Today in History

Today in History

MAY 5
1494 Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica, which he names Santa Gloria. 1821 Napoleon Bonaparte dies in exile on the island of St. Helena. 1862 Union and Confederate forces clash at the Battle of Williamsburg 1865 The 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery. 1912 Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing. 1917 Eugene Jacques Bullard becomes the first African-American aviator when he earns a flying certificate with the French Air Service. 1920 Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Visetti are arrested for murder. 1935 American Jesse Owens sets the long jump record. 1961 Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space.

MAY 6
1527 German troops begin sacking Rome. Libraries are destroyed, the Pope is captured and thousands are killed. 1862 Henry David Thoreau dies of tuberculosis at age 44. 1877 Chief Crazy Horse surrenders to U.S. troops in Nebraska. Crazy Horse brought General Custer to his end. 1937 The dirigible Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey. 1987 Black South African workers go on strike over whites-only election 1994 The Channel Tunnel linking England to France is officially opened.

MAY 7
558 The dome of the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapses. Its immediate rebuilding is ordered by Justinian. 1429 Joan of Arc breaks the English siege of Orleans. 1763 Indian chief Pontiac begins his attack on a British fort in present-day Detroit, Michigan. 1877 Indian chief Sitting Bull enters Canada with a trail of Indians after the Battle of Little Big Horn. 1915 The German submarine U-20 torpedoes the passenger ship Lusitiania, sinking her in 21 minutes with 1,978 people on board. 1942 In the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese and American navies attack each other with carrier-launched warplanes. It is the first time in the history of naval warfare where two fleets fought without seeing each other. Two crucial battles in 1942 marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific. 1945 Germany signs an unconditional surrender, effectively ending World War II in Europe. 1960 Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the Soviet Union.

MAY 8
1541 Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River which he calls Rio de Espiritu Santo. 1559 An act of supremacy defines Queen Elizabeth I as the supreme governor of the church of England. 1794 The United States Post Office is established. 1864 Union troops arrive at Spotsylvania Court House to find the Confederates waiting for them. 1886 Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invents Coca Cola. 1895 China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki. 1933 Gandhi begins a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India. 1958 President Eisenhower orders the National Guard out of Little Rock as Ernest Green becomes the first black to graduate from an Arkansas public school. 1967 Boxer Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing induction in U.S. Army. 1984 The Soviet Union announces it will not participate in Summer Olympics planned for Los Angeles. 1995 Jacques Chirac is elected president of France

MAY 9
1754 The first newspaper cartoon in America appears. 1864 Union General John Sedgwick is shot and killed by a Confederate sharpshooter during fighting at Spotsylvania. His last words are: "They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist–" 1926 Explorer Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole. 1962 A laser beam is successfully bounced off the moon for the first time. 1974 The House Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on Nixon impeachment.

MAY 10
1773 To keep the troubled East India Company afloat, Parliament passes the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the American colonies. 1840 Mormon leader Joseph Smith moves his band of followers to Illinois to escape the hostilities they experienced in Missouri. 1865 Union cavalry troops capture Confederate President Jefferson Davis near Irvinville, Georgia. 1869 The Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah. 1872 Victoria Woodhull becomes first woman nominated for U.S. president. 1924 J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.1960 The USS Nautilus completes first circumnavigation of globe underwater. 1994 Nelson Mandela is sworn in as South Africa’s first black president.

MAY 11
1745 French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army at Fontenoy. 1792 The Columbia River is discovered by Captain Robert Gray. 1812 British prime Minster Spencer Perceval is shot by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the House of Commons. 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi lands at Marsala, Sicily. 1864 Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern. 1960 Israeli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS

MAY 5
1813 Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher. 1818 Karl Marx, German philosopher (The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital). 1830 John B. Stetson, American hat maker. 1899 Freeman F. Gosden, radio comedy writer and performer (Amos ‘n’ Andy). 1908 Rex Harrison, actor (My Fair Lady). 1942 Tammy Wynette, country singer 1943 Michael Palin, actor and screenwriter (Monty Python’s Flying Circus).

MAY 6
1758 Maximilian Robespierre, French revolutionary 1856 Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis. 1868 Gaston Leroux, French novelist (The Phantom of the Opera). 1888 Russell Stover, candy manufacturer 1915 Orson Welles, actor 1931 Willie Mays, baseball player 1953 Tony Blair, former prime minister of England 1961 George Clooney, actor.

MAY 7
1812 Robert Browning, poet 1833 Johannes Brahms, composer 1840 Peter I. Tchaikovsky, composer 1919 Eva Paron, Argentina's first lady 1950 Tim Russert, journalist, host of Meet the Press 1963 Mike Myers, actor, comedienne.

MAY 8
1847 Oscar Hammerstein, playwright and producer 1884 Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States 1926 Don Rickles, comedian and actor 1940 Peter Benchley, author 1964 Melissa Gilbert, actress 1975 Enrique Iglesias, singer

MAY 9
1800 John Brown, abolitionist. 1844 Belle Boyd, Confederate spy. 1860 James Mathew Barrie, writer (Peter Pan, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up). 1873 Howard Carter, British archaeologist. 1936 Albert Finney, British actor (Murder on the Orient Express, Tom Jones) 1949 Billy Joel, singer

 MAY 10
1838 John Wilkes Booth, actor, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. 1899 Fred Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz), American dancer and actor. 1902 David O. Selznick, film producer (Gone with the Wind, Rebecca). 1944 Judith Jamison, American ballerina. 1955 Mark David Chapman, assassin of John Lennon 1960 Bono, singer.

MAY 11
1888 Irving Berlin, composer, writer of over 1,500 songs. 1904 Salvador Dali, surrealist painter.1932 Valentino (fashion designer) 1933 Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader.