Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
On this day in 649, Theodore I ended his reign as Catholic Pope. In 1027, Robert II, the Vrome, named son Henry I, King of France. French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) was assassinated on this day in 1610 by a fanatical monk, François Ravillac, which brought Louis XIII to the throne. In 1643 on this day, Louis XIV became the King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. On this day in 1787, delegates began gathering in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution. Friedrich von Schiller's "Macbeth," premiered in Weimar on this day in 1800. This day in 1804 marked the beginning of the Lewis & Clark expedition. William Clark set off the famous expedition from Camp Dubois. A few days later, in St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis joined the group. The group was known as the "Corps of Discovery", and were seeking a navigable way to the Pacific coast. Charles Darwin reached the Coquimbo in northern Chile on this day in 1835. This day in 1868 during the Japanese Boshin War marked the end of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdrew northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō. On this day in 1874, McGill University and Harvard met at Cambridge, MA, for the first college American football game to charge admission. Harvard defeated the University of McGill (Montreal) 3-0. Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Telephone Company of Europe on this day in 1879. On this day in 1940 during World War II, Nazi German bombs rained down on Rotterdam, resulting in 600-900 dead, as Netherlands surrendered to Germany. In 1948 on this day, British rule in Palestine came to an end as The Jewish National Council and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the independent State of Israel. Within hours, Israel was under attack from Arab forces. The Warsaw Pact, an Eastern European mutual-defense treaty, was signed in Poland by eight communist bloc countries on this day in 1955. It was signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Ultimately, it dissolved in 1991 at the end of the Cold War. A bus with the first group of Freedom Riders was bombed and burned in Alabama on this day in 1961. The Beatles announced the formation of Apple Corp on this day in 1968. In 1968 on this day, the Czechoslovakian government announced liberalizing reforms under Alexander Dubcek. Abortion and contraception were legalized in Canada on this day in 1969. On this day in 1970, the South Vietnamese sustained the second highest casualties of the war. Skylab, the United States’ first space station, was launched into orbit around the Earth on this day in 1973. On this day in 1975, the French press reported on massive deportations from Cambodia. In 1975 on this day, U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia. About 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in the military operation. American President Jimmy Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services on this day in 1980. On this day in 1991 in South Africa, Winnie Mandela was sentenced to six years for complicity in kidnapping & beating of four youths, one of whom died, She is freed pending appeal In 1992 on this day, former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev addressed members of the U.S. Congress, appealing to them to pass a bill to aid the people of the former Soviet Union. Frank Sinatra died at the age of 82 on this day in 1998. On this day in 212, Stanford University scientists developed a prototype of a bionic eye.
Here are some of the events that occurred on this day throughout recorded history in greater detail:
• On this day in 649, Theodore I ended his reign as Catholic Pope
• In 1027, Robert II, the Vrome, named son Henry I, King of France.
1264 - Battle at Lewes during the Second Barons War: Simon van Leicester defeats and captures English King Henry III in France.
1483 - Coronation of Charles VIII of France ("Charles l'Affable").
1509 - In the Battle of Agnadello, French defeated Venitians in Northern Italy.
1576 - Dutch Council of State replaced by Council of Beroerten
1607 - First permanent English settlement in New World, Jamestown, Va
1608 - The Protestant Union is founded in Auhausen.
• French King Henri IV (Henri de Navarre) was assassinated on this day in 1610 by a fanatical monk, François Ravillac, which brought Louis XIII to the throne.
1638 - Admiral Adam Westerwolt conquerors Batticaloa, Ceylon
Louis XIV, the "Sun King" of France
• In 1643 on this day, Louis XIV became the King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
1664 - Turkish great Kiprulu attacks 120,000 Donau soldiers
1702 - England and the Netherlands declared war on France and Spain
1702 - Swedish troops under King Charles XII occupy Warsaw
1727 - Thomas Gainsborough was born. He was an English painter.
1747 - A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at first battle of Cape Finisterre.
1767 - British government disbands Americans import duty on tea
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA
• On this day in 1787, delegates began gathering in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution.
