What Happened This Day In History - May 18

Today in History
May 18

526		St. John I ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1643		Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, is granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king's will.
1652		A law is passed in Rhode Island banning slavery in the colonies but it causes little stir and seems unlikely to be enforced.
1792		Russian troops invade Poland.
1802		Britain declares war on France.
1804		Napoleon Bonaparte becomes the Emperor of France.
1828		The Battle of Las Piedras, between Uruguay and Brazil, ends.
1860		Abraham Lincoln is nominated for president.
1864		The fighting at Spotsylvania in Virginia, reaches its peak at the Bloody Angle.
1896		The Supreme Court's decision on Plessy v. Ferguson upholds the "separate but equal" policy in the United States.
1904		Brigand Raizuli kidnaps American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco.
1917		The U.S. Congress passes the Selective Service act, calling up soldiers to fight World War I.
1931		Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashes his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He is picked up seven hours later by a passing ship.
1933		President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act.
1942		New York ends night baseball games for the rest of World War II.
1944		The Allies finally capture Monte Cassino in Italy.
1951		The United Nations moves its headquarters to New York city.
1969		Two battalions of the 101st Airborne Division assault Hill 937 but cannot reach the top because of muddy conditions.
1974		India becomes sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.
1980		After rumbling for two months, Mount Saint Helens, in Washington, erupts 3 times in 24 hours.
Born on May 18
1836		Wilhelm Steinitz, chess champion.
1868		Nicholas II, the last Russian czar.
1872		Bertrand Russell, English mathematician, philosopher and social reformer.
1897		Frank Capra, film director (It's A Wonderful Life).
1902		Meredith Willson, composer and lyricist (The Music Man).
1911		Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner, blues singer.
1918		John Paul II [Karol Jozef Wojtyla], Roman Catholic pope.
1919		Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer

What Happened This Day In History - May 15

Today in History
May 15

756		Abd-al-Rahman is proclaimed emir of Cordoba, Spain.
1213		King John submits to the Pope, offering to make England and Ireland papal fiefs. Pope Innocent III lifts the interdict of 1208.
1602		English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold discovers Cape Cod.
1614		An aristocratic uprising in France ends with treaty of St. Menehould.
1618		Johannes Kepler discovers his harmonics law.
1702		The War of Spanish Succession begins.
1730		Following the resignation of Lord Townshend, Robert Walpole becomes the sole minister in the English cabinet.
1768		By the Treaty of Versailles, France purchases Corsica from Genoa.
1795		Napoleon enters the Lombardian capital of Milan in triumph.
1820		The U.S. Congress designates the slave trade a form of piracy.
1849		Neapolitan troops enter Palermo, Sicily.
1862		The Union ironclad Monitor and the gunboat Galena fire on Confederate troops at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Virginia.
1864		At the Battle of New Market, Virginia Military Institute cadets repel a Union attack.
1886		Emily Dickinson dies in Amherst, Mass., where she had lived in seclusion for the previous 24 years.
1916		U.S. Marines land in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.
1918		Pfc. Henry Johnson and Pfc. Needham Roberts receive the Croix de Guerre for their services in World War I. They are the first Americans to win France's highest military medal.
1930		Ellen Church becomes the first airline stewardess.
1942		The United States begins rationing gasoline.
1958		Sputnik III is launched by the Soviet Union.
1963		The last Project Mercury space flight, carrying Gordon Cooper, is launched.
1968		U.S. Marines relieve army troops in Nhi Ha, South Vietnam after a fourteen-day battle.
1972		George Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland.
1975		The merchant ship Mayaguez is recaptured from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge.
1988		Soviets forces begin their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Born on May 15
1773		Prince Clemens Von Metternich, Chancellor of Austria.
1856		Lyman Frank Baum, author (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).
1858		Emily Folger, Shakespeare scholar.
1859		Pierre Curie, physicist.
1860		Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, first wife of President Woodrow Wilson.
1890		Katherine Anne Porter, novelist (Ship of Fools).
1891		Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist (Notes of a Dead Man, Heart of a Dog).
1902		Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago through the 1960s and early 1970's.
1923		Richard Avedon, photographer.
1926		Anthony Shaffer, English playwright (Sleuth), twin brother of Peter Shaffer.
1926		Peter Shaffer, English playwright (Equus, Amadeus), twin brother of Anthony Shaffer.
1930		Jasper Johns, Jr., painter, leader of the Pop Art movement.

