0501 Feast of St Joseph the Workman, stepfather of Jesus 0501 Baseball club can re-sign their own free agents 0501 May Day, Intl Workers Day, Law Day, Loyalty Day, Bird Day 0501 SS Philip & James Day (apostles) (Anglican) 0501 Law Day 05011006 Supernova observed in Lupus the Wolf constellation 05011682 Louis XIV & his court inaugurate Paris Observatory 05011701 England, Wales & Scotland form UK of Great Britain 05011840 1st adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued 05011841 1st wagon train leaves Independance, Mo for Cal 05011850 John Geary becomes 1st SF mayor 05011860 1st school for deaf founded 05011869 Folies-BergŠre opens in Paris 05011873 1st US postal card issued 05011884 Construction begins on Chicago 1st skyscraper 05011890 May Day 05011892 Angel Is US Quarantine Station opens 05011920 Babe Ruth's 1st Yankee HR & 50th of career, out of Polo Grounds 05011926 Dogers & Braves deadlock at 1-1 in 26 innings 05011926 Satchel Paige makes pitching debut in Negro Southern League 05011928 Lei Day begun (a Hawaiian celebration) 05011931 Empire State Building opens in NYC 05011932 Charles Lindbergh's baby kidnapped 05011947 Radar for coml & private planes 1st demonstrated 05011948 Dem People's Rep of Korea (N Korea) established 05011949 Gerard Kuiper discovers Nereid, (2nd satellite of Neptune) 05011951 Mickey Mantle's 1st HR 05011955 Bobby Feller's 15th 1-hit or less game 05011960 Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers' US spy plane 05011961 1st US airplane hijacked to Cuba 05011964 1st BASIC program run on a computer (Dartmouth) 05011975 Flyers 5-Isles 4 - Semi Finals- Flyers hold 2-0 lead 05011975 Islander Parise & Potvin score within 14 seconds in playoffs 05011977 Empress Lilly dedicated 05011979 Marshall Islands becomes self-governing 05011980 Sabres & Islanders play to 1:20 of 5th period in a playoff 05011982 Nordiques 4-Isles 5 (OT) - Semi-Finals- Isles hold 3-0 lead 0502 Feast of St Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, confessor, doctor 0502 May Aquarid meteor shower, radiant in Aquarius 05021519 Leonardo da Vinci dies (birth date unknown) 05021583 Leonardo da Vinci Day 05021670 Hudson Bay Company founded 05021780 William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris 05021817 Reds & Cubs pitch a dual no-hitter 05021863 South defeats North in Battle of Chancellorsville, Va 05021881 Pres Garfield assassinated 05021885 Congo Free State established by King Leopold II of Belgium 05021890 Okla Territory created 05021925 Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park opens 05021939 Lou Gehrig ends 2,130 game streak, Yankees beat Tigers 22-2 05021945 Russia takes Berlin 05021946 Prisoners revolt at Alcatraz, 5 die 05021954 Stan Musial hits 5 HRs in a doubleheader 05021956 US Lab detects high-temperature microwave radiation from Venus 05021960 Caryl Chessman executed in Calif for kidnapping 05021968 Israelli television begins 05021984 Mattingly's single broke up Lamarr Hoyt's perfect game bid 05021986 Transportation Expo 86 opens in Vancouver, BC 0503 May Aquarid meteor shower, radiant in Aquarius 0503 Finding of the Cross 05031661 Johannes Hevelius observes 3rd transit of Mercury ever to be seen 05031662 Royal charter granted Conn 05031715 Edmund Halley observes total eclipse phenomenon "Baily's Beads" 05031765 1st US Medical school opened 05031797 Jamaica discovered by Columbus 05031830 1st regular steam train passenger service starts 05031898 Camp Merriman established at Presidio 05031906 British-controlled Egypt takes Sinai peninsula from Turkey 05031919 America's 1st passenger flight (NY-Atlantic City) 05031922 Mayor Hylan closes streets for building of Yankee Stadium 05031923 1st nonstop transcontinental flight (NY-San Diego) completed 05031926 US marines land in Nicaragua, stay until 1933 05031951 Gil McDougald ties record with 6 RBIs in 1 inning 05031952 1st landing by an airplane at geographic North Pole 05031965 3rd Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 2-1 in 10 05031971 Natl non-coml Network Radio Begins Programming 05031971 Nixon administration arrests 13,000 anti-war protesters in 3 days 05031983 Bruins 3-Isles 8 - Wales Conf Championship- Isles hold 3-1 lead 0504 May Aquarid meteor shower, radiant in Aquarius 0504 Feast of St Monica, mother of St Augustine 05041626 Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth & buttons 05041776 Rhode Island declares independence from England 05041783 Herschel reports seeing a red glow near lunar crater Aristarchus 05041814 Bourbon reign restored in France 05041851 1st major SF fire 05041866 Woodward's Gardens opens to public 05041871 1st pro baseball game played (Ft Wayne 2, Cleveland 0) 05041878 Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House 05041886 Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen 05041918 Yankees set record with 8 sacrifices, beat Red Sox Babe Ruth 5-4 05041929 Lou Gehrig hits 3 consecutive HRs, Yankees 11, Tigers 9 05041942 Battle of Coral Sea begun (1st sea battle fought solely in air) 05041961 flight, 34,668 m, over Gulf of Mexico 05041961 Malcolm Ross & Victor Prather set altitude record for manned balloon 05041970 4 students at Kent State U killed by Ohio Natl Guard 05041973 1st TV network female nudity - Steambath (PBS) - Valerie Perrine 05041975 Flyers 1-Isles 0-Semis-Flyers hold 3-0 lead-Isles held to 14 shots 05041981 Ron Davis strikes out 8 consecutive Angels, ran record of 13 05041981 strike outs of last 14 faced, also saved Gene Nelsons 1st win 4-2 05041982 Nordiques 2-Isles 4 - Semi-Finals- Isles win series 4-0 0505 May Aquarid meteor shower, radiant in Aquarius 0505 Natl Teacher's Day 0505 Tango-no-sekku (Boy's Festival) -- Japan 0505 Cinco de Mayo celebrated in Mexico 0505 Feast of St Pius V, pope (1566-72) 05051814 British attack Ft Ontario, Oswego, NY 05051867 Battle of Puebla-Mexicans defeat Maximilian's forces (Cinco de Mayo) 05051891 Carnegie Hall opens in NYC with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor 05051904 Cy Young of Boston pitches perfect game against Philadelphia 05051908 Great White Fleet arrives in SF 05051916 US marines invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924 05051922 Construction on Yankee Stadium begins 05051925 Ty Cobb goes 6 for 6 05051945 Netherlands liberated from Nazi control 05051948 1st air squadron of jets aboard a carrier 05051949 Council of Europe established 05051955 West Germany granted full sovereignty by 3 occupying powers 05051956 Jim Bailey - 1st 4 minute mile run in USA, Los Angeles, Ca 05051961 Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space (aboard Freedom 7) 05051965 1st large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam 05051981 16th & final Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 4-1 & hold 8-7 edge 05051983 Bruins 5-Isles 1 - Wales Conf Championship- Isles hold 3-2 lead 0506 Feast of St John Before the Latin Gate 0506 May Aquarid meteor shower, radiant in Aquarius 0506 Natl Nurse's Day 05061527 Sack of Rome - End Renaissance 05061626 Peter Minuet purchases Manhattan Island for $24 05061794 Haiti, under Toussaint L'Ouverture, revolts against France 05061840 1st postage stamps issued, by Britain 05061851 SF Chamber of Commerce starts 05061851 Dr John Farrie Patents a "refrigeration machine" 05061860 SF Olympic Club, 1st US athletic club founded 05061861 Arkansas becomes 9th state to secede from US 05061882 Lord Cavendish assassinated at Dublin, Ireland 05061890 Mormon Church renounces polygamy 05061906 "Temporary" permit to erect overhead wires on Market Street 05061915 Red Sox Babe Ruth pitching debut & 1st HR, loses to Yanks 4-3 in 15 05061937 Dirigible Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, NJ (36 die) 05061953 Bobo Holloman's 1st major league start, a no-hitter 05061954 Roger Bannister breaks 4 min mile (3:59:4) 05061962 1st nuclear warhead is fired from Polaris submarine (Ethan Allen) 05061985 17th Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 7 returns to Earth 0507 Beaufort Scale Day-measures wind force (scale 0 calm to 12 hurricane) 0507 Feast of St Stanislaus, bishop, martyr, patron of Poland 05071429 English siege of Orl‚ans broken by Joan of Arc 05071792 Capt Robert Gray discovers Grays Harbor (Washington) 05071800 Indiana Territory organized 05071824 Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed for 1st time 05071915 Lusitania sunk by German submarine; 1198 lives lost 05071927 SF Municipal Airport (Mills Field) dedicated 05071934 World's largest pearl (6.4 kg) found at Palawan, Philippines 05071941 Cornerstone of B of A building at 300 Montgomery laid 05071945 Nazis surrender to Gen Eisenhower at Reims, France 05071947 Kraft Television Theater premiers 05071954 French surrender to Vietminh after 55-day siege at Dienbienphu 05071959 93,103 largest baseball crowd (LA Coliseum) see Dodgers' Sandy 05071959 Koufax beat Yankees in exhibition 6-2 05071963 Telstar 2 launched (apogee 6,700 miles) 05071966 Yankees fire manager Johnny Keene 05071975 Flyers 3-Isles 4 (OT) - Semi Finals- Flyers hold 3-1 lead 05071983 Bruins 4-Isles 8 - Wales Conf Championship- Isles