May 16th: This Day in History

 

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!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 955, Alberich II, the (bastard?) son of Octavianus, was elected pope. In 1165 on this day, Ramjbam & his family reached Acre Palestine. Florence became a republic on this day in 1527. On this day in 1568, Mary Queen of Scotland fled to England. Johannes Kepler, by his own calculations, was conceived on this day in 1571 at 4:37 AM. On this day in 1717, Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille, the most famous prison in Paris. In 1770 on this day, Marie Antoinette, at age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15. The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called "The Regulators", was fought on this day in 1771 in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina. In 1804 on this day in Paris, the Senate & Tribune declared Napoleon the leader of France. Mississippi River steamboat service began on this day in 1817. On this day in 1822 during the Greek War of Independence, the Ottomans captured the Greek town of Souli. On this day in 1868, the United States Senate voted in against impeaching President Andrew Johnson of "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment. In 1879 on this day, the Treaty of Gandamak established an Afghan state between Russia and the British. On this day in 1911, the Zeppelin "Deutscheland" was wrecked at Dusseldorf, Germany. The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed on this day by the U.S. Congress, effectively making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense. Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc) was canonized as a saint in Rome on this day in 1920. On this day in 1940 during the German blitzkrieg campaign in western Europe of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill returned to London from Paris. In 1941 on this day during World War II, the Italian army under Aosta surrendered to the British at Amba Alagi in Ethiopia. The Germans made their last major air attack of World War II in Great Britain on this day in 1941 in Birmingham. On this day in 1943 during the Holocaust of World War II, the Jewish resistance known as the Warsaw Ghetto uprising ended in Poland after 30 days of fighting. Nazi soldiers gained control of Warsaw's Jewish ghetto, blowing up the last remaining synagogue and beginning the mass deportation of the ghetto's remaining dwellers to the Treblinka extermination camp. King Baudouin of Belgium visited what was still the Belgian colony in Congo on this day in 1955. The Big 4 summit in Paris collapsed on this day in 1960 as Soviet officials leveled spy charges against the United States due to the American U-2 spy plane incident. The iconic Pet Sounds album by the Beach Boys was released on this day in 1966. On this day in 1968, protests escalated around France. India annexed the Principality of Sikkim on this day in 1975. Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest on this day in 1975. Former Buggles members Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn replaced Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman in Yes on this day in 1980. On this day in 1986 during white minority apartheid rule, South African President P W Botha sent Coetzee to visit the imprisoned Nelson Mandela. Soviet President Mikhail S Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping ended a 30-year rift between the two nations when they formally met in Beijing on this day in 1989. Polls released on this day in 1992 showed that the American presidential election between candidates Ross Perot, incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush and Democratic challenged Bill Clinton could be in a virtual deadlock. President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (since renamed Congo, as it had traditionally been before Mobutu's rule) had his 32 years of autocratic rule forcefully ended when rebel forces led by Laurent Kabila expelled him from the country. In Casablanca, Morocco, on this day in 2003, 33 civilians were killed and more than 100 people were injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks. On this day in 2005, Kuwait permitted women's suffrage by a 35-23 National Assembly vote. Alex Salmond was elected First Minister of Scotland on this day in 2007, becoming the first Scottish National Party leader to be elected as First Minister after winning a historic victory at the Scottish general election on the 3rd May.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

•   On this day in 955, Alberich II, the (bastard?) son of Octavianus, was elected pope.

•   In 1165 on this day, Ramjbam & his family reached Acre Palestine.

1204 - Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.

1527 -Alberich II, (bastard?) son of Octavianus elected pope

•  Florence became a republic on this day in 1527.

1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns as English Lord Chancellor

1547 - Protestant German monarch surrenders to Karel in Wittenberg

•  On this day in 1568, Mary Queen of Scotland fled to England.

Bust of Astronomer Johann Kepler

•  Johannes Kepler, by his own calculations, was conceived on this day in 1571 at 4:37 AM

1584 - 7 Westfriese towns divide monasteries of Egmond/Blokker/St-Pietersdal

1605 - Camillo Borghese elected to succeed Pope Leo XI becomes Paul V

1606 - 2,000 foreigners murdered in Russia

1648 - Battle at Zolty Wody: Bohdan Chmielricki's cosacks beat John Casimir

 

French Enlightenment Philosopher & Author Voltaire

•  On this day in 1717, Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille, the most famous prison in Paris.      Writer Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, is imprisoned in the Bastille on this day in 1717.    The outspoken writer was born to middle-class parents, attended college in Paris, and began to study law. However, he quit law to become a playwright and made a name for himself with classical tragedies. Critics embraced his epic poem, La Henriade, but its satirical attack on politics and religion infuriated the government, and Voltaire was arrested in 1717. He spent nearly a year in the Bastille.    Voltaire's time in prison failed to dry up his satirical pen. In 1726, he was forced to flee to England. He returned several years later and continued to write plays. In 1734, his Lettres Philosophiques criticized established religions and political institutions, and he was forced to flee again. He retreated to the region of Champagne, where he lived with his mistress and patroness, Madame du Chatelet. In 1750, he moved to Berlin on the invitation of Frederick II of Prussia and later settled in Switzerland, where he wrote his best-known work, Candide. He died in Paris in 1778, having returned to supervise the production of one of his plays.  