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What Happened This Day In History - May 14

Today in History
May 14

1264		King Henry III is captured by his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, at the Battle of Lewes.
1509		At the Battle of Agnadello, the French defeat the Venitians in Northern Italy.
1610		French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) is assassinated by François Ravillac, a fanatical monk.
1796		English physician Edward Jenner gives the first successful smallpox vaccination.
1804		Explorer William Clark sets off from St. Louis, Missouri.
1853		Gail Borden applies for a patent for condensed milk.
1863		Union General Nathanial Banks heads towards Port Hudson along the Mississippi River.
1897		Guglielmo Marconi sends first communication by wireless telegraph.
1897		"Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa is performed for the first time in Philadelphia.
1935		A plebiscite in the Philippines ratifies an independence agreement.
1940		Holland surrenders to Germany.
1942		The British Army, in retreat from Burma, reach India.
1948		Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion establishes the State of Israel.
1961		A bus carrying black and white civil rights activists is bombed and burned in Alabama.
1969		Three companies of the 101st Airborne Division fail to push North Vietnamese forces off Hill 937 in South Vietnam.
1973		The U.S. space station Skylab is launched.
1991		In South Africa, Winnie Mandela is sentenced to six years in prison for her part in the kidnapping and beating of three black youths and the death of a fourth.
Born on May 14
1533		Margaret of Valois, queen consort of Navarre.
1686		Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, German physicist, instrument maker, inventor of the thermometer.
1727		Thomas Gainsborough, painter ("Blue Boy").
1771		Thomas Wedgwood, English physicist, photography pioneer.
1897		Sidney Bechet, jazz clarinetist and soprano saxaphone player.
1933		Richard P. Brickner, novelist (The Broken Year).
1944		George Lucas, film director and producer (Star Wars).
1946		Robert Jarvik, American physician

What Happened This Day In History - May 13

Today in History
May 13

1607		English colonists land near the James River in Virginia.
1648		Margaret Jones of Plymouth is found guilty of witchcraft and is sentenced to be hanged.
1779		The War of Bavarian Succession ends.
1846		The United States declares war on Mexico after fighting has already begun.
1861		Britain declares its neutrality in the American Civil War.
1864		The Battle of Resaca commences as Union General Sherman fights towards Atlanta.
1888		Slavery is abolished in Brazil.
1912		The Royal Flying Corps is established in England.
1913		Igor Sikorsky flies the first four-engine aircraft.
1944		Allied forces in Italy break through the German Gustav Line into the Liri Valley.
1958		French troops take control of Algiers.
1968		Peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam begin in Paris.
1981		Pope John Paul II survives an assassination attempt.
Born on May 13
1729		Henry William Stiegel, early American glassmaker.
1842		Sir Arthur Sullivan, composer, collaborator with W.S. Gilbert.
1857		Ronald Ross, bacteriologist.
1907		Daphne du Maurier, author (Rebecca).
1912		Gil Evans, jazz pianist and composer.
1914		Joe Louis, world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949.
1940		Bruce Chatwin, travel writer (Patagonia). 1958 BRENDA AURORA VERNA YSAGUIRRE, poet, author, blogger, educator, co-founder of SUPERMAMA, a Non Profit Organization

