|
May 31 |
In
1889, more than 2,000 people perished when a dam
break sent water rushing through Johnstown, Pa.
|
|
May 30 |
In 1958, unidentified soldiers
killed in World War II and the Korean conflict were buried at Arlington
National Cemetery.
|
|
May 29 |
In
1953, Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary
of New Zealand, left, and Tensing Norgay of Nepal
became the first climbers to reach the summit.
|
|
May 28 |
In
1984, President Reagan led a state funeral at
Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified
American soldier killed in the Vietnam War.
|
|
May 27 |
In 1964,
independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru,
died.
|
|
May 26
|
In 1868, the
Senate impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended
with his acquittal as the Senate fell one vote short of the
two-thirds majority required for conviction.
|
|
May 25 |
In 1925,
John T. Scopes was indicted in Tennessee for teaching
Darwin's theory of evolution.
|
|
May 24 |
In 1883, the
Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened
to traffic.
|
|
May 23 |
In 1934, bank
robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in
a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe
along a road in Bienville Parish, La.
|
|
May 22 |
In 1947, the Truman Doctrine
was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece
and Turkey.
|
|
May 21 |
In 1927,
Charles A. Lindbergh landed his "Spirit of St. Louis"
near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight
across the Atlantic Ocean.
|
|
May 20 |
In 1961, a
white mob attacked a busload of "Freedom Riders" in
Montgomery, Ala., prompting the federal government to
send in United States marshals to restore order.
|
|
May 19 |
In 1935,
T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died
in England from injuries sustained in a motorcycle
crash.
|
|
May 18 |
In 1980, the Mount
St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57
people dead or missing.
|
|
May 17 |
In 1954, the
Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education
of Topeka ruling, which declared that racially segregated public
schools were inherently unequal.
|
|
May 16 |
In 1868, the United
States Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew
Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of 11 articles of
impeachment against him. (Johnson was acquitted of all charges.)
|
|
May 15 |
In 1911, the
Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil
Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust
Act.
|
|
May 14 |
In 1948, the
independent state of Israel was proclaimed as British rule
in Palestine came to an end.
|
|
May 13 |
In 1981, Pope John
Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by
Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.
|
|
May 12 |
In 1943,
during World War II, Axis forces in North Africa
surrendered.
|
|
May 11 |
In 1973,
charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon
Papers case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who
cited government misconduct.
|
|
May 10 |
In 1869, a
golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the
completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the
United States.
|
|
May 9 |
In 1994,
South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson
Mandela to be the country's first black president.
|
|
May 8 |
In 1973,
militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota
hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.
|
|
May 7 |
In 1945, Germany signed
an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France,
to take effect the following day, ending the European conflict of
World War II.
|
|
May 6 |
In 1937, the
hydrogen-filled German dirigible Hindenburg burned and
crashed in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 of the 97 people on
board.
|
|
May 5 |
In 1961, astronaut Alan B.
Shepard Jr. became America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute
suborbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
|
|
May 4 |
In 1970, Ohio National
Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State
University, killing four students and wounding nine others.
|
|
May 3 |
In 1971,
anti-war protesters calling themselves the Mayday Tribe
began four days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C., aimed
at shutting down the nation's capital.
|
|
May 2 |
In 1945, the
Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies
announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of
Austria.
|
|
May 1 |
In 1960, the
Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane
near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. |
