Today in
History ~ May 18
Events
1096 - Crusaders massacre Jews of Worm
1291 - Acre, the last major Christian stronghold in what is today Israel, was captured by Muslim
troops of the Sultan of Egypt .
1631 - English colony Massachusetts Bay grants puritarian voting right
1631 - John Winthrop is elected 1st governor of Massachusetts
1642 - The Canadian city of Montreal was founded.
1652 - Rhode Island enacts 1st law declaring slavery illegal
1803 - Britain declares war on France after Napoleon Bonaparte continues interfering in Italy & Switzerland
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of France at Natre Dame Cathedral
1830 - Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, lawn mower.
1843 - United Free Church of Scotland forms
1846 - US troops attack Rio Grande occupying Matamoros
1852 - Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school
1860 - Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president [H]
1861 - Arkansas admitted to the Confederate States of America
1863 - Siege of Vicksburg, MS
1864 - Battle of Yellow Bayou, LA (Bayou de Glaize, Old Oaks)
1887 - Emmanuel Chabrier's opera "Le Roi Malgr^Â Luis," premieres in Paris
1889 - Jules Massenets opera "Esclarmonde," premieres in Paris
1896 - The Supreme Court endorsed "separate
but equal" racial segregation with its Plessy v. Ferguson decision, a
ruling that was overturned 58 years later, on May 17 1954. [H]
[H]
1897 - Irish Music Festival 1st held (Dublin)
1897 - Paul Dukas "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" premieres
1910 - Passage of Earth through tail of Halley's Comet causes near-panic
1911 - Pres/dictator Jos^Â Porfirio Diaz of Mexico term ends
1917 - Satie/Massine/Picasso's ballet "Parade," premieres in Paris
1917 - US passes Selective Service act
1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished in Venice Calif. She showed up a month later saying she had been kidnapped
1927 - Ritz Hotel opens in Boston
1933 - Tennessee Valley Act (TVA) Act signed by FDR, to build dams
1934 - Congress approves "Lindbergh Act," makes kidnapping a capital offense
1934 - TWA begins commercial service
1940 - German troops conquer Brussels
1944 - In a brutal mass deportation, Soviet troops expelled from Crimea more than 200,000 Crimean Tatars who were accused of
being Nazi collaborators.
1944 - Polish 2nd Army corps captures convent of Monte Cassino Italy
1948 - Arab Legion captures fort on Mt Scopus
1948 - Saudi Arabia joins invasion of Israel
1951 - US General Collins predicts use of atom bomb in Korea
1952 - Professor WF Libby said Stonehedge dates back to 1848 BC
1953 - Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to
break the sound barrier as she piloted a North American F-86 Canadair over
Rogers Dry Lake, Calif.
1956 - Queen Juliana opens Rembrandt fairs in Amsterdam
1958 - The Lotus made its Formula One debut at the Monaco Grand Prix
1964 - Supreme Court rules unconstitutional to deprive naturalized citizens of citizenship if they return to home country for more than 3 years
1967 - Tenn Governor Ellington repeals "Monkey Law," upheld in 1925 Scopes Trial
1969 - Apollo 10 (Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P.
Stafford and John W. Young) launched toward lunar orbit
1971 - Pres Nixon rejects 60 demands of Congressional Black Caucus
1971 - Vampire rapist Wayne Boden's last victim found
1974 - India Joins the Nuclear Club [H]
1977 - Menachem Begin becomes Israel's Prime Minister
1978 - Italy legalizes abortion
1980 - Mount St. Helens blew it's top in Washington State, leaving
57 people dead or missing. [H]
1982 - Unification Church founder Rev Sun Myung Moon convicted of tax evasion
1986 - South African army occupies Botswana, Zimbabwe & Zambia
1990 - 2 Germanys sign a monetary union treaty
1991 - Helen Sharman became the first Briton to
rocket into space as she flew aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft with two
cosmonauts on an eight-day mission.
1992 - Supreme Court rules states could not force mentally unstable criminal defendants to take anti-psychotic drugs
1994 - Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip
1996 - President Clinton, seeking to deflect
Republican criticism that he was weak on welfare reform, endorsed Wisconsin's
welfare-to-work plan in his Saturday radio address.
2000 - 2000 -Sante Kimes and Kenneth Kimes, mother-and-son grifters, were
convicted in New York of murdering Irene Silverman in a plot to steal her
elegant townhouse mansion. (The body of the 82-year-old millionaire widow has
never been found.)
Birthdays
Today
1850 - Oliver Heaviside, physicist who predicted the existance of the ionosphere, used to reflect radio waves.
1868 - Nicholas II Aleksandrovitsch, last tsar of Russia (1894-1917)
1872 - Bertrand Russell, England, mathematician/philosopher (Nobel 1950)
1883 - Walter Gropius, Berlin Germany, architect (Bauhaus school of design)
1889 - G Gunnarson, writer
1897 - Frank Capra (Academy Award-winning director: It Happened One Night [1934], Mr. Deeds Goes to Town [1936], You Can't Take It with You [1938]; It's a Wonderful Life, Lost Horizon, Pocketful of Miracles)
1902 - [Robert] Meredith Wilson (Reiniger) (composer: The Music Man, The Unsinkable Molly Brown)
1911 - Big Joe Turner (rhythm & blues singer: Corrine Corrina, Cherry Red, Still in the Dark, Chains of Love, Sweet Sixteen)
1912 - Perry (Pierino) (Como) (singer: Round and Round, Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So), Hot Diggity, Catch a Falling Star, It's Impossible, Temptation, Dream along with Me, And I Love You So: has 15 gold records; Emmy Award-winning TV show: The Perry Como Show; former barber)
1914 - Pierre Balmain (fashion designer)
1918 - John Paul II, [Karol Wojtyla], 264th Roman Catholic pope (1978- )
1919 - Dame Margot Fonteyn (ballet dancer: Sadler Wells Company, solo, danced with Rudolph Nureyev)
1920 - Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) (264th pope of the Roman Catholic Church: the first Polish pope)
1922 - Kai Winding (jazz musician: trombone: More (theme from Mondo Cane)
1924 - Jack Whitaker (sportscaster: CBS Sports, ABC Sports, WCAU-TV, Philadelphia)
1930 - Pernell Roberts (actor: Bonanza, Trapper John, M.D., Ride Lonesome)
1931 - Robert Morse (Tony Award-winning actor: Tru [1990], How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Secret Storm, Wild Palms, Where Were You When the Lights Went Out)
1934 - Dwayne Hickman (actor: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Cat Ballou)
1937 - Brooks Robinson (Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman: Baltimore Orioles: Baseball Writer's Award [1964])
1946 - Reggie Jackson (Baseball Hall of Famer: "Mr. October": Baltimore Orioles, NY Yankees Oakland A's; World Series record: 3 home runs in a row, American League MVP [1973])
1949 - Dave Atkins (football)
1950 - Rodney Milburn Jr. (Olympic Gold Medalist: 110-meter hurdles [1972]: set a world record of 13.1 seconds [1973])
Famous
deaths
0323 - Alexander III the Great, king of Macedonia/conqueror, dies at 32
1160 - Erik IX Helgi, [The Saint], King of Sweden, dies
1799 - Pierre de Beaumarchais, financier of Amer Rev/dramatist (Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro), dies
1911 - Gustav Mahler, Austr composer/conductor (Children's Death Songs), dies at 50
1975 - Leroy Anderson, composer, dies at 66
1995 - Alexander Gudonov, Russian dancer/actor (Witness), dies at 45
If
you have other Birthdays or events to add for this day please
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