What Happened This Day In History - May 12

Today in History
May 12

254		St. Stephen I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1588		King Henry III flees Paris after Henry of Guise triumphantly enters the city.
1641		The chief advisor to Charles I, Thomas Wentworth, is beheaded in the Tower of London
1780		Charleston, South Carolina falls to British forces.
1851		The Tule River War ends.
1863		With a victory at the Battle of Raymond, Mississippi, Union General Ulysses S. Grant closes in on Vicksburg.
1864		Union General Benjamin Butler attacks Drewry's Bluff on the James River.
1865		The last land battle of the Civil war occurs at Palmito Ranch, Texas. It is a Confederate victory.
1881		Tunisia, in North Africa become a French protectorate.
1885		In the Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against the Canadian government.
1926		The Airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.
1932		The body of Charles Lindbergh's baby is found.
1935		Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio by "Bill W.," a stockbroker, and "Dr. Bob S.," a heart surgeon.
1940		The Nazi conquest of France begins with the crossing Muese River.
1942		The Soviet Army launches its first major offensive of the war, taking Kharkov in the eastern Ukraine.
1943		Axis forces in North Africa surrender.
1949		The Berlin Blockade ends.
1969		Viet Cong sappers try unsuccessfully to overrun Landing Zone Snoopy in Vietnam.
1975		The U.S. merchant ship Mayaguez is seized by Cambodian forces.
Born on May 12
1812		Edward Lear, poet, painter and the youngest of 21 children.
1816		Edmund Beckett Grimthorpe, lawyer and architect.
1820		Florence Nightingale, English nurse and hospital reformer.
1828		Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter.
1907		Katherine Hepburn, actress (The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen).
1915		Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics.
1921		Farley Mowat, Canadian nature writer (Never Cry Wolf).
1925		Yogi Berra (Lawrence Peter Berra), baseball player and coach.
1933		Andrey Andreyevich Voznesensky, Russian poet.
1936		Tom Snyder, newscaster and television host.
1936		Frank Stella, painter.

What Happened This Day In History - May 11

Today in History
May 11

1573		Henry of Anjou becomes the first elected king of Poland.
1689		French and English navies battle at Bantry Bay.
1690		In the first major engagement of King William's War, British troops from Massachusetts seize Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) from the French.
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.
1857		Indian mutineers seize Delhi.
1858		Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
1860		Giuseppe Garibaldi lands at Marsala, Sicily.
1862		Confederates scuttle the CSS Virginia off Norfolk, Virginia.
1864		Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern.
1960		Israeli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires.
1967		The siege of Khe Sanh ends, the base is still in American hands.
Born on May 11
1885		"King" Joseph Oliver, jazz cornetist and bandleader.
1888		Irving Berlin, composer, writer of over 1,500 songs.
1894		Mari Sandoz, writer and biographer (Crazy Horse).
1895		William Grant Still, American composer and conductor.
1904		Salvador Dali, surrealist painter.
1912		Phil Silvers, comedian and actor.
1918		Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist.
1930		Stanley Elkin, author (George Mills).
1933		Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader.

What Happened This Day In History - May 10

Today in History
May 10

1285		Philip III of Spain is succeeded by Philip IV ("the Fair").
1503		Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands.
1676		Bacon's Rebellion begins in the New World.
1773		To keep the troubled East India Company afloat, Parliament passes the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the American colonies.
1774		Louis XVI succeeds his father Louis XV as King of France.
1775		American troops capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British.
1794		Elizabeth, the sister of King Louis XVI, is beheaded.
1796		Napoleon Bonaparte wins a brilliant victory against the Austrians at Lodi bridge in Italy.
1840		Mormon leader Joseph Smith moves his band of followers to Illinois to escape the hostilities they experienced in Missouri.
1857		The Bengal Army in India revolts against the British.
1863		General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson succumbs to illness and wounds received during the Battle of Chancellorsville.
1865		Union cavalry troops capture Confederate President Jefferson Davis near Irvinville, Georgia.
1869		The Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah.
1859		French emperor Napoleon III leaves Paris to join his troops preparing to battle the Austrian army in Northern Italy.
1872		Victoria Woodhull becomes first woman nominated for U.S. president.
1917		Allied ships get destroyer escorts to fend off German attacks in the Atlantic.
1924		J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
1928		WGY-TV in Schenectady, New York, begins regular television programming.
1933		Nazis begin burning books by "unGerman" writers such as Heinrich Mann and Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front.
1940		German forces begin a blitzkrieg of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, skirting France's "impenetrable" Maginot Line.
1940		Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister.
1941		England's House of Commons is destroyed during the worst of the London Blitz: 550 German bombers drop 100,000 incendiary bombs.
1960		The USS Nautilus completes first circumnavigation of globe underwater.
1994		Nelson Mandela is sworn in as South Africa's first black president.
Born on May 10
1730		George Ross, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1813		Montgomery Blair, lawyer.
1838		John Wilkes Booth, actor, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
1886		Karl Barth, Swiss theologian.
1899		Fred Astaire (Frederick Austerlitz), American dancer and actor.
1902		David O. Selznick, film producer (Gone with the Wind, Rebecca).
1908		Carl Albert, U.S. politician.
1920		Richard Adams, English novelist (Watership Down).
1937		Arthur Kopit, American playwright.
1944		Judith Jamison, American ballerina