win series 4-2 0508 Apparition of St Michael the Archangel 0508 1Mother's Day Give her a call today 05081541 Hernando de Soto discovers Mississippi River 05081792 British Capt George Vancouver sights, names Mt Rainier, Wash 05081846 1st major battle of Mexican War fought at Palo Alto Texas 05081886 Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents Coca Cola 05081902 Mt Pel‚e erupts, wipes out St Pierre, Martinique 05081926 1st flight over North Pole (Bennett & Byrd) 05081942 Battle of Coral Sea ends 05081945 VE Day - Germany surrendered, WW II ends in Europe 05081946 Red Sox Johnny Pesky scores 6 runs in 1 game 05081951 Dacron men's suits introduced 05081954 1st shot-put over 60 feet - Parry O'Brien, Los Angeles, Ca 05081958 VP Nixon was shoved stoned booed & spat upon by protesters in Peru 05081961 1st practical sea water conversion plant - Freeport Texas 05081961 Alan Shepard receives NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Washington 05081968 Jim (Catfish) Hunter of Oakland pitches perfect game vs Twins 05081970 Beatles release "Let it Be" album 05081970 Knicks beat Lakers for basketball championship 05081971 Joe Frazier beats Muhammad Ali at Madison Sq Garden 05081973 Indians holding SD hamlet of Wounded Knee for ten weeks surrendered 05081980 Sabres only take 15 shots, Islanders - 22 in a playoff 05081981 Ron Davis pitches 10th consecutive strike out, 1 short of record 05081982 Canucks 5-Isles 6 (OT) - Stanley Cup- Isles hold 1-0 lead 05081984 USSR announces it would not participate in LA Summer Olympics 0509 Feast of St Gregory Nazianzen, bishop, confessor, doctor 0509 Victory Day (in WW II) celebrated in USSR 05091502 Columbus left Spain on his 4th & final trip to the New World 05091754 1st newspaper cartoon in America Divided snake `Join or die' 05091882 Telegraph Hill RR Co organized 05091913 17th amendment providing for election of senators by popular vote 05091925 Cornerstone for Hebrew University layed 05091926 Americans Byrd & Bennett make 1st airplane flight over North Pole 05091936 Italy annexed Ethiopia 05091944 1st eye bank opened in NYC 05091945 Czechoslovakia liberated from Nazi occupation (Natl Day) 05091946 1st Variety show - NBC's Hour Glass premiers 05091950 Robert Schuman announces Plan for European integration 05091961 Jim Gentile hits grand slammers in consecutive innings 05091961 FCC Chairman Newton N Minow criticizes TV as a `vast wasteland' 05091974 House Judiciary Committee begin formal hearings on Nixon impeachment 05091975 Brian Oldfield shot puts 22.86 m (world record) 05091975 Flyers 1-Isles 5 - Semi Finals- Flyers hold 3-2 lead 0510 Feast of St Antoninus, bishop of Florence, confessor 0510 Confederate Memorial Day in North & SC 05101775 2nd Cont Congress convened in Pa issues paper currency for 1st time 05101775 Col Ethan Allen captured Ft Ticonderoga, NY 05101798 George Vancouver, British explorer dies (birth date unknown) 05101869 Golden Spike driven, Promontory Pt Ut-Transcontinential RR complete 05101910 William Huggins, discoverer of stellar nature of Andromeda, dies 05101913 Yanks commit 8 errors & still beat Tigers 10-9 in 10 innings 05101923 J Edgar Hoover became head of FBI 05101928 WGY Schenectady began regular TV programming 05101930 1st US (Adler) planetarium opens, in Chicago 05101940 Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as PM 05101946 Red Sox win 15th straight beat Yanks 5-4, DiMaggio hits Grand Slam 05101960 USS Nautilus completes 1st circumnavigation of globe under water 05101971 US Special delivery rates go from 45 cents to 60 05101973 9th Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 8-4 05101979 Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing 05101983 Oilers 0-Isles 2 - Stanley Cup- Isles hold 1-0 lead 0511 Feast of SS Philip & James 0511 330 Constantinople founded 05111752 1st US fire insurance policy is issued, in Philadelphia 05111792 Columbia River discovered & named by American Capt Robert Gray 05111850 Work starts on 1st brick building in SF 05111858 Minnesota becomes 32nd state 05111871 John Herschel, cataloguer of southern hemisphere stars, dies at 79 05111897 Wash Senator Charlie Farrell throws out 8 attempted stealers 05111907 Bank of SF incorporated 05111916 Einstein's Theory of General Relativity presented 05111919 Yanks Jack Quinn & Senator Walter Johnson, 12 inning 0-0 tie 05111929 1st regularly scheduled TV broadcasts (3 nights per week) 05111947 BF Goodrich manufactures 1st tubeless tire, Akron, Oh 05111949 By a vote of 37-12 Israel became 59th member of UN 05111951 Jay