Today in History

1679 Habeaus Corpus Act (strengthening person’s right to challenge unlawful arrest & imprisonment) passes in England

1703 Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great

1850 Mormon Temple in Nauvoo, Illinois, destroyed by tornado

1873 Heinrich Schliemann discovers “Priam’s Treasure” a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia

1896 Tornado hit St Louis, killing 255, leaving thousands homeless

1907 Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco

1905 Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history

1916 President Woodrow Wilson addresses the League to Enforce Peace, founded in 1915, and gives public support to the idea of a league of nations

1930 The 1,046-foot (319-meter) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public

1935 Supreme Court declares FDR’s National Recovery Act unconstitutional

1940 British and Allied forces begin the evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during WWII

1958 Ernest Green becomes the 1st African-American to graduate from Little Rock’s Central High School

1963 Jomo Kenyatta elected 1st Prime Minister of Kenya

1969 Walt Disney World construction begins at Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida

1995 Actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition in Culpeper, Virginia

1997 1st all female (20 British women) team reach the North Pole

1998 Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.

1999 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo

2006 Earthquake strikes Java, Indonesia at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta, killing over 6,600 people

Music

1975 Paul McCartney releases “Venus & Mars”

1977 The Sex Pistols release “God Save the Queen”, sparking major controversy and leading to a ban on the song by the BBC

Movies & TV

1933 Walt Disney’s short film “3 Little Pigs” released (Academy Award Best Animated film 1934)

1987 Christian evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker appear on “Nightline” after PTL scandal

2005 DreamWorks computer-animated film “Madagascar” with voices by Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith is released.

Sports

1904 NL record of 5 stolen bases in a game (Dennis McGann, NY Giants)

1968 George Halas retires from coaching, finishing with 318 regular-season wins and 6 NFL titles

Birthdays

1818 Amelia Jenks Bloomer, American reformer who campaigned for temperance and women’s rights, born in Homer, New York (d. 1894)

1819 Julia Ward Howe, American poet and author (Battle Hymn of the Republic), born in NYC, New York (d. 1910)

1837 “Wild Bill” Hickok [James Butler], American cowboy and scout, born in Troy Grove, Illinois (d. 1876)

1911 Hubert Humphrey, American politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (1965-69), and 1968 Presidential candidate, born in Wallace, South Dakota (d. 1978)

1912 Sam Snead, American golfer (7 PGA Tour major titles; US Masters 1949, 52, 54), born in Ashwood, Virginia (d. 2002)

1923 Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State (1973-77) and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, born in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany

1936 Louis Gossett Jr, American actor (Officer & Gentleman, Deep), born in Brooklyn, New York

1939 Donald “Don” Williams, American country singer (I Believe in You), born in Floydada Texas (d. 2017)

1961 Peri Gilpin, actor (Roz Doyle-Frasier), born in Waco, Texas

1965 Todd Bridges, actor (Diff’rent Strokes, Fish), born in San Francisco, California

1970 Joseph Fiennes, English actor (Enemy at the Gates, Shakespeare in Love), born in Salisbury, Wiltshire

1973 Jack McBrayer, American actor and comedian