What Happened This Day In History - May 9

Today in History
May 9

1502		Christopher Columbus leaves Spain on his final trip to the New World.
1754		The first newspaper cartoon in America appears.
1813		U.S. troops under William Henry Harrison take Fort Meigs from British and Canadian troops.
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–"
1859		Threatened by the advancing French army, the Austrian army retreats across the River Sesia in Italy.
1915		German and French forces fight the Battle of Artois.
1926		Explorer Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole.
1936		Fascist Italy captures the city of Addis Abba, Ethiopia and annexes the country.
1941		The German submarine U-110 is captured at sea along with its Enigma machine by the Royal Navy.
1946		King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy abdicates his throne and is replaced by Umberto.
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.
Born on 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.
1882		Henry J. Kaiser, shipbuilder.
1906		Eleanor Estes, children's author.
1921		Mona van Duyn, American poet laureate.
1934		Alan Bennett, British playwright and screenwriter (The Madness of King George III).
1936		Albert Finney, British actor (Murder on the Orient Express, Tom Jones).

1936 Brenda Angela Ysaguirre, loving aunt, Arts and Craft Aficionado

What Happened This Day In History May 8

Today in History
May 8

1450		Jack Cade's Rebellion–Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
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.
1846		The first major battle of the Mexican War is fought at Palo Alto, Texas.
1862		General 'Stonewall' Jackson repulses the Federals at the Battle of McDowell, in the Shenendoah Valley.
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.
1904		U.S. Marines land in Tangier, North Africa, to protect the Belgian legation.
1919		The first transatlantic flight by a navy seaplane takes-off.
1933		Hahatma Gandhi begins a hunger strike to protest British oppression in India.
1940		German commandos in Dutch uniforms cross the Dutch border to hold bridges for the advancing German army.
1942		The Battle of the Coral Sea between the Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy ends.
1945		The final surrender of German forces is celebrated as VE (Victory Europe) day.
1952		Allied fighter-bombers stage the largest raid of the war on North Korea.
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.
Born on May 8
1668		Alain Rene Lesage, French writer (The Adventures of Gil Blas, Turcaret).
1753		Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican nationalist.
1828		Jean Henri Dunant, Swiss philanthropist, founder of the Red Cross and YMCA, first recipient (jointly) of the Nobel Peace Prize.
1829		Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist.
1884		Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953).
1895		Edmund Wilson, American critic and essayist.
1906		Roberto Rossellini, Italian film director.
1910		Mary Lou Williams, jazz pianist and composer.
1920		Sloan Wilson, American author (The man in the Gray Flannel Suit, A Summer Place).
1928		Theodore Sorenson, advisor to John F. Kennedy.
1930		Gary Snyder, beat poet.
1937		Thomas Pynchon, novelist (Gravity's Rainbow).
1940		Peter Benchley, novelist (Jaws, The Deep).
1952		Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Crimes of the Heart).