Forrester patents computer core memory 05111960 Israelli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires 05111975 Flyers 1-Isles 2 - Semi Finals- Series tied at 3 games 05111975 Israel signs an agreement with European Economic Market 05111982 Canucks 4-Isles 6 - Stanley Cup- Isles hold 2-0 lead 0512 Natl Limerik Day 0512 Feast of SS Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, & Pancras, martyrs 05121901 Pres McKinley visits SF 05121919 Yanks & Senators go 2nd straight extra inning tie, 4-4 in 15 05121926 Airship Norge is 1st vessel over North Pole 05121930 Chicago's Adler Planetarium opens, 1st in US 05121940 Nazi blitz conquest of France began by crossing Muese River 05121943 Axis forces in North Africa surrender 05121949 1st foreign woman ambassador received in US - SVL Pandit, India 05121960 Elvis Presley appears on a Frank Sinatra special 05121964 USSR launches 3-man crew in Voskhod I 05121981 Isles tie own rec with 2 shorthanded playoff goals in a pd vs Minn 05121983 Oilers 3-Isles 6 - Stanley Cup- Isles hold 2-0 lead 05121984 World of Rivers world exposition opens in New Orleans 0513 Feast of St Robert Bellarmine, bishop, confessor, doctor 0513 Preakness Frog Hop, Baltimore 0513 Leprechaun Day 05131607 English found Jamestown (1st permanent settlement) 05131804 Lewis & Clark begin expedition of La Purchase with Sacagawea 05131835 1st foreign embassy in Hawaii established 05131846 US declares war on Mexico 05131884 Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) founded 05131888 Brazil abolishes slavery 05131917 3 children see a vision of Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal 05131930 Farmer killed by hail in Lubbock, Texas 05131955 Mickey Mantle hits 3 consecutive HRs of at least 463 feet 05131975 Flyers 4-Isles 1 - Semi Finals- Flyers win semi finals 4-3 05131982 Canucks 0-Isles 3 - Stanley Cup- Isles hold 3-0 lead 05131982 Soyuz T-5 is launched-Berezovoi & Lebedev for 211 days in space 0514 Feast of St Boniface, martyr 0514 Independence Day (in Paraguay) 05141607 1st English NA settlement (Jamestown, Va) 05141811 Paraguay gains independence from Spain (Natl Day) 05141853 Gail Borden applies for patent for condensed milk 05141874 Harvard & McGill play 1st game of American football 05141903 President Theodore Roosevelt visits SF 05141935 LA's Griffith Planetarium opens, 3rd in US 05141942 US Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) founded 05141948 PM David Ben-Gurion establishes State of Israel 05141955 Warsaw Pact formed 05141967 Mickey Mantle's 500th HR off Oriole's Stu Miller 05141973 US launches space station Skylab 1 05141980 Bucky Dent hits an inside the park HR, Royals walk 14 Yanks 05141980Cincluding 5 with bases loaded, Yanks win 16-3 05141981 Soyuz 40 is launched - 1st Rumanian in space 05141983 Oilers 1-Isles 5 - Stanley Cup- Isles hold 3-0 lead 0515 Feast of St John Baptist de la Salle, confessor 0515 Never Turn Your Back on the Ocean Day It may be waving at you 0515 Whitsunday Term Day (Scotland) 05151602 Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Batholomew Gosnold 05151618 Johannes Kepler discovers his harmonics law 05151753 Whitsunday Term Day 05151836 Francis Baily observes "Baily's Beads" during annular solar eclipse 05151856 2nd SF Vigilance Committee organized 05151886 American poet Emily Dickinson died 05151911 Sup Court dissolves Standard Oil violates Sherman Antitrust Act 05151918 US Airmail service begins (Wash DC, Philadelphia & NY) 05151930 Ellen Church 1st airline stewardess United flight SF to Cheyenne 05151934 Dept of Justice offers $25,000 reward for Dillinger, dead or alive 05151940 1st nylon stockings sold in US 05151941 Yanks win 13-1 Joe DiMaggio starts 56 game hitting streak 05151957 18,000 people at Madison Sq Garden-Billy Graham launched a crusade 05151958 USSR launched Sputnik III 05151963 Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits in Faith 7, end US Project Mercury 05151969 Associate Justice Abe Fortas resigned from Supreme Court 05151972 George C Wallace shot & left paralyzed by Arthur Bremer 05151972 Ryukyu Islands returned to Japan after 27 years of US control 05151975 11th Mayor's Trophy Game, Yanks beat Mets 9-4 05151980 Flyers score 8 goals against Islanders in playoffs 05151981 Leonard Barker of Cleveland pitches perfect game vs Toronto 05151981 Soyuz 40 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Rumanian) to Salyut 6 0516 Feast of St Ubaldus, bishop, confessor 05161571 Johannes Kepler, by his own calculations, is conceived at 4:37 AM 05161763 James Boswell