This Week in History

This Week in History

May 26
1521 Martin Luther's writings were banned by the Edict of Worms. 1868 President Andrew Johnson avoided conviction for impeachment charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors" by one vote. 1940 Allied troops began the massive naval evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, France, during World War II. 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates’ Harvey Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before losing, 1–0, in the 13th. 1977 George Willig, "the human fly," scaled the World Trade Center in New York City by attaching himself to the window washer mechanism and walking straight up until falling into police custody when he reached the top. It took Willig three and a half hours to make the climb, and $1.10 in fines—a penny per floor. 1978 The first legal casino to be operated in the United States outside of Nevada was opened in Atlantic City. 2003 Rwandans voted to approve a new constitution that instituted a balance of power between Hutu and Tutsi.

May 27
1647 The first recorded execution of a witch reportedly took place in Massachusetts when Achsah Young was hanged. 1703 St. Petersburg was founded by Czar Peter the Great. 1936 The Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage, arriving in France four hours later. 1937 Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened. 1941 British ships sank the German battleship Bismarck off the coast of France, resulting in the loss of 2,300 lives. 1994 Nobel-prize winning dissident, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after 20 years in exile. 1996 After a year and a half of bloodshed, Russian President Boris Yeltsin met with the leader of the Chechen rebels and negotiated a cease-fire. 1999 Slobodan Milosevic was indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague for crimes against humanity.

May 28
1863 Robert Gould Shaw, leading the first northern all-black regiment, leaves Boston for the Civil War. 1929 The first all-color, full-length talking picture, On With the Show!, debuted. 1934 The Dionne quintuplets were born in Ontario, Canada. 1957 Baseball owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to move to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively. Many New Yorkers still haven’t recovered. 1987 Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old pilot from West Germany, landed his private plane in Moscow’s Red Square. He was arrested and sentenced to four years in a labor camp, but was released after just one. 1997 Linda Finch completed Amelia Earhart's attempted around-the-world flight. 1998 Pakistan staged nuclear tests in response to India's nuclear tests two weeks earlier. 2003 President Bush signed a $350 billion tax cut into law; the third largest tax cut in U.S. history.

May 29
1765 Patrick Henry bitterly denounced the Stamp Act in the Virginia House of Burgesses. 1790 Rhode Island became the 13th state in the United States, the last of the original colonies to ratify the Constitution. 1848 Wisconsin became the 30th state in the United States. 1942 Bing Crosby recorded his version of "White Christmas." It would go on to sell over 30 million copies. 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 1990 Boris Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian republic by the parliament.

May 30
1431 Joan of Arc was burned at the stake as a heretic. 1536 King Henry VIII of England married his 3rd wife, Jane Seymour, 11 days after he had his 2nd wife, Anne Boleyn executed. 1911 The first Indianapolis 500 was won by Ray Harroun. 1922 The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, was dedicated by Chief Justice William Howard Taft. 1998 An earthquake in Northern Afghanistan (and subsequent aftershocks) killed an estimated 5,000 and injured at least 1,500. A quake on Feb. 4 in the same area had killed about 2,300.

May 31
1790 The first U.S. Copyright Law was enacted, protecting books, maps, and other original materials. 1889 Heavy rains caused the South Fork Dam to collapse, sending 20 million tons of water into Johnstown, Pa. Over 2,200 people were killed and the town was nearly destroyed. 1911 The hull of the Titanic was launched in Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, "Not even God himself could sink this ship." 1961 South Africa became an independent republic. 1962 Former Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. 1970 An earthquake in Peru left more than 50,000 dead. 2004 Alberta Martin, 97, one of the last widows of a U.S. Civil War veteran, died. She had married Confederate veteran William Martin in 1927 when she was 21 and he was 81.

June 1
1792 Kentucky became the 15th state in the United States. 1796 Tennessee became the 16th state in the United States. 1938 The first issue of Action Comics, featuring Superman, was published. 1958 General Charles De Gaulle became the premier of France. 1968 Helen Keller, blind and deaf author-lecturer, died. 1980 Cable News Network (CNN) debuted. 2001 Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal wiped out most of the royal family before shooting himself.

Famous Birthdays

May 26
1886 Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson) (singer) 1907 John Wayne (Marion Morrison) (The Duke) (actor) 1913 Peter Cushing (actor) 1939 Brent Musberger (sportscaster) 1948 Stevie (Stephanie) Nicks (songwriter) 1949 Hank Williams Jr. (singer) 1951 Sally Ride (astronaut who was 1st American woman in space on Challenger shuttle in 1983) 1964 Lenny Kravitz (singer)

May 27
1794 Cornelius Vanderbilt 1837 Wild Bill Hickok 1878 Isadora Duncan (dancer) 1894 Dashiell Hammett (author) 1911 Vincent Price (actor) 1911 Hubert H. Humphrey 1912 Slammin' Sammy Snead (champion golfer) 1922 Christopher Lee (actor) 1923 Henry Kissinger (US Secretary of State) 1935 Lee Ann Meriwether (Miss America in 1955 and actress) 1936 Louis Gossett Jr. (actor) 1939 Don Williams (country singer) 1971 Lisa "left-eyes" Lopes (hip hop singer)

May 28
1779 Thomas Moore (poet and lyricist) 1888 Jim Thorpe (footballer, baseballer, olympian) 1908 Ian Fleming (author) 1926 Marvin Panch (auto racer) 1944 Gladys Knight (singer) 1944 Rudolph Giuliani (politician and former Mayor of New York City) 1945 John Fogerty (songwriter and singer) 1968 Kylie Minogue (actress, singer) 1986 Joseph Cross (actor)

May 29
1736 Patrick Henry (American revolutionary patriot) 1903 Bob Hope (Leslie Townes Hope) (entertainer) 1917 John Fitzgerald Kennedy (35th US President) 1957 LaToya Jackson (singer) 1958 Annette Bening (actor) 1961 Melissa Etheridge (singer) 1975 Melanie Janine Brown (singer - spice girls)

May 30
1908 Mel Blanc (cartoon voice) 1909 Benny Goodman (clarinetist and bandleader) 1912 Joseph Stein (playwright) 1915 Frank Blair (newscaster) 1920 Franklin Schaffner (director) 1939 Michael Pollard (actor) 1964 Wynonna Judd (country singer)

May 31
1819 Walt Whitman (poet) 1898 Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (clergyman and author) 1908 Don Ameche (Dominic Amici) (actor) 1923 Prince Rainer III (head of state: Monaco, husband of Grace Kelly) 1930 Clint Eastwood (actor, director) 1938 Peter Yarrow (singer - peter, paul, mary) 1943 Joe Namath (football) 1948 John Bonham (drummer) 1950 Tom Berenger (actor) 1965 Brooke Shields (actress)

June 1
1801 Brigham Young (Mormon leader) 1878 John Masefield (poet) 1921 Nelson Riddle (orchestra leader) 1926 Andy Griffith (actor) 1926 Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Baker Mortenson) (actress) 1934 Pat (Charles Eugene) Boone (singer) 1937 Morgan Freeman (actor) 1941 Dean (Wilmer) Chance (baseball) 1974 Alanis Morisette (singer/songwriter) 1982 Danny Zavatsky (singer)