What Happened This Day In History - May 7

Today in History
May 7

558		The dome of the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapses. Its immediate rebuilding is ordered by Justinian.
1274		The Second Council of Lyons opens in France to regulate the election of the pope.
1429		Joan of Arc breaks the English siege of Orleans.
1525		The German peasants' revolt is crushed by the ruling class and church.
1763		Indian chief Pontiac begins his attack on a British fort in present-day Detroit, Michigan.
1800		Congress divides the Northwest Territory into two parts. The western part will becomes the Indiana Territory and the eastern section remains the Northwest Territory.
1824		Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" premiers in Vienna.
1847		The American Medical Association is formed in Philadelphia.
1862		Confederate troops strike Union troops at the Battle of Eltham's Landing in Virginia.
1864		The Battle of Wilderness ends with heavy losses to both sides.
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.
1937		The German Condor Legion arrives in Spain to assist Fransico Franco's forces.
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.
1943		The last major German strongholds in North Africa–Tunis and Bizerte–fall to Allied forces.
1945		Germany signs an unconditional surrender, effectively ending World War II in Europe.
1952		In Korea, Communist POWs at Koje-do riot against their American captors.
1954		French troops surrender to the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu.
1958		Howard Johnson sets an aircraft altitude record in F-104.
1960		Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the Soviet Union.
Born on May 7
1812		Robert Browning, English poet.
1833		Johannes Brahms, German composer.
1840		Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer.
1870		Marcus Loew, film executive, consolidated studios to create MGM.
1892		Josip Broz [Tito], leader of Yugoslavia during after World War II.
1892		Archibald MacLeish, American poet and statesman.
1901		Gary Cooper, film actor (High Noon, Friendly Persuasion).
1909		Edwin Herbert Land, inventor of the Poloroid Land Camera.
1919		Eva (Evita) Perón, first lady of Argentina.
1932		Jenny Joseph, English poet and novelist (The Thinking Heart, The Inland Sea).
1943		Peter Carey, Australian writer (Illywhacker, Oscar and Lucinda).

What Happened This Day In History - May 6

Today in History
May 6

1527		German troops begin sacking Rome. Libraries are destroyed, the Pope is captured and thousands are killed.
1529		Babur defeats the Afgan Chiefs in the Battle of Ghagra, India.
1682		King Louis XIV moves his court to Versailles, France.
1856		U.S. Army troops from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller prepare to ride out to protect Keyesville, California, from Yokut Indian attack.
1861		Arkansas becomes the ninth state to secede from the Union.
1862		Henry David Thoreau dies of tuberculosis at age 44.
1864		In the second day of the Battle of Wilderness between Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Confederate Gen. James Longstreet is wounded by his own men.
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.
1941		Bob Hope gives his first USO show at California's March Field.
1942		General Jonathan Wainwright surrenders Corregidor to the Japanese.
1944		The Red Army besieges and captures Sevastopol in the Crimea.
1945		Axis Sally makes her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
1954		British runner Roger Banister breaks the four minute mile.
1960		President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
1962		The first nuclear warhead is fired from a Polaris submarine.
1994		The Channel Tunnel linking England to France is officially opened.
Born on May 6
973		Henry II, Holy Roman emperor.
1740		John Penn, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1758		Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary.
1840		Frederick William Stowe, son of the Harriet Beecher Stowe.
1856		Robert Edward Peary, arctic explorer and the first man to reach the North Pole.
1856		Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis.
1868		Gaston Leroux, French novelist (The Phantom of the Opera).
1888		Russell Stover, candy manufacturer.
1895		Rudolph Valentino, actor, film icon.
1902		Max Ophuls, film director (La Ronde, Lola Montes).
1915		Orson Welles, actor, director, and writer (Citizen Kane).
1931		Willie Mays, baseball player.
1942		Ariel Dorfman, Chilean writer (Death and the Maiden).

