This Day in History

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<em class="date">Apr 28, 1945: Benito Mussolini executed </h2>On this day in 1945, Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1810: Union general who advocated for black troops is born </h2>Union General Daniel Ullmann is born in Wilmington, Delaware. Ullmann was best known as an advocate for black troops.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1995: Gas pipe explodes in South Korea </h2>A gas explosion beneath a busy city street in Taegu, South Korea, kills more than 100 people on this day in 1995. Sixty children, some on their way to school, were among the victims of the blast.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1789: Mutiny on the HMS Bounty </h2>Three weeks into a journey from Tahiti to the West Indies, the HMS Bounty is seized in a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, the master's mate. Captain William Bligh and 18 of his loyal supporters were set adrift in a small, open boat, and the Bounty set course for Tubuai south of Tahiti.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1969:   De Gaulle resigns as leader of France </h2>Following the defeat of his proposals for constitutional reform in a national referendum, Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1925: T.S. Eliot accepts a job at Faber and Faber publishers </h2>Poet T.S. Eliot accepts a position as editor at Faber and Faber publishers. The job allows Eliot, who is already recognized as a major poet, to quit his job as a bank clerk at Lloyd's Bank in London. He holds the publishing position until his death, in 1965.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1965: My Name is Barbra is Barbra Streisand's debut television special </h2>Barbra Streisand's breakout year as a singer came in 1963, when she released her first two albums, won her first two Grammys and began appearing live in some of the most prominent nightclubs in the country. By the following year, she was a showbiz phenomenon, earning further nominations from the Grammys and Tonys after wowing Broadway critics and audiences in her first leading role, as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Yet even then, in a Time magazine cover article in 1964, it was noted that Many people still say Who when they hear her name. That probably changed once and for all on April 28, 1965, when millions of American television viewers tuned in to a solid primetime hour of the 22-year-old Streisand in her first-ever TV special, the triumphant My Name Is Barbra.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1758: President Monroe is born </h2>Future U.S. Senator and President James Monroe is born on this day in 1758.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1967: Muhammad Ali refuses Army induction </h2>On April 28, 1967, boxing champion Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the U.S. Army and is immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cited religious reasons for his decision to forgo military service.  <em class="date">Apr 28, 1945: Mussolini is executed </h2>On this day in 1945, Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 29, 2004: World War II monument opens in Washington, D.C. </h2>On April 29, 2004, the National World War II Memorial opens in Washington, D.C., to thousands of visitors, providing overdue recognition for the 16 million U.S. men and women who served in the war. The memorial is located on 7.4 acres on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The Capitol dome is seen to the east, and Arlington Cemetery is just across the Potomac River to the west.  <em class="date">Apr 29, 2004: The end of the road for Oldsmobile </h2>On this day in 2004, the last Oldsmobile comes off the assembly line at the Lansing Car Assembly plant in Michigan, signaling the end of the 106-year-old automotive brand, America's oldest. Factory workers signed the last Oldsmobile, an Alero sedan, before the vehicle was moved to Lansing's R.E. Olds Transportation Museum, where it went on display. The last 500 Aleros ever manufactured featured Final 500 emblems and were painted dark metallic cherry red.  <em class="date">Apr 29, 1992: Rodney King trial verdict announced </h2>An jury of 10 whites, one Hispanic, and one Filipina in the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley acquits four police officers who had been charged with using excessive force in arresting black motorist Rodney King a year earlier. The announcement of the verdict, which enraged the black community, prompted widespread rioting throughout much of the sprawling city. It wasn't until three days later that the arson and looting finally ended.  <em class="date">Apr 29, 1991: Cyclone kills 135,000 in Bangladesh </h2>On this day in 1991, a devastating cyclone hits Bangladesh, killing more than 135,000 people. Even though there had been ample warning of the coming storm and shelter provisions had been built in the aftermath of a deadly 1970 storm, this disaster was one of the worst of the 20th century.  <em class="date">Apr 29, 1854: First African-American college chartered </h2>By an act of the Pennsylvania legislature, Ashmun Institute, the first college founded solely for African-American students, is officially chartered.  <em class="date">Apr 29, 2011: Britain's Prince William weds Kate Middleton </h2>On this day in 2011, Great Britains Prince William marries his longtime girlfriend Catherine Elizabeth Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London. Some 1,900 guests attended the ceremony, while another 1 million spectators lined the streets of London and an estimated 2 billion people around the world watched on television. <em class="date">Apr 29, 1875: Henry James' Transatlantic Sketches is published </h2>American writer Henry James' collection of travel pieces, Transatlantic Sketches, is published. The same year, James publishes a collection of stories, A Passionate Pilgrim, and a novel, Roderick Hudson. These three works herald the beginning of James' long and influential writing career.  <em class="date">Apr 29, 1974: Nixon announces release of White House Watergate tapes </h2>On this day in 1974, President Richard Nixon announces to the public that he will release transcripts of 46 taped White House conversations in response to a Watergate trial subpoena issued in July 1973. The House Judiciary committee accepted 1,200 pages of transcripts the next day, but insisted that the tapes themselves be turned over as well. <em class="date">Apr 29, 1986: Roger Clemens strikes out 20 batters in single game </h2>On April 29, 1986, in a game against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park, Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox becomes the first pitcher in Major League Baseball to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game. Ten years later, Clemens repeats the feat, the only player in baseball history to do so.  <em class="date">Apr 29, 1945: Adolf and Eva marry </h2>Eva Braun met Hitler while employed as an assistant to Hitler's official photographer. Of a middle-class Catholic background, Braun spent her time with Hitler out of public view, entertaining herself by skiing and swimming. She had no discernible influence on Hitler's political career but provided a certain domesticity to the life of the dictator. Loyal to the end, she refused to leave the Berlin bunker buried beneath the chancellery as the Russians closed in. The couple was married only hours before they both committed suicide.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide </h2>On this day in 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a 1,000-year Reich.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1948: Organization of American States established </h2>The United States and 20 Latin American nations sign the charter establishing the Organization of American States (OAS). The new institution was designed to facilitate better political relations between the member states and, at least for the United States, to serve as a bulwark against communist penetration of the Western Hemisphere.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1927: The first federal prison for women opens </h2>The Federal Industrial Institution for Women, the first women's federal prison, opens in Alderson, West Virginia. All women serving federal sentences of more than a year were to be brought here.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1888: Orange-sized hail reported in India </h2>A hail storm devastates the farming town of Moradabad, India, killing 230 people and many more farm animals on this day in 1888. Sixteen others died in nearby Bareilly.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1789: The first presidential inauguration </h2>In New York City, George Washington, the great military leader of the American Revolution, is inaugurated as the first president of the United States.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1803: Louisiana Purchase concluded </h2>On April 30, 1803, representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France conclude negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, a massive land sale that doubles the size of the young American republic. What was known as Louisiana Territory comprised most of modern-day United States between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, with the exceptions of Texas, parts of New Mexico, and other pockets of land already controlled by the United States. A formal treaty for the Louisiana Purchase, antedated to April 30, was signed two days later.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1939: New York World's Fair opens </h2>On April 30, 1939, the New York World's Fair opens in New York City. The opening ceremony, which featured speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and New York Governor Herbert Lehman, ushered in the first day of television broadcasting in New York.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1945: Annie Dillard is born </h2>Poet, essayist, and novelist Annie Dillard is born on this day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1945.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1933: Willie Nelson is born </h2>Willie Nelson's sound and his look revolutionized country music, making him one of that genre's most recognizable faces, and if his winning personality weren't enough reason to like him, then his good-natured struggles with the IRS would be. But before Willie Nelson became a legend or an icon, he was simply one of the most talented singer-songwriters of his generation. He began his musical training at the age of six and wrote his first song at the age of seven in Abbott, Texas, where he was born on this day in 1933.  <em class="date">Apr 30, 1993: Tennis star Monica Seles stabbed </h2>Top womens tennis player Monica Seles is stabbed by a deranged German man during a match in Hamburg. The assailant, a fan of German tennis star Steffi Graf, apparently hoped that by injuring Seles his idol Graf would be able to regain her No. 1 ranking.  history.com

 

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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, 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, 1923: Joseph Heller is born </h2>Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22, is born this day in 1923 near Coney Island in Brooklyn. His father, a Russian immigrant who drove a bakery delivery truck, died when Heller was five. Heller attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn and worked as a filing clerk and blacksmith's assistant before enlisting in the Army. He trained as a bombardier and flew 60 combat missions near the end of World War II. While in the military, he ran across an apparent paradox in Army regulations. A pilot could be grounded if found insane, but if the pilot requested to be grounded because of insanity, the Army considered him perfectly sane for wanting to avoid danger-and wouldn't ground him. This paradox defined his first novel, the satirical masterpiece Catch-22 (1961).  <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.  <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.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 2, 1933: 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, 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, 2011: Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. forces </h2>On this day in 2011, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, is killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan. The notorious, 54-year-old leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist network of Islamic extremists, had been the target of a nearly decade-long international manhunt. <em class="date">May 2, 1936: Manuscript of Edna St. Vincent Millay's Conversations at Midnight destroyed in hotel fire </h2>Edna St. Vincent Millay's work in progress, Conversations at Midnight, is burned in a hotel fire on Sanibel Island, Florida, on this day in 1936. She recreated the work, which was published in 1937.  <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, 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, 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, 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. Kennedy received his undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1940.  <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.  <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.  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, 1776: Rhode Island declares independence </h2>On this day in 1776, Rhode Island, the colony founded by the most radical religious dissenters from the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony, becomes the first North American colony to renounce its allegiance to King George III. Ironically, Rhode Island would be the last state to ratify the new American Constitution more than 14 years later on May 29, 1790.  <em class="date">May 4, 1886: A riot breaks out in Haymarket Square </h2>What begins as a peaceful labor protest in Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, turns into a riot, leaving more than 100 wounded and 8 police officers dead. After Chicago authorities arrested and detained nearly every anarchist and socialist in town, eight men, who were either speakers in or organizers of the protest, were charged with murder.  <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, 1948: Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, is published </h2>Twenty-five-year-old Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, is published on this day in 1948. The book is critically acclaimed and widely considered one of the best novels to come out of World War II.  <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, 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, 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, 1985: Reagan visits concentration camp and war cemetery </h2>On this day in 1985, President Ronald Reagan angers Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors by visiting the Bitburg war cemetery in Germany. Then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who suggested the visit, accompanied Reagan to the cemetery, where 2,000 German troops are buried. Reagan laid a wreath at the base of a monument to fallen German soldiers. What he did not know was that the cemetery included the graves of 49 of Hitler's infamous SS (Schutzstaffel), the paramilitary organization that planned and carried out the massacre of approximately 6 million people in death camps during World War II. <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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<em class="date">May 6, 1994: 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, 1876: The theft of Duchess of Devonshire stirs interest </h2>Thomas Gainsborough's painting Duchess of Devonshire is auctioned in London, England, nearly 100 years after it disappeared into obscurity. The portrait of Georgiana Spencer, an ancestor of Princess Diana, sold for 10,000 guineas, the highest price ever paid for a work of art up until this time. Public interest in Gainsborough's masterpiece peaked a few weeks later when it was stolen from the Thomas Agnew & Sons art gallery.  <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, 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, 1984: Spinal Tap stages a comeback at CBGB's in New York City </h2>Almost 20 years and who knows how many drummers into their unique career in rock, the surviving members of one of England's loudest bands had reached yet another low point in the spring of 1984. Only two years removed from a disastrous 1982 world tour that not only failed to turn the album Smell The Glove into a comeback hit, but also led to the group's breakup, Spinal Tap now had to suffer the indignity of seeing the Marty DiBergi-helmed behind-the-scenes film of that tour gain widespread theatrical release. Would the numerous embarrassments catalogued in the hard-hitting rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap provoke public sympathy for and renewed interest in the band that Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls began back in 1964 as The Originals? Or would the group behind such familiar classic-rock hits as Give Me Some Money and Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight be consigned once and for all to obscurity? In this atmosphere of uncertainty, Spinal Tap elected to go back to their roots, kicking off a tour of small American rock clubs with an appearance at New York City's legendary CBGB's on May 6, 1984.  <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.  <em class="date">May 6, 1970: Students launch nationwide protest </h2>Hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation shut down as thousands of students join a nationwide campus protest. Governor Ronald Reagan closed down the entire California university and college system until May 11, which affected more than 280,000 students on 28 campuses. Elsewhere, faculty and administrators joined students in active dissent and 536 campuses were shut down completely, 51 for the rest of the academic year. A National Student Association spokesman reported students from more than 300 campuses were boycotting classes. The protests were a reaction to the shooting of four students at Kent State University by National Guardsmen during a campus demonstration about President Nixon's decision to send U.S. and South Vietnamese troops into Cambodia. Four days later, a student rally at Jackson State College in Mississippi resulted in the death of two students and 12 wounded when police opened fire on a women's dormitory.  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, 1998aimler-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, 1896:A serial killer is hanged</h2>Dr. H. H. Holmes, one of America's first well-known serial killers, is hanged to death in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although his criminal exploits were just as extensive and occurred during the same time period as Jack the Ripper, the Arch Fiend--as Holmes was known--has not endured in the public's memory the way the Ripper has. <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, 1812:Robert Browning is born</h2>Poet Robert Browning is born on this day in 1812 in Camberwell, outside London. <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. <em class="date">May 7, 1945:Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies at Reims</h2>On this day in 1945, the German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces, East and West, at Reims, in northwestern France. history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 8, 1945: 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, 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, 2010: Betty White becomes oldest Saturday Night Live host </h2>On this day in 2010, 88-year-old actress Betty White, known for her former roles on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, becomes the oldest person to host the long-running, late-night TV sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). Whites hosting gig came about, in part, after hundreds of thousands of her fans signed onto a Facebook campaign rallying for it. <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, 2001: Soccer fans trampled in Ghana </h2>On this day in 2001, during a soccer match at Accra Stadium in Ghana, an encounter between police and rowdy fans results in a stampede that kills 126 people. This tragedy was the worst-ever sports-related disaster in Africa's history to that time.  <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, 1860: James Barrie is born </h2>James Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, is born in Scotland on this day.  <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.  history.com

 

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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, 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.  history.com

 

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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, 1858: Minnesota enters the Union </h2>Minnesota enters the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858.  <em class="date">May 11, 1942: Go Down, Moses, by William Faulkner, is published </h2>One of William Faulkner's greatest collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published. The collection included The Bear, one of his most famous stories, which had previously appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.  <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, 1977: President Carter puts in a long day at the office </h2>On this day in history, President Carter spends a typically busy day meeting with congressional and cabinet leaders, conducting phone meetings, squeezing in a game of tennis and family time, and attending the opera. Carter's White House diary, posted on his presidential library's website reveals in great detail Carter's schedule. Although the content of Carter's White House discussions was not recorded in the diary, practically every move of Carter's was logged (by an unknown entity) to the exact minute.  <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.  <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.  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, 1828: Poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti is born </h2>Writer and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti is born this day in London. Rossetti's father was an Italian patriot exiled to England. The family's household became a center of liberal politics and lively conversation and produced several talented children, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, his sister, poet Christina Rossetti, and his brother, art critic and editor William Rossetti.  <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, 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

 

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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, 1948: A brutal murder begins an unusual investigation </h2>Three-year-old June Devaney, recovering from pneumonia at Queen's Park Hospital in Blackburn, England, is kidnapped from her bed. Nurses discovered her missing at 1:20 a.m. the next day, and police were immediately summoned to investigate. Two hours later, her body was found with multiple skull fractures. The medical examiner determined that Devaney had been raped and then swung headfirst into a wall.  <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, 1904: First American Olympiad </h2>The Third Olympiad of the modern era, and the first Olympic Games to be held in the United States, opens in St. Louis, Missouri. The 1904 Games were actually initially awarded to Chicago, Illinois, but were later given to St. Louis to be staged in connection with the St. Louis World Exposition. Like the Second Olympiad, held in Paris in 1900, the St. Louis Games were poorly organized and overshadowed by the world's fair.  <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, 1842: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, publishes his popular volume Poems </h2>On this day in 1842, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, publishes a volume called Poems. While the 32-year-old poet had already published several other books of verse, Poems, which included works like Ulysses and Morte D'Arthur, was considered his best work to date. The book confirmed his growing stature as a poet after more than a decade of writing.  <em class="date">May 14, 1936: Bobby Darin is born </h2> Mack The Knife, which held the #1 spot on the Billboard pop chart for an incredible nine weeks in 1959, was a big enough hit for Bobby Darin that it cemented him in many people's minds as the consummate cool-cat crooner. But Bobby Darin was no mere lounge act. His knack for keeping people guessing first showed itself in his shift from rock-and-roll teen idol to finger-snapping Vegas headliner, but his tendency to move in and out and back and forth among diverse musical genres also took him through phases as a writer-performer of protest-folk, folk-rock and even country-western music. Bobby Darin, one of the most versatile pop stars of his generation, was born Walden Robert Cassotto in the Bronx, New York, on this day in 1936.  <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

 

