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