May 14, 1787: Constitutional Convention delegates begin to assemble On this day in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention begin to assemble in Philadelphia to confront a daunting task: the peaceful overthrow of the new American government as defined by the Article of Confederation. Although the convention was originally supposed to begin on May 14, James Madison reported that a small number only had assembled. Meetings had to be pushed back until May 25, when a sufficient quorum of the participating states—Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia—had arrived. As the new United States descended into economic crisis and inter-state quarrels, the new nation's leaders had become increasingly frustrated with their limited power. When in 1785, Maryland and Virginia could not agree on their rights to the Potomac River, George Washington called a conference to settle the matter at Mt. Vernon. James Madison then convinced the Virginia legislature to call a convention of all the states to discuss such sticky trade-related issues at Annapolis, Maryland. The Annapolis Convention of September 1786 in turn called the Philadelphia Convention, to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union. Between Madison's initial call for the states to send delegates to Annapolis and the presentation of Madison's Virginia plan for a new government to the convention in Philadelphia, a fundamental shift in the aims of the convention process had taken place. No longer were the delegates gathered with the aim of tweaking trade agreements. A significant number of the men present were now determined to overhaul the new American government as a whole, without a single ballot being cast by the voting public.
1796 - Edward Jenner administered the first smallpox vaccine, inoculating 8-year-old James Phipps.
• Friedrich von Schiller's "Macbeth," premiered in Weimar on this day in 1800.
• This day in 1804 marked the beginning of the Lewis & Clark expedition. William Clark set off the famous expedition from Camp Dubois. A few days later, in St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis joined the group. The group was known as the "Corps of Discovery", and were seeking a navigable way to the Pacific coast.
May 14, 1804: Lewis and Clark depart One year after the United States doubled its territory with the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Even before the U.S. government concluded purchase negotiations with France, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, an army captain, to lead an expedition into what is now the U.S. Northwest. On May 14, the "Corps of Discovery"--featuring approximately 45 men (although only an approximate 33 men would make the full journey)--left St. Louis for the American interior. The expedition traveled up the Missouri River in a 55-foot long keelboat and two smaller boats. In November, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader accompanied by his young Native American wife Sacagawea, joined the expedition as an interpreter. The group wintered in present-day North Dakota before crossing into present-day Montana, where they first saw the Rocky Mountains. On the other side of the Continental Divide, they were met by Sacagawea's tribe, the Shoshone Indians, who sold them horses for their journey down through the Bitterroot Mountains. After passing through the dangerous rapids of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in canoes, the explorers reached the calm of the Columbia River, which led them to the sea. On November 8, 1805, the expedition arrived at the Pacific Ocean, the first European explorers to do so by an overland route from the east. After pausing there for the winter, the explorers began their long journey back to St. Louis. On September 23, 1806, after almost two and a half years, the expedition returned to the city, bringing back a wealth of information about the largely unexplored region, as well as valuable U.S. claims to Oregon Territory.
1811 - Paraguay gains independence from Spain (Natl Day)
1832 - Felix Mendelssohn's "Hebrides," premieres
British Botanist Charles Darwin
• Charles Darwin reached the Coquimbo in northern Chile on this day in 1835.
1842 - Illustrated London News; the world's first illustrated weekly newspaper, begins publication
1845 - Utrecht-Arnhem Railway opens
1853 - Gail Borden patented her process for condensed milk
1861 - The Canellas meteorite, an 859-gram chondrite-type meteorite, strikes the earth near Barcelona, Spain.
1862 - Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patented the chronograph
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson, MS takes place.
• This day in 1868 during the Japanese Boshin War marked the end of the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle, former Shogunate forces withdrew northward to Aizu by way of Nikkō.
• On this day in 1874, McGill University and Harvard met at Cambridge, MA, for the first college American football game to charge admission. Harvard defeated the University of McGill (Montreal) 3-0.
1878 - Vaseline is first sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly) The name Vaseline was registered by Robert A. Chesebrough.
1879 - The first group of 463 Indian indentured labourers arrive in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
Monuments to Thomas Edison at Menlo Park in Edison, NJ
• Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Telephone Company of Europe on this day in 1879.
