that every generation of humans has faced this dilemma, and perhaps never more so than during the 1960s , when a demographic time bomb loosed the largest generation of teenagers in history upon an unsuspecting world. With numbers on its side, this generation would set its own terms in the age-old conflict of youth vs. everyone else, and never were those terms more clearly expressed than in the lyrics of My Generation, the song that The Whos Pete Townshend wrote on this day in 1965. Why dont you all f-fade awayyy (Talkin' 'bout my generation) And don't try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin' 'bout my generation).  <em class="date"> May 19, 1864: Lincoln proposes equal treatment of soldiers' dependents </h2> Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day President Abraham Lincoln writes to anti-slavery Congressional leader Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on this day in 1864, proposing that widows and children of soldiers should be given equal treatment regardless of race.  <em class="date"> May 19, 1984: Gretzky and Messier lead Oilers to championship </h2> Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day On May 19, 1984, one dynasty ends and another begins when the Edmonton Oilers defeat the New York Islanders 5-2 to win the Stanley Cup. The Oilers had been swept by New York in the finals the year before, but the teams talent had matured, and their offensive onslaught overwhelmed the four-time defending champs.  <em class="date"> May 19, 1943: Churchill and FDR plot D-Day </h2> Previous Day May 19 Calendar Next Day On this day in 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt set a date for the cross-Channel landing that would become D-DayMay 1, 1944. That date will prove a bit premature, as bad weather becomes a factor.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 20, 1873: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeans </h2>  On this day in 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada , tailor Jacob Davis are given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world's most famous garments: blue jeans.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1995: Street in front of the White House closed to traffic </h2>   On this day in 1995, to the likely dismay of Washington, D.C. -bound road trippers hoping for a glimpse of the presidential residence through their car windows, President Bill Clinton permanently closes the two-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to all non-pedestrian traffic as a security measure.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1862: Union Congress passes the Homestead Act </h2> The Union Congress passes the Homestead Act , allowing an adult over the age of 21, male or female, to claim 160 acres of land from the public domain. Eligible persons had to cultivate the land and improve it by building a barn or house, and live on the claim for five years, at which time the land became theirs with a $10 filing fee.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1956: United States drops hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll </h2> The United States conducts the first airborne test of an improved hydrogen bomb, dropping it from a plane over the tiny island of Namu in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The successful test indicated that hydrogen bombs were viable airborne weapons and that the arms race had taken another giant leap forward.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1965: Plane crashes at Cairo airport </h2>   A Pakistan Airways Boeing 707 arriving from Pakistan crashes upon landing at the airport in Cairo, Egypt, killing 124 people on this day in 1965. The accident came just as pilots were complaining about poor conditions at the Cairo airport.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1506: Christopher Columbus dies </h2> On May 20, 1506, the great Italian explorer Christopher Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain. Columbus was the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland in the 10th century. He explored the West Indies, South America, and Central America, but died a disappointed man, feeling he had been mistreated by his patron, King Ferdinand of Spain.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1927: Spirit of St. Louis departs </h2> At 7:52 a.m., American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York , on the world's first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean and the first ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1969: Battle for Hamburger Hill ends </h2> After 10 days and 10 bloody assaults, Hill 937 in South Vietnam is finally captured by U.S. and South Vietnamese troops. The Americans who fought there cynically dubbed Hill 937 Hamburger Hill because the battle and its high casualty rate reminded them of a meat grinder.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1996: Supreme Court defends rights of homosexuals </h2> In a victory for the gay and lesbian civil rights movement , the U.S. Supreme Court votes six to three to strike down an amendment to Colorado 's state constitution that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of homosexuals.  <em class="date"> May 20, 2007: The Simpsons airs 400th episode </h2> On this day in 2007, Foxs long-running animated series The Simpsons airs its 400th episode.  <em class="date"> May 20, 1989: Sunday Silence wins Preakness by a nose </h2> On May 20, 1989, Sunday Silence edges by Easy Goer to win the closest race in the 114-year history of the Preakness Stakes by a nose. Sunday Silence had already beaten Easy Goer in the Kentucky Derby by two-and-a-half lengths, putting the horse one victory away from winning the first Triple Crown since 1978. Come June, though, Easy Goer had his revenge, beating Sunday Silence by eight lengths in the Belmont Stakes.  history.com

 

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<em class="date"> May 21, 1881: American Red Cross founded </h2>  In Washington, D.C. , humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, an organization established to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross  <em class="date"> May 21, 1901: Connecticut enacts first speed-limit law </h2> On this day in 1901, Connecticut becomes the first state to pass a law regulating motor vehicles, limiting their speed to 12 mph in cities and 15 mph on country roads.  <em class="date"> May 21, 1924: Leopold and Loeb gain national attention </h2> Fourteen-year-old Bobbie Franks is abducted from a Chicago , Illinois , street and killed in what later proves to be one of the most fascinating murders in American history. The killers, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, were extremely wealthy and intelligent teenagers whose sole motive for killing Franks was the desire to commit the perfect crime.  <em class="date"> May 21, 1960: Huge earthquake hits Chile </h2>   On this day in 1960, the first tremor of a series hits Valdivia, Chile. By the time they end, the quakes and their aftereffects kill 5,000 people and leave another 2 million homeless. Registering a magnitude of 7.6, the first earthquake was powerful and killed several people. It turned out to be only a foreshock, however, to one of the most powerful tremors ever recorded.  <em class="date"> May 21, 1927: Lindbergh lands in Paris </h2> American pilot Charles A. Lindbergh lands at Le Bourget Field in Paris, successfully completing the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight and the first ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris. His single-engine monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, had lifted off from Roosevelt Field in New York 33 1/2 hours before.  <em class="date"> May 21, 1932: Earhart completes transatlantic flight </h2> Five years to the day that American aviator Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to accomplish a solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, female aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first pilot to repeat the feat, landing her plane in Ireland after flying across the North Atlantic. Earhart traveled over 2,000 miles from Newfoundland in just under 15 hours.  <em class="date"> May 21, 1955: Chuck Berry records Maybellene </h2> John Lennon once famously said that if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry.' That's how foundational Berry's contributions were to the music that changed America and the world beginning in the mid-1950s . Even more than Elvis Presley, who was an incomparable performer, but of other people's songs, Chuck Berry created the do-it-yourself template that most rock-and-rollers still seek to follow. If there can be said to be a single day on which his profound influence on the sound and style of rock and roll began, it was this day in 1955, when an unknown Chuck Berry paid his first visit to a recording studio and cut the record that would make him famous: Maybellene.  <em class="date"> May 21, 1978: Nancy Lopez wins her first Coca-Cola Classic </h2> On May 21, 1978, 21-year-old rookie golfer Nancy Lopez defeats her childhood hero, JoAnne Carner, on the first hole of a sudden death playoff to win the Coca-Cola-Classic in Jamesburg, New Jersey . The next year Lopez beat out 44-year-old Mickey Wright, again in a playoff, to repeat as Coca-Cola champion. As Wright had been the dominant womens golfer of the 1950s and 60s, Lopezs victory was seen as a passing of the torch.  history.com

 

[Mben]

PMM2008 wrote: <em class="date"> May 21, 1901: Connecticut enacts first speed-limit law </h2> On this day in 1901, Connecticut becomes the first state to pass a law regulating motor vehicles, limiting their speed to 12 mph in cities and 15 mph on country roads.

 [video=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvV3nn_de2k][/video]