meets Samuel Johnson, in London 05161770 Marie Antoinette marries future King Louis XVI of France 05161866 Congress authorizes nickel 5› piece (replaces silver half-dime) 05161868 President Johnson acquitted in Senate, by 1 vote 05161872 Metropolitan Gas Company lamps lit for 1st time 05161914 Ewing Field, near Masonic Street, opens 05161920 Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome 05161927 Bob Meusel steals 2nd 3rd & Home 05161929 1st Academy Awards (Best film is Wings) 05161948 Israel issues its 1st stamps 05161955 American author & critic James Agee died in NY 05161956 Kraft Theatre presented an act from Profiles in Courage 05161957 Yanks involved in Copacabana Incident, leads to Billy Martin trade 05161963 Gordon Cooper completes 22 Earth orbits in Faith 7 05161969 Venera 5 lands on Venus 05161971 1st class postage now costs 8› (was 6›) 05161975 Japanese Junko Tabei became 1st woman to reach Mt Everest's summit 05161982 Canucks 1-Isles 3 - Stanley Cup- Isles win cup 4-0 (15-4) 05161983 Isles win 3rd Cup in row def Canucks in Vancouver 3-1 in game 4 0517 Feast of St Paschal Baylon, confessor 0517 Norwegian Independence Day 0517 World Telecommunications Day (UN observance) 05171630 Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi, 1st to see 2 belts on Jupiter surface 05171792 24 merchants form NY Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street 05171804 Lewis & Clark begin exploration of La Purchase 05171809 Papal States annexed by France 05171814 Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden (Natl Day) 05171872 Bohemian Club incorporated 05171875 1st Kentucky Derby run at Churchill Downs Winner was Aristides 05171898 Camp Merritt established in Presidio 05171921 Pres Harding opens (via telephone) 1st Valencia Orange Show 05171938 Radio quiz show `Information Please!' debuts on NBC Blue Network 05171939 1st sports telecast - Columbia vs Princeton - College baseball 05171940 Nazis occupied Brussels Belgium 05171954Creversed 1896 `separate but equal' Plessy Vs Ferguson decision 05171954 Supreme Court unanimously rules on Brown v Topeka Board of Ed 05171960 1st atomic reactor system to be patented, JW Flora, Canoga Park CA 05171962 Marin County withdraws from BART district 05171968 European Space Research Org launches 1st satellite 05171973 Senate Watergate Committee began its hearings 05171981 Islanders score 5 power play goals against Flyers in a playoff 05171983 Israel & Lebanon sign a peace treaty 05171983 Oilers 2-Isles 4 - Stanley Cup- Isles win cup 4-0 (15-5) 0518 World Good-Will Day 0518 Intl Museum Day 0518 Feast of St Venantius, bishop, martyr 0518 Visit Your Relatives Day 05181756 England decares war on France 05181804 Napoleon became Emperor of France 05181897 NY Giant William Joyce sets record of 4 triples in 1 game 05181899 World Good-Will Day - 26 nations meet in 1st Hague Peace Conference 05181910 Passage of Earth through tail of Halley's Comet causes near-panic 05181917 US passes Selective Service act 05181933 TVA Act signed by FDR 05181951 UN moves HQ to NYC 05181953 1st woman pilot faster than speed of sound (Jacqueline Cochran) 05181969 Apollo 10 launched toward lunar orbit 05181974 India becomes 6th nation to explode an atomic bomb 05181980 Mt St Helens blows its top in Washington State 0519 St Dunstan Day (Anglican) 0519 Feast of St Celestine V, pope (1294) 05191536 Anne Boleyn Executed 05191749 George II grants charter to Ohio Company to settle Ohio Valley 05191780 About midday, near-total darkness descends on much of New England 05191856 Sen Charles Sumner, Mass, spoke out against proslavery people 05191862 Homestead Act becomes law 05191898 Simplon Tunnel opens from Brig, Switzerland to Iselle, Italy 05191971 USSR Mars 2 launched 1st spacecraft to crash land on Mars 0520 Feast of St Bernardine of Siena, confessor 0520 Cameroon Natl Day 0520 325 1st Christian ecumenical council opens at Nicaea, Asia Minor 05201506 Christopher Columbus died in poverty in Spain 05201775 Mecklenburg County, NC citizens declare independence from England 05201830 1st railroad timetable published in newspaper -`Baltimore American' 05201845 1st legislative assembly convenes in Hawaii 05201861 NC becomes 10th state to secede from US 05201862 Homestead Act provides cheap land for settlement of West 05201875 Intl Bureau of Weights & Measures established by treaty 05201902 US ends occupation of Cuba 05201926 Thomas Edison said Americans preferred silent movies over talkies 05201927 Lindbergh flew NY-Paris, 1st solo flight across Atlantic 05201932 Earhart left