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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, 1890: Katherine Anne Porter is born </h2>Callie Porter, later known as Katherine Anne Porter, is born in Indian Creek, Texas, on this day in 1890.  <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.  <em class="date">May 15, 1942: Legislation creating the Women's Army Corps becomes law </h2>On this day in 1942, a bill establishing a women's corps in the U.S. Army becomes law, creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAACs) and granting women official military status.  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, 1975: A nurse steals another woman's unborn baby </h2>Norma Jean Armistead checks herself into Kaiser Hospital in Los Angeles, California, with a newborn that she claims to have given birth to at home. Some staff members were already aware that Armistead, a nurse at the hospital, had a pregnancy listed on her medical charts the previous year, but dismissed it as a mistake because they didn't believe the 44-year-old woman was still capable of getting pregnant.  <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, 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.  <em class="date">May 16, 1965: Accident at Bien Hoa kills 27 U.S. servicemen </h2>What is described by the United States government as an accidental explosion of a bomb on one aircraft which spread to others at the Bien Hoa air base leaves 27 U.S. servicemen and 4 South Vietnamese dead and some 95 Americans injured. More than 40 U.S. and South Vietnamese planes, including 10 B-57s, were destroyed.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 17, 1954: 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, 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, 1873: Dorothy Richardson, pioneer of stream of consciousness, is born </h2>Influential English writer Dorothy Richardson, whose stream-of-consciousness style will influence James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, is born on this day in 1873.  <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.  <em class="date">May 17, 1943: The Memphis Belle flies its 25th bombing mission </h2>On this day in 1943, the crew of the Memphis Belle, one of a group of American bombers based in Britain, becomes the first B-17 crew to complete 25 missions over Europe.  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, 1926: Popular evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears </h2>Aimee Semple McPherson, a nationally known evangelist, disappears from Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California. Police dispatched planes and ships in an effort to find her, but she was nowhere to be found. Authorities later discovered that radio announcer Kenneth Ormiston, a friend of McPherson, had also vanished.  <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, 1593: Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe </h2>Scholars believe an arrest warrant was issued on this day in 1593 for Christopher Marlowe, after fellow writer Thomas Kyd accused Marlowe of heresy.  <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, 1861: Newspaper report criticizes Mrs. Lincoln </h2>An obscure California newspaper casts first lady Mary Todd Lincoln in an unflattering light on this day in 1861.  <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

 

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<em class="date">May 19, 1935: Lawrence of Arabia dies </h2>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>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, 1715: The early years of species protection </h2>The colony of New York passes a law making it illegal to gather, rake, take up, or bring to the market, any oysters whatsoever between the months of May and September. This regulation was only one of many that were passed in the early days of America to help preserve certain species. In recent years, endangered species laws have been enacted in order to criminalize poaching for the protection of animals. However, earlier versions of these laws were more concerned with insuring that hunters would have a steady supply of game.  <em class="date">May 19, 1997: Avian flu kills young boy </h2>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, 1897: Oscar Wilde is released from jail </h2>On this day in 1897, writer Oscar Wilde is released from jail after two years of hard labor. His experiences in prison were the basis for his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898).  <em class="date">May 19, 1965: Pete Townshend writes My Generation on his 20th birthday </h2>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>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>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>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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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, 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, 2005: Mary Kay Letourneau marries former victim </h2>On this day in 2005, ex-teacher and convicted pedophile Mary Kay Letourneau, 43, marries her former victim and the father of two of her children, Vili Fualaau, 22. Just nine months earlier, Letourneau had been released from prison after serving a seven-and-a-half year sentence for raping Fualaau.  <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, 1862: The Homestead Act </h2>In a milestone in the settlement of the American West, President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Homestead Act, a program designed to grant public land to small farmers at low cost. The act gave 160 acres of land to any applicant who was the head of a household and 21 years or older, provided that the person settled on the land for five years and then paid a small filing fee. If settlers wished to obtain title earlier, they could do so after six months by paying $1.25 an acre.  <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, 1998: Frank Sinatra is laid to rest </h2>Long before his stature in the world of show business earned him the nickname Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra was known simply as The Voice. During a career that saw him go from skinny teen idol to middle-aged playboy, Sinatras personality and looks were certainly major factors in his success, but they could never fully overshadow his voicean instrument that could convey very deep emotions in a sincere, understated way. Right from the beginning, he was there with the truth of things in his voice, is how Bob Dylan put it on May 20, 1998the day Frank Sinatra was laid to rest. His music had an influence on me, whether I knew it or not. He was one of the very few singers who sang without a mask. This is a sad day.  <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.  <em class="date">May 21, 1969: Military spokesman defends Hamburger Hill </h2>A U.S. military command spokesman in Saigon defends the battle for Ap Bia Mountain as having been necessary to stop enemy infiltration and protect the city of Hue. The spokesman stated that the battle was an integral part of the policy of maximum pressure that U.S. forces had been pursuing for the prior six months, and confirmed that no orders had been received from President Nixon to modify that basic strategy. On May 20, the battle, described in the American media as the battle for Hamburger Hill, had come under attack in Congress from Senator Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), who described the action as senseless and irresponsible.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 22, 1843: Great Emigration departs for Oregon </h2>A massive wagon train, made up of 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle, sets off down the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri. Known as the Great Emigration, the expedition came two years after the first modest party of settlers made the long, overland journey to Oregon.  <em class="date">May 22, 1967: Belgian department store burns </h2>A fire at the L'Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, kills 322 people on this day in 1967. Poor preparation and safety features were responsible for the high death toll.  <em class="date">May 22, 2004: Controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 wins Palme dOr </h2>On this day in 2004, Michael Moores documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 beats out 18 other films to win the coveted Palme dOr, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It became the first documentary to triumph at Cannes since The Silent World, co-directed by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle, won the Palme dOr in 1956.  <em class="date">May 22, 1859: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is born </h2>It's the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of master sleuth Sherlock Holmes.  <em class="date">May 22, 1958: Jerry Lee Lewis drops a bombshell in London </h2>The arrival in the United Kingdom of one of the biggest figures in rock and roll was looked forward to with great anticipation in May of 1958. Nowhere in the world were the teenage fans of the raucous music coming out of America more enthusiastic than they were in England, and the coming tour of the great Jerry Lee Lewis promised to be a rousing success. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On and Great Balls Of Fire had both been massive hits in the UK, and early demand for tickets was great enough that 27 appearances were booked in what promised to be the biggest tour yet by an American rock-and-roll star. There was just one problem: Unbeknownst to the British public and the organizers of the coming tour, Jerry Lee Lewis would be traveling to England as a newly married man, with his pretty young wife in tow. Just how young that wife really was would be revealed on this day in 1958, when Jerry Lee The Killer Lewis arrived at Heathrow Airport with his new child bride.  <em class="date">May 22, 1802: Martha Washington dies </h2>President George Washington's devoted widow and the nation's first first lady, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, dies at her Mt. Vernon home on this day in 1802. She was 70 years old.  <em class="date">May 22, 2003: Sorenstam makes history </h2>On May 22, 2003, golfer Annika Sorenstam becomes the first woman to play in a PGA tour event since Babe Didrikson 58 years earlier, after receiving a sponsors exemption to compete in the Bank of America Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 23, 1934: Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde </h2>On this day in 1934, notorious criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death by Texas and Louisiana state police while driving a stolen car near Sailes, Louisiana.  <em class="date">May 23, 1960: Tsunami hits Hawaii </h2>A tsunami caused by an earthquake off the coast of Chile travels across the Pacific Ocean and kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii, on this day in 1960. The massive 8.5-magnitude quake had killed thousands in Chile the previous day.  <em class="date">May 23, 1911: New York Public Library dedicated </h2>In a ceremony presided over by President William Howard Taft, the New York Public Library, the largest marble structure ever constructed in the United States, is dedicated in New York City. Occupying a two-block section of Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, the monumental beaux-arts structure took 14 years to complete at a cost of $9 million. The day after its dedication, the library opened its doors to the public, and some 40,000 citizens passed through to make use of a collection that already consisted of more than a million books.  <em class="date">May 23, 1810: Margaret Fuller is born </h2>Writer and editor Margaret Fuller, who inspired other Americans to devote themselves to learning, is born on this day.  <em class="date">May 23, 1979: Tom Petty defies his record label and files for bankruptcy </h2>The music industry is notorious for its creative accounting practices and for onerous contracts that can keep even some top-selling artists perpetually in debt to their record labels. In a typical recording contract, a record label advances an artist a certain sum of money against future earnings from royalties. But because the cost of things like studio time, marketing support and tour expenses must be recouped by the label before an artist earns any royalties, many artists who sign recording contracts never sell enough records to earn out their advance. Where this system truly breaks down is when a top-selling artist or group like TLC or Run-DMC finds itself deeply in debt to its record label despite having sold millions of records. Those are but two groups that have pursued a strategy made famous by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Tom Petty when he declared bankruptcy on this day in 1979 in an effort to free himself from his contract with Shelter Records.  <em class="date">May 23, 1941: Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer to retain heavyweight title </h2>On May 23, 1941, Joe Louis beats Buddy Baer to retain his heavyweight title. The fight was widely considered the most exciting heavyweight match-up since Dempsey vs. Firpo in 1923. Baer proved to be more than Louis bargained for, and he shocked fans by sending the champ to the canvas for four seconds in the first round. Louis clawed his way back, however, and eventually gutted out a victory in front of 35,000 people at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.  <em class="date">May 23, 1945: Himmler commits suicide </h2>On this day in 1945, Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS, assistant chief of the Gestapo, and architect of Hitler's program to exterminate European Jews, commits suicide one day after being arrested by the British.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 24, 1883: Brooklyn Bridge opens </h2>After 14 years and 27 deaths while being constructed, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River is opened, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn for the first time in history. Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island turned out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland. Designed by the late John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge was the largest suspension bridge ever built to that date.  <em class="date">May 24, 1964: Riot erupts at soccer match </h2>A referee's call in a soccer match between Peru and Argentina sparks a riot on this day in 1964. More than 300 fans were killed and another 500 people were injured in the violent melee that followed at National Stadium in Lima, Peru.  <em class="date">May 24, 1940: Joseph Brodsky is born </h2>Today is the birthday of poet Joseph Brodsky, born this day in St. Petersburg, Russia. His poetry treats such universal topics as life, death, and the meaning of existence.  <em class="date">May 24, 1974: Duke Ellington dies </h2>The highest compliment Edward Kennedy Ellington knew how to pay to a fellow musician was to refer to him as being beyond category. If any label could possibly capture the essence of Ellington himself, it would be that one. In a career spanning five decades, the man they called Duke put an indelible stamp on 20th-century American music as an instrumentalist, as a composer and as an orchestra leader. Equally at home and equally revered in the Cotton Club and Carnegie Hall, if any musician ever defied categorization, it was Duke Ellington. Fifty years after becoming a household name, and without slowing down professionally until the very end, Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington died on May 24, 1974, at the age of 75.  <em class="date">May 24, 1935: MLB holds first night game </h2>The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on this night in 1935 in Major League Baseballs first-ever night game, played courtesy of recently installed lights at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.  <em class="date">May 24, 1943: Auschwitz gets a new doctor: the Angel of Death </h2>On this day in 1943, the extermination camp at Auschwitz, Poland, receives a new doctor, 32-year-old Josef Mengele, a man who will earn the nickname the Angel of Death.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 25, 1977: Star Wars opens </h2>On this day in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas' blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.  <em class="date">May 25, 1994: Pennsylvania man buried with his beloved Corvette </h2>On this day in 1994, the ashes of 71-year-old George Swanson are buried (according to Swanson's request) in the driver's seat of his 1984 white Corvette in Hempfield County, Pennsylvania.  <em class="date">May 25, 1977: Chinese government removes ban on Shakespeare </h2>A new sign of political liberalization appears in China, when the communist government lifts its decade-old ban on the writings of William Shakespeare. The action by the Chinese government was additional evidence that the Cultural Revolution was over.  <em class="date">May 25, 1861: President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War </h2>John Merryman, a state legislator from Maryland, is arrested for attempting to hinder Union troops from moving from Baltimore to Washington during the Civil War and is held at Fort McHenry by Union military officials. His attorney immediately sought a writ of habeas corpus so that a federal court could examine the charges. However, President Abraham Lincoln decided to suspend the right of habeas corpus, and the general in command of Fort McHenry refused to turn Merryman over to the authorities.  <em class="date">May 25, 1979: DC-10 crashes, killing all aboard </h2>Almost 300 people are killed on this day in 1979 when an American Airlines flight crashes and explodes after losing one engine just after takeoff.  <em class="date">May 25, 1979: Worst air crash in U.S. history </h2>On Friday afternoon, Memorial Day weekend, American Airlines Flight 191, a Los Angeles-bound DC-10, takes off at 3:03 p.m. from Chicago-O'Hare International airport with 271 aboard. As Flight 191 raised its nose during the initial stage of the takeoff, an engine under the left wing broke off with its pylon assembly and fell to the runway. The aircraft climbed to about 350 feet above the ground and then began to spin to the left, continuing its leftward roll until the wings were past the vertical position, with the nose pitched down below the horizon. Moments later, the aircraft crashed into an open field about a half-mile from its takeoff point, killing all 271 people aboard and two others in a nearby trailer park. It was the worst domestic air crash in U.S. history.  <em class="date">May 25, 1911: Thomas Mann visits the Lido in Venice </h2>Thomas Mann visits the Lido in Venice on this day and is inspired with the idea for his novella Death in Venice.  <em class="date">May 25, 1927: International best-selling thriller writer Robert Ludlum is born </h2>On this day in 1927, Robert Ludlum, the author of more than 20 thrillers, including the Jason Bourne spy novels, is born in New York City. Ludlum, who published his first novel when he was in his 40s, sold more than 200 million books by the time of his death in 2001. Known for complex plots featuring conspiracies, corruption and world takeovers inspired by diabolical forces, Ludlum has been credited as one of the pioneers of the type of fast-paced, engaging and easy-to-read book that came to be dubbed an airport novel. <em class="date">May 25, 1961: JFK asks Congress to support the space program </h2>On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy announces to Congress his goal of sending an American to the moon by the end of the decade and asks for financial support of an accelerated space program. He made the task a national priority and a mission in which all Americans would share, stating that it will not be one man going to the moonit will be an entire nation.  <em class="date">May 25, 1935: Babe Ruth hits last home run </h2>On May 25, 1935, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Babe Ruth hits his 714th home run, a record for career home runs that would stand for almost 40 years. This was one of Ruths last games, and the last home run of his career. Ruth went four for four on the day, hitting three home runs and driving in six runs.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 26, 1897: Dracula goes on sale in London </h2>The first copies of the classic vampire novel Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker, appear in London bookshops on this day in 1897.  <em class="date">May 26, 1927: Last day of Model T production at Ford </h2>On this day in 1927, Henry Ford and his son Edsel drive the 15 millionth Model T Ford out of their factory, marking the famous automobile's official last day of production.  <em class="date">May 26, 1991: Plane crashes in Thai jungle </h2>On this day in 1991, a Boeing 767 crashes into the jungle near Bangkok, Thailand, and kills all 223 people on board. The plane was owned and operated by the Austrian company Lauda-Air was the nation's largest charter operation and famed race car driver Niki Lauda's first foray into business after his retirement from racing.  <em class="date">May 26, 1868: President Johnson acquitted </h2>At the end of a historic two-month trial, the U.S. Senate narrowly fails to convict President Andrew Johnson of the impeachment charges levied against him by the House of Representatives three months earlier. The senators voted 35 guilty and 19 not guilty on the second article of impeachment, a charge related to his violation of the Tenure of Office Act in the previous year. Ten days earlier, the Senate had likewise failed to convict Johnson on another article of impeachment, the 11th, voting an identical 35 for conviction and 19 for acquittal. Because both votes fell short--by one vote--of the two-thirds majority needed to convict Johnson, he was judged not guilty and remained in office.  <em class="date">May 26, 1962: The British Invasion has an odd beginning </h2>If you'd told a randomly selected group of American music fans in the spring of 1962 that a British act would soon achieve total dominance of the American pop scene, change the face of music and fashion and inspire a generation of future pop stars to take up an instrument and join a band, they would probably have scratched their heads and struggled to imagine such a thing. And if any image popped into their heads, it wouldn't have been of young lads playing guitars in mop tops and Nehru jackets. The Beatles, after all, were complete unknowns at this point. No, if there was any image that would have come to mind, it would have been of middle-aged men playing the clarinet in bowler hats and stripey waistcoats. Up to that point, after all, the single, solitary Briton ever to have reached the top of the American charts in the rock and roll era was a man by the name of Mr. Acker Bilk. His instrumental single, Stranger On the Shore provided the first, false hint of the British Invasion to come when it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 26, 1962.  <em class="date">May 26, 1907: John Wayne is born </h2>John Wayne, an actor who came to epitomize the American West, is born in Winterset, Iowa.  <em class="date">May 26, 1924: Coolidge signs stringent immigration law </h2>On this day in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signs into law the Comprehensive Immigration Act, the most stringent immigration policy up to that time in the nation's history.  <em class="date">May 26, 1959: Haddix pitches 12 perfect innings, but loses </h2>On this day in 1959, Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves, only to lose the game on a two-run double by Braves first baseman Joe Ad**** in the 13th inning. It was the first time a pitcher threw more than nine perfect innings in major league history.  <em class="date">May 26, 1965: Australian troops depart for Vietnam </h2>Eight hundred Australian troops depart for Vietnam and New Zealand announces that it will send an artillery battalion.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">May 27, 1941: Bismarck sunk by Royal Navy </h2>On May 27, 1941, the British navy sinks the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic near France. The German death toll was more than 2,000.  <em class="date">May 27, 1937: Golden Gate Bridge opens </h2>On this day in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge, connecting San Francisco with Marin County, California, officially opens amid citywide celebration.  <em class="date">May 27, 1997: Tornado levels Texas subdivision </h2>A tornado in Jarrell, Texas, destroys the town and kills nearly 30 people on this day in 1997. This F5 tornadoa rating indicating it had winds of more than 260 miles per hour--was unusual in that it traveled south along the ground; nearly all tornadoes in North America move northeast.  <em class="date">May 27, 1894: Hard-boiled mystery writer Dashiell Hammett is born </h2>Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon, is born in Maryland on this day in 1894.  <em class="date">May 27, 1963: Dylan's breakthrough album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, is released </h2>On this day in 1963, Bob Dylan releases his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which goes on to transform him from a popular local act to a global phenomenon.  <em class="date">May 27, 1941: FDR proclaims an unlimited national emergency </h2>President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces a state of unlimited national emergency in response to Nazi Germany's threats of world domination on this day in 1941. In a speech on this day, he repeated his famous remark from a speech he made in 1933 during the Great Depression: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  <em class="date">May 27, 1972: Mark Donohue sets record at Indy 500 </h2>On May 27, 1972, Mark Donohue wins the Indianapolis 500 with an average speed of 163.645 miles an hour, six miles an hour faster than the previous speed record.  <em class="date">May 27, 1943: U.S. Olympian Louie Zamperiniâs plane goes down in the Pacific </h2>On this day in 1943, a B-24 carrying U.S. airman and former Olympic runner Louis Louie Zamperini crashes into the Pacific Ocean. After surviving the crash, Zamperini floated on a raft in shark-infested waters for more than a month before being picked up by the Japanese and spending the next two years in a series of brutal prison camps. His story of survival was featured in the 2010 best-selling book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  history.com