What Happened This Day In History - May 5

Today in History
May 5

1494		Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica, which he names Santa Gloria.
1814		British attack the American forces at Ft. Ontario, Oswego, New York.
1821		Napoleon Bonaparte dies in exile on the island of St. Helena.
1834		The first mainland railway line opens in Belgium.
1862		Union and Confederate forces clash at the Battle of Williamsburg, part of the Peninsula Campaign.Eyewitness to War
1862		Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeat troops sent by Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla.
1865		The 13th Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery.
1886		A bomb explodes on the fourth day of a workers' strike in Chicago.
1912		Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing.
1916		U.S. Marines invade the Dominican Republic.
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.
1942		General Joseph Stilwell learns that the Japanese have cut his railway out of China and is forced to lead his troops into India.
1945		Holland and Denmark are liberated from Nazi control.
1961		Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space.
1968		U.S. Air Force planes hit Nhi Ha, South Vietnam in support of attacking infantrymen.
Born on May 5
1813		Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher.
1818		Karl Marx, German philosopher (The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital).
1830		John B. Stetson, American hat maker.
1861		Peter Cooper Hewitt, electrical engineer, inventor of the mercury-vapor lamp.
1883		Charles Albert "Chief" Bender, baseball player.
1890		Christopher Morley, writer (Kitty Foyle).
1899		Freeman F. Gosden, radio comedy writer and performer (Amos 'n' Andy).
1909		Carlos Baker, biographer.
1943		Michael Palin, actor and screenwriter (Monty Python's Flying Circus).

What Happened This Day In History - May 4

Today in History
May 4

1471		In England, the Yorkists defeat the Landcastians at the battle of Tewkesbury.
1626		Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons.
1715		A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella.
1776		Rhode Island declares independence from England.
1795		Thousands of rioters enter jails in Lyons, France, and massacre 99 Jacobin prisoners.
1814		Napoleon Bonaparte disembarks at Portoferraio on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.
1863		The Battle of Chancellorsville ends when Union Army retreats.
1864		Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces cross the Rapidan River and meet Robert E. Lee's Confederate army.
1927		A balloon soars over 40,000 feet for the first time.
1930		Mahatma Gandhi is arrested by the British.
1942		The Battle of the Coral Sea commences.
1942		The United States begins food rationing.
1961		13 civil rights activists, dubbed Freedom Riders, begin a bus trip through the South.
1970		Ohio National Guardsmen open fire on student protesters at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine others.
Born on May 4
1796		Horace Mann, educator and author.
1820		Joseph Whitaker, bookseller and publisher (Whitaker's Almanac)
1825		Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist.
1827		John Hanning Speke, English explorer.
1874		Frank Conrad, electrical engineer and broadcasting pioneer.
1884		Agnes Fay Morgan, American nutritionist and biochemist.
1928		Thomas Kinsella, Irish poet.
1929		Audrey Hepburn (Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Rusten), actress, later U.N. special ambassador.
1939		Amos Oz, Israeli novelist (The Black Box, TheThird State).
1949		Graham Swift, British novelist (The Sweet Shop Owner, Out of this World).

WHAT HAPPENED TODAY IN HISTORY - MAY 3RD

Today in History
May 3

495		Pope Gelasius asserts that his authority is superior to Emperor Enanstasius.
1568		French forces in Florida slaughter hundreds of Spanish.
1855		Macon B. Allen becomes the first African American to be admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts.
1859		France declares war on Austria.
1863		The Battle of Chancellorsville rages for a second day.
1865		President Lincoln's funeral train arrives in Springfield, Illinois.
1926		U.S. Marines land in Nicaragua.
1952		The first airplane lands at the geographic North Pole.
1968		After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retake Dai Do complex in Vietnam, only to find the North Vietnamese have evacuated the area.
1971		James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King's assassin, is caught in a jail break attempt.
1979		Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister of Great Britain.
1982		A British submarine sinks Argentina's only cruiser during the Falkland Islands War.
Born on May 3
1469		Niccol Machiavelli, political advisor and writer (The Prince).
1849		Jacob Riis, American reformer (How the Other Half Lives).
1898		Golda Mier, Fourth Prime Minister of Israel (1969-1974).
1903		Bing [Harry Lillis] Crosby, singer and actor. Various dates given for his birth date.
1912		May Sarton, poet and writer.
1913		William Inge, American playwright (Picnic, Bus Stop).
1919		Betty Compden, lyricist.
1919		Pete Seeger, folksinger and songwriter.
1920		John Lewis, jazz pianist.
1920		Walker Smith, Jr. (Sugar Ray Robinson), champion middleweight boxer.
1933		James Brown, American singer and songwriter.