Newfoundland 1st woman fly solo across Atlantic 05201939 Pan Am began transatlantic passenger & air mail service 05201956 Atomic fusion (thermonuclear) bomb dropped from plane - Bikini Atoll 05201959 Yanks sink to last place, 1st time since May 25, 1940 05201961 White mob attacks `Freedom Riders' in Montgomery, Alabama 05201972 Republic of Cameroon declared 05201974 Soyuz 14 returns to Earth 05201976 Viking 1, Mars landing 05201978 US Launches Pioneer Venus 1-produces 1st global radar map of Venus 05201979 Cambodian Martyrs Day 05201985 Dow Jones Avg closes above 1300 for 1st time 05201985 FBI arrests John A Walker Jr, convicted of spying for USSR 05201985 US began broadcasts to Cuba on Radio Marti 0521 Feast of SS Constantine & Helen (Orthodox) 05211832 1st Democratic party natl convention 05211846 1st steamship arrives in Hawaii 05211856 Lawrence, Kans captured, sacked by pro-slavery forces 05211881 American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton 05211897 Yerkes Obsrvatory 40-inch refractor is used for 1st time 05211904 FIFA, soccer's intl governing body, is formed 05211922 Ruppert buys out Huston interest in Yankees for $15 million 05211927 Lindburgh lands in Paris, after 1st solo across Atlantic 05211929 Automatic electric stock quotation board installed, NYC 05211932 1st transatlantic solo flight by a woman landed, AE Putnam 05211933 Mt Davidson Cross lit by FDR via telegraph 05211941 1st American ship sunk by a U-boat (Robin Moor) 05211955 1st transcontinental round-trip solo flight - sunrise to sunset 0522 Natl Maritime Day 0522 World Trade Day 05220012 BC A daytime meteor shower, possibly Zeta Perseid observed in China 05221761 1st life insurance policy in US,issued in Phila 05221846 1st steamer arrives in Hawaii 05221856 Violence in Senate, SC rep Brooks used a cane on Mass Sen Sumner 05221868 Great Train Robbery seven men made off with $98000 in cash 05221909 1st SF fireboat, David Scannell, is launched 05221924 in Chicago, Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb kidnap Robert Franks 05221930 Ruth hits 3 consecutive HR (10th of 60) 05221933 World Trade Day 05221939 Hitler & Mussolini sign `Pact of Steel' 05221946 Yankees turn triple play & defeat Tigers' 5-3 05221947 1st ballistic missile fired 05221947 "Truman Doctrine" went into effect aiding Turkey & Greece 05221953 Yankee Irv Noren hits into a triple play, Yanks beat Wash 12-4 05221962 record with 5 walks in a 9 inning game 05221962 Roger Maris sets record by getting 4 intentional passes & ties 05221963 Mickey Mantle hits a ball off Yankee Stadium's facade 05221967 Egyptian president Nassar closes Straits of Tiran to Israel 05221970 Arab terrorists kill 9 children & 3 adults on a school bus 05221970 Mel Stottlemyre sets record by walking 11 but wins 2-0 05221972 Ceylon became Republic of Sri Lanka 05221981 Soyuz 40 returns to Earth 0523 BJ & Peg Hunnicutt of Mill Valley's anniversary! 05231430 Joan of Arc captured by Burgundians who sold her to English 05231498 Italian preacher Savonarola tortured & executed in Florence 05231533 King Henry VIII & Catherine of Aragon marriage declared null & void 05231576 Tycho Brahe given Hveen Island to build Uraniborg Observatory 05231701 Capt Kidd hung in London after convicted of piracy & murder 05231788 SC becomes 8th state to ratify US constitution 05231844 Decl of Bab (Bah 'ˇ festival) 05231853 Buenos Aires gains independence from Argentina (reunited 1859) 05231873 Postal Cards sold in SF for 1st time 05231873 Canada's North West Mounted Police force was established 05231898 1st Philippine Expeditionary Troops sail from SF 05231903 1st direct primary election law adopted, by Wisconsin 05231903 1st automobile trip across US from SF to NY, ended April 1 05231908 Dirigible explodes over SF Bay, 16 passengers fall, none die 05231911 NY Public Library building at Fifth Avenue dedicated by Pres Taft 05231915 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary in WW I 05231922 Walt Disney incorporates his 1st film company Laugh-O-Gram Films 05231934 Bonnie & Clyde shot in Louisana ambush 05231937 Industrialist John D Rockfeller died in Ormond Beach Fla 05231945 Nazi Himmler committed suicide while in prison at Luneburg Germany 05231948 Joe DiMaggio hits three consecutive HRs 05231949 West Germany was proclaimed 05231956 World Trade Center dedicated in Ferry Building 05231960 Israel announced capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina 05231962 Scott Carpenter orbits Earth three times in US Aurora 7 05231962 Joe Pepitone 2nd Yankee to hit 2 HRs in 1 inning (Joe DiMaggio) 05241543 Copernicus allegedly sees 1st copy of DE REVOLUTIONIBUS & dies 05241689 English Parliament guarantees freedom of religion for Protestants 05241822 at Battle of Pichincha, Bolˇvar secures independence of Quito 05241844 Samual FB Morse taps out "What Hath God Wrought" 05241866 Berkeley named (for George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne) 05241883 Bkln Bridge opened by Pres Arthur & Gov Cleveland 05241899 1st auto repair shop opens (Boston) 05241900 Britain annexes Orange Free State (South Africa) 05241918 Cleveland beats Yankees 3-2 in 19 inning 05241931 1st air-conditioned train installed - B&O Railroad 05241935 1st major league night baseball game, in Cincinnati (vs Phila) 05241936 by reaching 1st 7 times safely Yanks beat A's 25-2 05241936 Tony Lazerri 2 grand slams (11 RBIs) Ben Chapman sets record 05241941 HMS Hood sunk by German battleship Bismarck 05241946 Bill Dickey replaces Joe McCarthy as Yankee manager 05241954 1st rocket to exceed 150 mile altitude - White Sands, NM 05241959 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited, Pleasant Hills, Pa 05241962 M Scott Carpenter & Aurora 7 launched into earth orbit 05241964 Beatles third appearance on Ed Sullivan 05241975 Soyuz 18B is launched 05241980 Flyers 4-Isles 5 (OT)- Stanley Cup- Isles win cup 4-2 (15-6) 0525 Deposition of St Aldelmus, bishop & confessor (Anglican) 0525 African Unity Day, also observed as African Freedom Day 05251085 St Gregory VII, pope (1073-85), dies (birth date unknown) 05251787 Constitutional Convention convenes in Philadelphia 05251810 Argentina declares independence from Napoleonic Spain (Nat'l Day) 05251825 American Unitarian Assn founded 05251927 Henry Ford stops producing Model T car (begins Model A) 05251935 Babe Ruth hits his last 3 home runs, Boston Braves vs Pirates 05251940 Golden Gate Intl Exposition reopens 05251945 Arther C Clark proposes relay satellites in geosynchronous orbit 05251946 Jordan gains independence from Britain (Natl Day) 05251948 SF receives its 1st telecast 05251950 Bkln-Battery Tunnel opened in NYC 05251953 1st atomic cannon electronically fired, Frenchman Flat, Nevada 05251953 1st noncommercial educational television station - Houston, Texas 05251961 JFK sets goal of putting a man on moon 05251963 African Unity Day 05251963 Org for African Unity formed 05251973 US launches 1st Skylab crew Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz 05251978 "Star Wars" released 05251979 Israel begins to return Sinai to Egypt 05251983 Return of the Jedi (Star Wars 3) released 0526 Feast of St Philip Neri, confessor 05261583 William of Ockham Day 05261781 Bank of North America incorporated in Philadelphia 05261790 Territory South of River Ohio created by Congress 05261864 Montana Territory organized 05261868 President Andrew Johnson avoids impeachment by 1 vote 05261896 Dow Jones Industrial Average adopted 05261898 SF approves City Charter, allows Municipal ownership of utiliies 05261928 A's commit 7 errors & lose to Yanks 7-4 05261937 Golden Gate Bridge opens 05261943 1st president of Negro country to visit US - E Barclay, Liberia 05261946 Patent filed in US for H-Bomb 05261958 Union Square becomes State Historical Landmark 05261959 Harvey Haddix pitches 12 perfect innings, loses in 13th 05261969 Apollo 10 returns to Earth 05261972 Venera 8 launched toward Venus 05261977 George Willig climbs NYC World Trade Center 05261980 Soyuz 36 is launched 05261981 Soyuz T-4 returns to Earth 0527 Feast of St Bede the Venerable, confessor, doctor, writer 05271844 S.F.B. Morse completes 1st telegraph line 05271854 Marine Telegraph from Fort Point to SF completed 05271896 Bay District Race Track closes 05271907 Bubonic Plague breaks out in SF 05271919 1st transatlantic flight ends; US Navy flying boat takes 11 days 05271931 1st full scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes, Langley Field Va 05271931 Piccard & Knipfer make 1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon 05271933 Walt Disney's "3 Little Pigs" released 05271933 Century of Progress Exposition opens in Chicago 05271933 Trailing 11-3, Yanks score 12 runs in 8th & beat White Sox 15-11 05271935 Supreme Court declares FDR's Natl Recovery Act unconstitutional 05271936 RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton for NY on maiden voyage 05271937 Golden Gate Bridge dedicated 05271941 German battleship Bismark sunk by British naval force 05271951 Maritime Museum at Aquatic Park, SF opens 05271957 Permission granted to Dogers & Giants to leave NY 05271968 