GovCentral

May 3

1937  Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Gone with the Wind.

1948  The Shelley versus Kraemer Supreme Court decision stated that it was unconstitutional for a court  to enforce a restritive covenent which prevents people of a certain race from owning or occupying property.

1979  Margaret Thatcher became the first woman elected Prime Minister of England.

1986  At the age of 54, legendary horse jockey Bill Shoemaker became the oldest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, riding Ferdinand to victory.

1999  Kansas and Oklahoma were hit by an outbreak of more than 55 tonadoes, measured at F5 on the Fujita Scale.

2001  The United States, a member of the UN Human Rights Commission since its inception, lost its seat.  It would be restored the following year.

2003  New Hampshire's symbol, the granite Old Man of the Mountain, collapsed in the state's Franconia Mountains.

May 5                                                                                                Cinco de Mayo                    National Teacher's Day

1809  Mary Kies of South Killingley, CT, became the first woman to be granted a patent.  The patent was for the rights to a technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.

1821  Napoleon Bonaparte died on the island of St. Helena

1891  Carnegie Hall (then known as Music Hall) opened in New York City.  Peter Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor.

1925  John Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwinism.

1961  Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

1981  Bobby Sands of the Irish Republican Army died in a prison hospital on the 68th day of his hunger strike.

2004  Pablo Picasso's "Boy with a Pipe" became the most expensive painting ever sold.

May 7                                                                               National Day of Prayer

1824  Beethoven's 9th Symphony premiered in Vienna.

1847  The American Medical Association was organized in Philadelphia, PA.

1915  The British ocean liner, Lusitania, was sunk by a German submarine in WWI off the coast of Ireland.

1945  The Germans unconditionally surrendered to the allies in Rheims, France.

1954  The 56 day long battle of Dienpienphu ended with Ho Chi Minh's forces defeating the French, signaling the end of French power in Indochina.

1992  The 27th Amendment to the Consitution, prohibiting Congressional pay raises, was ratified.

1994  Edward Munch's painting, The Scream, was recovered a few months after it had been stolen.

1999  During action against Yugoslavia, NATO jets mistakenly bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing 3 and injuring 20.

2000  Vladmir Putin was inaugurated as Russia's President.

May 9

1907  Kathryn Kulhman was born.

1914  Mother's Day became a public holiday.

1926  Explorers Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett flew over the North Pole.

1936  Fascist Italy annexed Ethiopia.

1962  The Beatles signed their first recording contract and hired George Martin to be their producer.

1978  The body of slain former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was found in an automobile in Rome.

1984  It took the Chicago White Sox 25 innings, eight hours, and six minutes, over 2 days, to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6.  It was the longest game (in elapsed time) in major league history.

1994  The South African Parliament chose Nelson Mandela as President.

2004  Chechnya's Moscow backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed in bombing.  Six others were killed and another sixty wounded.

May 11

1858  Minnesota became the 32nd state in the United States.

1894  The Pullman Strike began.

1949  Siam changed its name to Thailand.

1949  Israel was admitted to the U.N.

1960  Israeli agents captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

1973  Charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed.

1981  Reggae performer Bob Marley died of cancer at the age of 36.

1997  IBM's supercomputer, Deep Bllue defeated Garry Kasparov, the reigning world champion, in a six game chess match (2 for Blue, 1 for Kasparov, 3 ties).

1998  India set off atomic blasts.

1998  The first coins of Europe's single currency, the Euro, were produced.

2003  91% of Lithuanian voters opted to join the European Union -- the first former Soviet Union nation to do so. 

May 13

1568  Mary Queen of Scots, was defeated at the Battle of Langside and immediately fled to North England.

1607  English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).

1846  The United States declared a state of war already existed with Mexico.

1917  Three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.

1938  Louis Armstrong recorded the Nw Orlean's jazz classic When the Saints Go Marching In.

1940  In his first speech as Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill told the House of Commons, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

1954  President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act. 

1954  The musical play "The Pajama Game"opened on Broadway.

1958  Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat , were spat upon and their limosine pelted by rocks thrown by anti-US demonstrators in Caracas Venezuela.

1968  A one day general strike took place in France in support of student protestors.

1973  Tennis male chauvinist Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Smith Court 6-2, 6-1in front of a worldwide television audience.  He would lose to Billie Jean King later that year.

1981  Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant, Mehmet Ali Agca.

1985  A confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped an explosive onto the group's headquarters; 11 people died in the resulting fire.

1994  President Bill Clinton nominated Federal Appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace the retiring Judge Harry S. Blackmun.