1884 - Anti-Monopoly party forms in US
1889 - The children's charity the NSPCC is launched in London.
1892 - Vitesse 1892 soccer team forms in Arnhem
1894 - Fire in Boston bleachers spreads to 170 adjoining buildings
1896 - Lowest US temperature in May recorded (-10°F-Climax, Colo)
The Lion of Judah Emblem of the Ethiopian Empire 1897 - Great-Britain signs treaty with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
1897 - Guglielmo Marconi made the first communication by wireless telegraph.
1897 - "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Phillip Sousa was performed for the first time. It was at a ceremony where a statue of George Washington was unveiled.
1903 - President Theodore Roosevelt visits SF
1904 - The Olympic Games were held in the United States for the first time, in St. Louis, Missouri.
1905 - 2nd official intl soccer match, Netherlands beats Belgium 4-0
1906 - Flagpole at the White Sox ballpark breaks during pennant-raising
1908 - First passenger flight in an airplane
1910 - Canada authorizes issuing of silver dollar coins
1913 - French Hals museum opens in Harleem Netherlands
1913 - The Rockefeller Foundation was created by John D. Rockefeller with a gift of $100,000,000.
1914 - Chic Jim Scott no-hits Cleve, gives up 2 hits in 10th & loses 1-0
1918 - Sunday baseball is made legal in Wash DC
1919 - 45th Preakness: Johnny Loftus aboard Sir Barton wins in 1:53
1919 - Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical In hac tanta
1920 - Giants inform Yankees that the lease allowing them to play in the Polo Grounds will not be renewed at end of 1920 season
1921 - Florence Allen is 1st woman judge to sentence a man to death
1921 - Mussolini's fascists obtains 29 parliament seats
1925 - Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway is published.
1927 - "Ain't She Sweet?" hits #1 on the pop singles chart by Ben Bernie
1927 - 53rd Kentucky Derby: Linus McAtee aboard Whiskery wins in 2:06
1927 - Cap Arcona is launched at the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Hamburg.
1927 - The University of Chicago's local collegiate organization, Phi Sigma, becomes incorporated under Illinois law as Eta Sigma Phi, the National Honorary Classical Fraternity.
1928 - John McGraw is knocked down by a taxicab and suffers a broken leg
1931 - Ådalen shootings: five people are killed in Ådalen, Sweden, as soldiers open fire on an unarmed trade union demonstration.
1932 - "We Want Beer!" parade in NY
1935 - Griffith Planetarium opens in LA
1935 - LA's Griffith Planetarium opens, 3rd in US
1935 - Plebiscite in Philippines ratified independence agreement
1935 - Northamptonshire County Cricket Club gains (over Somerset at Taunton by 48 runs) what proved to be their last victory for 99 matches, a record in the County Championship. Their next Championship win was not until May 29, 1939.
1938 - 64th Preakness: Maurice Peters aboard Dauber wins in 1:59.8
1938 - English soccer team beats Nazi-Germany, 6-3
1939 - Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
1940 - Admiral Furstner departs to England
1940 - Boston's Jimmie Foxx HR goes over Comiskey Park's left field roof
1940 - German breakthrough at Sedan
1940 - Lord Beaverbrook appointed British minister of aircraft production
• On this day in 1940 during World War II, Nazi German bombs rained down on Rotterdam, resulting in 600-900 dead, as Netherlands surrendered to Germany.
1941 - 3,600 Parisian Jews arrested
1942 - The British, while retreating from Burma, reached India.
1942 - "Lincoln Portrait" by Aaron Copland was performed for the first time by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
1942 - The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) was established by an act of the U.S. Congress.
1943 - Sinking of the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur off the coast of Queensland, by a Japanese submarine.
1944 - 91 German bombers harass Bristol
1944 - British troops occupy Kohima
1944 - Gen Rommel, Speidel and von Stulpnagel attempt to assassinate Hitler
1945 - Kamikaze-Zero strikes US aircraft carrier Enterprise
1945 - US offensive on Okinawa, Sugar Loaf conquered
1946 - Paul Hindemith's "For Those We Love," premieres
Flag of Israel
• In 1948 on this day, British rule in Palestine came to an end as The Jewish National Council and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the independent State of Israel. Within hours, Israel was under attack from Arab forces.