6th Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 4-3 05271969 WDW construction begins 05271975 Paul McCartney releases "Venus & Mars" 05271985 Inaugural Bands Parade for President Reagan 05271986 Norway Showcase groundbreaking 0528 Feast of St Bernard of Montjoux, patron of mountain climbers 0528 Feast of St Augustine, 1st Archbishop of Canterbury, confessor 0528 585 BC Thales Miletus predicts solar eclispe Persian-Lydian battle ends 05281530 Hernando de Soto lands in Fla 05281664 1st Baptist Church organized in Boston 05281774 1st Continental Congress convened in Virginia 05281926 US Customs Court created by Congress 05281929 1st all color talking picture "On With The Show" exhibited, NYC 05281946 1st night game at Yankee stadium 05281953 Premier of 1st animated 3-D cartoon in Technicolor - "Melody" 05281959 Monkeys Able & Baker zoom 300 miles into space on Jupiter missle 05281961 Amnesty Intl founded (Nobel Peace Prize 1977) 05281971 USSR Mars 3 launched 1st spacecraft to soft land on Mars 0529 Feast of St Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi, virgin 05291453 Constantinople falls to Turks (Signaled end of Middle Ages) 05291660 Charles II restored to English throne after Puritan Commonwealth 05291721 SC formally incorporated as a royal colony 05291790 Rhode Is became last of original 13 ratifing Constitution 05291848 Wisconsin becomes 30th state 05291849 A patent for lifting vessels was granted to Abraham Lincoln 05291864 Mexican Emperor Maximilian arrives at Vera Cruz 05291892 Death of prophet Baha'Ullah (Ascension of Baha'Ullah) 05291916 US forces invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924 05291919 Einstein's light-bending prediction is confirmed by Arthur Eddington 05291951 1st North Pole flight in single engine plane - CF Blair 05291953 Edmund Hillary & Norgay of NZ become 1st to reach top of Mt Everest 05291954 Actor, Kirk & Anne Douglas married 05291978 1st class postage now 15› (13› for 3 years) 05291983 Yuri Dumchev of USSR throws discus a record 71.86 m 0530 Real Memorial Day (Decoration Day) 0530 Feast of St Jean d'Arc, Maid of Orleans 0530 Feast of St Felix, pope (268-73), martyr 0530 Eta Pegasid meteor shower, radiant in Pegasus 05301431 Joan of Arc burned at stake in Rouen France at 19 05301527 U of Marburg (Germany) founded 05301778 French philosopher Voltaire died 05301814 1st Treaty of Paris, after Napoleon's 1st abdication 05301854 Territories of Kansas & Nebraska created 05301894 Bobby Lowe is 1st to hit 4 HRs in 1 baseball game 05301911 Indianapolis 500 car race run for 1st time 05301920 Joan d'Arc Day 05301932 Yankees dedicate a plaque to Miller Huggins 05301933 Patent on invisible glass installation 05301937 Pitcher Carl Hubbell's 24th consecutive victory 05301938 Yanks sweep Red Sox 10-0 & 5-4 in front of 83,533 at Yankee Stadium 05301953 1st major league network baseball game - Cleveland 7, Chicago 2 05301961 Maris hits his 10th & 11th of 61 HRs 05301966 US launches Surveyor 1 to the Moon 05301971 US Mariner 9 1st satellite to orbit Mars launched 05301972 3 Jap PFL terrorists kills 24, wound 72 at Tel Aviv's Lydda airport 05301974 10th Mayor's Trophy Game, Yanks beat Mets 9-4 05301980 Turner's painting "Juliet & Her Nurse" sells for $6.4 million 05301982 Spain became 16th member of North Atlantic Treaty Org 0531 Feast of Queenship of Mary (Visitation) 0531 Republic Day, celebrated in South Africa 05311433 Joan of Arc has a hot time at stake 05311678 Lady Godiva takes a ride through Coventry 05311809 Composer Franz Josef Hayden died in Vienna Austria 05311854 Kansas Territory established 05311862 Battle of Fair Oaks, Va; North defeats South 05311868 1st recorded bicycle race, 2 kilometers in Paris 05311879 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition 05311879 Madison Square Garden opens its doors 05311889 Johnstown Flood; 2,000 die in Penn 05311900 US troops arrive in Peking, help put down Boxer Rebellion 05311910 Union of South Africa formed 05311913 17th amendment providing popular election of senators 05311916 During WW I British & German fleets fought Battle of Jutland 05311955 Construction begins on cosmodrome launch facilities 05311956 Mickey Mantle HR just misses clearing Yankee Stadium's roof 05311961 South Africa becomes a republic (Natl Day) 05311962 WW II Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann hung in Israel 05311970 Tens of thousands in Peru die in an earthquake 05311974 Israel & Syria sign an agreement concerning Golan Heights 05311976 Martha Mitchell wife of former Att General John Mitchell dies in NY