May 15

1862  The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created by an act of Congress on this day.

1911  The Standard Oil Company, headed by John D. Rockefeller, was ordered dissolved by the Supreme Court, under the Sherman Antitrust Act.

1918  The first air mail route in the U.S. was established between New York and Washington, D.C., with a stop at Philadelphia.

1930  On a Boeing Air Transport flight between Oakland and Chicago, Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess.

1940  Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the United States.

1972  Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot and crippled as he campaigned for the Presidency.

1988 The Soviet Union began to withdrawal its estimated 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.

May 17

1792  The New York Stock Exchange was established when a group of 24 brokers and merchants met by a tree on what is now Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.

1875  The first Kentucky Derby was held at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, KY.

1954  The Supreme Court ruled unanimously against segregation in schools in Brown versus Board of Education.

1973  Televised Watergate hearings opened, headed by North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin.

1987  An Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S.S. Stark in Persian Gulf, killing 13 American sailors and wounding 62.

1997  Laurent Kabila declared himself President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2004  In Massachusetts, same-sex couples exchanged vows for the first time in the United States.

May 19

1536  Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, was beheaded.

1588  The 130 ship strong Spanish Armada set sail for England; it was defeated in August.

1643  The colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Harbor met to form the New England Confederation.

1921  Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, establishing national quotas for immigrants.

1928  The first annual Calavaras County "Frog Jumping Jubilee" was held in Angel's Camp, CA.

1935  British author and soldier, T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia", died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash.

1962  Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy.

1992  The 27th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibited Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises, went into effect.

1994  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York.

May 21

1542  Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto died while searching for gold on the banks of the Mississippi River.

1881  Clara Barton founded what became the American Red Cross.

1927  Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly across the Atlantic (from New York to Paris) in his monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis.

1932  Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (from Newfoundland to Ireland).

1956  The first hydrogen bomb to be dropped by air over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

1989  In Hong Kong, approximate one million people took to the streets to show their support for students protesting for democratic reforms in China's Tiananmen Square.

1991  Rajiv Ghandi, former Indian Prime Minister, was assassinated by a suicide bomber.

1998  Indonesian President Suharto resigned.

1999 Susan Lucci finally won a Daytime Emmy on her 19th nomination.

2003  Christine Todd Whitman announce her resignation as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

May 23

1430  Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians and subsequently sold to the English.

1785  A letter from Benjamin Franklin documented his invention of bifocal glasses.

1788   South Carolina became the 8th state in the United States.

1830  The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began the first passenger service in the United States.

1873  The Northwest Mounted Police Force was formed in Canada.  It would be later known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

1911  The New York Public Library, at the time the largest marble structure in the United States, was presented by President Taft in New York City after 16 years of construction.

1934  Bonnie (Parker) and Clyde (Barrow) were killed in a police shoot out.

1945  Heinrich Himmler, head of Adoph Hitler's Gestapo, committed suicide while in prison.

1949  The German Federal Republic came into existence.

1997  Moderate Mohammed Khatami was elected President of Iran.

May 25                                                                     Memorial Day

1787  The Constitutional  Convention convened in Philadelphia under the leadership of George Washington, in order to establish a new U.S. government.

1847  Johon Alexander Dowie was born.

1925  John Scopes was indicted for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

1935  American track star Jesse Owens broke three world records and tied another in a little over an hour.

1935  The legendary Babe Ruth hit his 714th and final home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  His record stood until Hank Aaron broke it in 1974.

1965  Muhammed Ali knocked Sonny Liston out cold in the first round, after 1minute and 56 seconds, for the World Heavyweight Title.

1969  Midnight Cowboy, the only x-rated film to win a Best Picture Oscar, was released.

1979  The worst air disaster in U.S. history (except the September 11 attacks) occurred when a DC-10 crashed at Chicago O'Hare's airport, killing over 270 people. 

May 27

1647  The first recorded execution of a witch took place in Massachusetts when Achsah Young was hanged.

1679  Britain passed the Habeas Corpus Act which made it illegal to hold anyone in prison without a trial.

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  The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was opened.

1941  British ships sank the German battleship Bismarck off the coast of France, resulting in the loss of 2,300 lives.

1944 Nobel Peace Prize 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 nogotiated a ceasefire.

1999  Slobodan Milosevic was indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague for crimes against humanity.

May 29                                                                                                   Shavout (Pentecost)

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.

1838  Wisconsin became the 30th state in the United States.

1917  John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, MA.

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 31                                                                                               National Global Day of Prayer

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, sounding 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 ever sink this ship."

1961  South Africa became an independent republic.

1962  Former Gestapo offiicial 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.