May 14, 1948: State of Israel proclaimed On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words "We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel," prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel's first premier. In the distance, the rumble of guns could be heard from fighting that broke out between Jews and Arabs immediately following the British army withdrawal earlier that day. Egypt launched an air assault against Israel that evening. Despite a blackout in Tel Aviv--and the expected Arab invasion--Jews joyously celebrated the birth of their new nation, especially after word was received that the United States had recognized the Jewish state. At midnight, the State of Israel officially came into being upon termination of the British mandate in Palestine. Modern Israel has its origins in the Zionism movement, established in the late 19th century by Jews in the Russian Empire who called for the establishment of a territorial Jewish state after enduring persecution. In 1896, Jewish-Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl published an influential political pamphlet called The Jewish State, which argued that the establishment of a Jewish state was the only way of protecting Jews from anti-Semitism. Herzl became the leader of Zionism, convening the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland in 1897. Ottoman-controlled Palestine, the original home of the Jews, was chosen as the most desirable location for a Jewish state, and Herzl unsuccessfully petitioned the Ottoman government for a charter. After the failed Russian Revolution of 1905, growing numbers of Eastern European and Russian Jews began to immigrate to Palestine, joining the few thousand Jews who had arrived earlier. The Jewish settlers insisted on the use of Hebrew as their spoken language. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Britain took over Palestine. In 1917, Britain issued the "Balfour Declaration," which declared its intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Although protested by the Arab states, the Balfour Declaration was included in the British mandate over Palestine, which was authorized by the League of Nations in 1922. Because of Arab opposition to the establishment of any Jewish state in Palestine, British rule continued throughout the 1920s and '30s. Beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine, and Britain attempted to limit Jewish immigration as a means of appeasing the Arabs. As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Radical Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause. At the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred the problem to the United Nations, which in November 1947 voted to partition Palestine. The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, although they made up less than half of Palestine's population. The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but by May 14, 1948, the Jews had secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory. On May 14, Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded. The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the Arabs and then seize key territory, such as Galilee, the Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem. In 1949, U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent control of this conquered territory. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left the country with a substantial Jewish majority. During the third Arab-Israeli conflict--the Six-Day War of 1967--Israel again greatly increased its borders, capturing from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria the Old City of Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed an historic peace agreement in which Israel returned the Sinai in exchange for Egyptian recognition and peace. Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a major peace accord in 1993, which envisioned the gradual implementation of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process moved slowly, however, and in 2000 major fighting between Israelis and Palestinians resumed in Israel and the occupied territories.
1948 - Israeli Radio Station Kol Yisrael's first broadcast
1948 - Jordan's Arab League captures Atarot, north of Jerusalem
1948 - US grants Israel de facto recognition
1948 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1948 - WBEN (now WIVB) TV channel 4 in Buffalo, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
1949 - "Love Life" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 252 performances
1949 - 75th Preakness: Ted Atkinson aboard Capot wins in 1:56
1949 - Harry Truman signs bill establishing a rocket test range at Cape Canaveral
1950 - Pitts Johnny Hopp goes 6 for 6 including 2 HRs
1951 - "Flahooley" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 40 performances
1951 - Ernie Kovacs Show, TV Variety debut on NBC
1951 - Sammy Fain/EY Harburg's musical "Flahooley," premieres in NYC
1954 - Belgium shortens military conscription from 20 to 18 months
1955 - US performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
• The Warsaw Pact, an Eastern European mutual-defense treaty, was signed in Poland by eight communist bloc countries on this day in 1955. It was signed by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Ultimately, it dissolved in 1991 at the end of the Cold War.
May 14, 1955: The Warsaw Pact is formed The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. The Warsaw Pact, so named because the treaty was signed in Warsaw, included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria as members. The treaty called on the member states to come to the defense of any member attacked by an outside force and it set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union. The introduction to the treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact indicated the reason for its existence. This revolved around "Western Germany, which is being remilitarized, and her inclusion in the North Atlantic bloc, which increases the danger of a new war and creates a threat to the national security of peace-loving states." This passage referred to the decision by the United States and the other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on May 9, 1955 to make West Germany a member of NATO and allow that nation to remilitarize. The Soviets obviously saw this as a direct threat and responded with the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact remained intact until 1991. Albania was expelled in 1962 because, believing that Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev was deviating too much from strict Marxist orthodoxy, the country turned to communist China for aid and trade. In 1990, East Germany left the Pact and reunited with West Germany; the reunified Germany then became a member of NATO. The rise of non-communist governments in other eastern bloc nations, such as Poland and Czechoslovakia, throughout 1990 and 1991 marked an effective end of the power of the Warsaw Pact. In March 1991, the military alliance component of the pact was dissolved and in July 1991, the last meeting of the political consultative body took place.
1957 - "New Girl in Town" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 432 performances
1957 - Bob Merrill's musical "New Girl in Town," premieres in NYC
1960 - "At the Drop of a Hat" closes at John Golden NYC after 216 perfs
1960 - USSR launch 1st (unmanned) space capsule
1960 - Virgil Thomson's "Missa Pro Defunctis," premieres in Potsdam NY
• A bus with the first group of Freedom Riders was bombed and burned in Alabama on this day in 1961.
1961 - Stirling Moss wins the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix
1962 - Ex-pres Milovan Djilas sentenced to 5 years
1962 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
1963 - Kuwait is 111th member of the United Nations
1964 - Underground America Day is 1st observed
1965 - Second Chinese atom bomb explodes
1965 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1966 - First reported monitoring of pirate radio station WBBH (NJ)
1966 - A Lover's Concerto by Mrs Miller hits #95
1967 - Mickey Mantle's 500th HR off Oriole's Stu Miller
1967 - Pirate Radio Station 270 (England) closes down
• The Beatles announced the formation of Apple Corp on this day in 1968.
• In 1968 on this day, the Czechoslovakian government announced liberalizing reforms under Alexander Dubcek.
1968 - RAF-leader Andreas Baader sentenced to 3 years in West Berlin
• Abortion and contraception were legalized in Canada on this day in 1969.
1969 - Jacqueline Susann’s second novel, "The Love Machine," was published by Simon and Schuster.
1969 - Last Chevrolet Corsair built
1970 - Cops kill 2 students in racial disturbance (Jackson State U, Miss)
1970 - Harry A Blackmun appointed to Supreme Court
1970 - NYC local newspaper "Our Town" begins publishing
1970 - RAF-leader Andreas Baader freed after serving 2 years in West Berlin
1970 - The Red Army Faction is established in Germany.
• On this day in 1970, the South Vietnamese sustained the second highest casualties of the war. Allied military officials announce that 863 South Vietnamese were killed from May 3 to 9. This was the second highest weekly death toll of the war to date for the South Vietnamese forces. These numbers reflected the changing nature of the war as U.S. forces continued to withdraw and the burden of the fighting was shifted to the South Vietnamese as part of Nixon's "Vietnamization" of the war effort.
1972 - 24th Emmy Awards: All in the Family, Carrol O'Conner & Jean Stapleton
1972 - In Willie Mays 1st game as a NY Met his homer beats SF Giants, 5-4
1973 - Gold hits record $102.50 an ounce in London
1973 - Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, last airs on NBC-TV
• Skylab, the United States’ first space station, was launched into orbit around the Earth on this day in 1973.
1973 - US Supreme court approves equal rights to females in military
1974 - Symbionese Liberation Army destroyed in shoot-out, 6 killed
1975 - Dynamo Kiev wins 15th Europe Cup II
• On this day in 1975, the French press reported on massive deportations from Cambodia.
• In 1975 on this day, U.S. forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia. About 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in the military operation.
1975 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1976 - Lowell Thomas ends 46 years as radio network reporter
1976 - Oil tanker Urqui Ola explodes off Spanish coast
1977 - English football international Bobby Moore retires
1977 - KC Royals Jim Colborn no-hits Texas Rangers, 6-0
1977 - Netherlands State Delta Kappa Gamma Society forms
1977 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens sweep Boston Bruins in 4 games
1978 - "Working" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 25 performances
1978 - First round of the presidential elections in Upper Volta.
American President Jimmy Carter
• American President Jimmy Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services on this day in 1980.
1980 - Valencia wins 20th Europe Cup II
1980 - "Musical Chairs" opens at Rialto Theater NYC for 15 performances
1980 - Bucky Dent hits an inside park HR, Royals walk 14 Yanks including 5 with bases loaded, Yanks win 16-3
1981 - 35th NBA Championship: Bost Celtics beat Houston Rockets, 4 games to 2
1981 - NASA launches space vehicle S-192
1982 - Guinea adopts constitution
1983 - "She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby hits #5
1983 - Rosa Mota runs female world record 20k (1:06:55.5)
1984 - 19th Academy of Country Music Awards: Alabama
1985 - The first McDonald's restaurant became the first fast-food business museum. It is located in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1986 - Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary
1986 - Reggie Jackson hit his 537th HR passing Mickey Mantle into 6th place
1986 - Pride of Baltimore lost at sea.
1987 - "Little Shop of Horrors" is released in Germany
1987 - Colt revolver (Peacemaker) of 1873 sells for $242,000
1988 - In the Andean village of Cayara, Peru's military was involved in a massacre of at least 26 peasants.
1988 - "Mail" closes at Music Box Theater NYC after 36 performances
1988 - 1st non-pitcher (Jose Oquendo) in 20 years to get a decision in a baseball game, he and St Louis Cardinals lose to Braves 7-5 in 19 inn
1988 - Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27.
1989 - First time since 1948 a player hit 6 consecutive doubles (Kirby Puckett)
1989 - Demonstration for democratic reforms in Beijing's Tiananmen square
1989 - Final TV episode of "Family Ties" airs
1989 - Moonlighting, TV Crime Drama last airs on ABC
1990 - 46th time opposing pitchers hit HR, Valenzuela (Dodgers)/Gross (Expos)
1990 - Dow Jones avg hits a record 2,821.53
1991 - 42 die in a train collision is Japan 1991 - Robert M Gates becomes head of CIA
1991 - World's Largest Burrito created at 1,126 lbs
Flag of South Africa during the apartheid era
• On this day in 1991 in South Africa, which was still under apartheid white minority government rule, Winnie Mandela was sentenced to six years for complicity in kidnapping & beating of four youths, one of whom died, She is freed pending appeal
• In 1992 on this day, former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev addressed members of the U.S. Congress, appealing to them to pass a bill to aid the people of the former Soviet Union.
1994 - Dave Winfield passes Frank Robinson for 12th on RBI list with 1,617
1994 - FA cup final at Wembley Stadium London
1995 - "My Thing of Love" closes at Beck Theater NYC after 16 performances
1995 - Eddie Murray of Indians hits his 463rd career home run (ties for 18th)
1995 - Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet's 2nd most sr spiritual leader
1996 - A tornado hit 80 villages in nothern Bangladesh. More than 440 people were killed.
1996 - NY Yankee Dwight Gooden no-hits Seattle Mariners 2-0
1997 - Baseball's Exec Council suspends NY Yank owner George Steinbrenner
1998 - The Associated Press marked its 150th anniversary.
1998 - Last episode of Seinfeld on NBC (commercials are $2M for 30 seconds)
• Frank Sinatra died at the age of 82 on this day in 1998.
1999 - North Korea returned the remains of six U.S. soldiers that had been killed during the Korean War.
2002 - Ten members of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition invade the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory of Australia.
2004 - The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
2005 - Pope Benedict XVI observes his first beatification, elevating Blessed Marianne of Molokai on the road to canonization into sainthood.
2005 - The former USS America (CV-66), a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States Navy, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. She is the largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise.
2005 - The art exhibit "Gumby and Friends: The First 50 Years" opened at the Lynn House Gallery in Antioch, CA.
2012 - 1,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons agree to end mass hunger strike
• On this day in 212, Stanford University scientists developed a prototype of a bionic eye.
These are the web pages that I used to complete this blog:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/may14.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
http://www.historyorb.com/day/may/14