1747 - Prince Willem V sworn in as admiral-general of Neth

1763 - Samuel Johnson 1st meets his future biographer James Boswell in London

Royal France

•  In 1770 on this day, Marie Antoinette, at age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.  May 16, 1770: Louis marries Marie Antoinette  At Versailles, Louis, the French dauphin, marries Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. France hoped their marriage would strengthen its alliance with Austria, its longtime enemy. In 1774, with the death of King Louis XV, Louis and Marie were crowned king and queen of France.    From the start, Louis was unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems he had inherited from his grandfather, King Louis XV. In addition, his queen fell under criticism for her extravagance, her devotion to the interests of Austria, and her opposition to reform of the monarchy. Marie exerted a growing influence over her husband, and under their reign the monarchy became dangerously alienated from the French people. In a legendary episode, Marie allegedly responded to the news that the impoverished French peasantry had no food to eat by declaring "Let them eat cake."    At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Marie and Louis resisted the advice of constitutional monarchists who sought to reform the monarchy in order to save it, and by 1791 opposition to the royal pair had become so fierce that the two were forced to attempt an escape to Austria. During their trip, Marie and Louis were apprehended by revolutionary forces at Varennes, France, and carried back to Paris. There, Louis was forced to accept the constitution of 1791, which reduced him to a mere figurehead.    In August 1792, the royal couple was arrested by the sansculottes and imprisoned, and in September the monarchy was abolished by the National Convention. In November, evidence of Louis' counterrevolutionary intrigues with Austria and other foreign nations was discovered, and he was put on trial for treason by the National Convention. The following January, Louis was convicted and condemned to death by a narrow majority. On January 21, he walked steadfastly to the guillotine and was executed. Nine months later, Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason by a tribunal, and on October 16 she followed her husband to the guillotine.

• The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called "The Regulators", was fought on this day in 1771 in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.

1792 - Denmark abolishes slave trade

1795 - Hedges Treaty: Bataafse Republic becomes French vassel state

1796 - Lombardije Republic forms 1803 - Peace of Amiens ends

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

•  In 1804 on this day in Paris, the Senate & Tribune declared Napoleon the leader of France.

1811 - Peninsular War-Allies defeat French at Albuera

1815 - The Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, officially names the town of Blackheath in the upper Blue Mountains.

• Mississippi River steamboat service began on this day in 1817.

•  On this day in 1822 during the Greek War of Independence, the Ottomans captured the Greek town of Souli.

1860 - -18] Chicago: Republican convention selects Abraham Lincoln candidate

1861 - Twiggs Surrender, San Antonio, Texas during US Civil war

1861 - Confederate government offers war volunteers $10 premium

1861 - Kentucky proclaims its neutrality

1862 - Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir builds first automobile

1863 - Battle of Champion's Hill, MS-bloodiest action of Vicksburg Campaign

1864 - Atlanta Campaign: Battle of Resaca, ends (since May 13)

1864 - Battle of Bermuda Hundred, VA

1864 - Last battles at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia (6,666 casualties)

1866 - Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer

1866 - Congress authorizes the nickel 5 cent piece (replaces silver half-dime)

1868 - Bedrich Smetana's opera "Dalibor," premieres in Prague

1868 - The first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment in the U.S. Senate failed to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote.

• On this day in 1868, the United States Senate voted in against impeaching President Andrew Johnson of "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment. In February 1868, the House of Representatives charged Johnson with 11 articles of impeachment for vague "high crimes and misdemeanors." (For comparison, in 1998, President Bill Clinton was charged with two articles of impeachment for obstruction of justice during an investigation into his inappropriate sexual behavior in the White House Oval Office. In 1974, Nixon faced three charges for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.) The main issue in Johnson's trial was his staunch resistance to implementing Congress' Civil War Reconstruction policies. The War Department was the federal agency responsible for carrying out Reconstruction programs in the war-ravaged southern states and when Johnson fired the agency's head, Edwin Stanton, Congress retaliated with calls for his impeachment.    Of the 11 counts, several went to the core of the conflict between Johnson and Congress. The House charged Johnson with illegally removing the secretary of war from office and for violating several Reconstruction Acts. The House also accused the president of hurling slanderous "inflammatory and scandalous harangues" against Congressional members. On February 24, the House passed all 11 articles of impeachment and the process moved into a Senate trial.    The Senate trial lasted until May 26, 1868. Johnson did not attend any of the proceedings and was not required to do so. After all the arguments had been presented for and against him, Johnson waited for his fate, which hung on one swing vote. By a vote of 35-19, Johnson was acquitted and finished out his term. Presidents Johnson and Clinton are the only presidents for whom the impeachment process went as far as a Senate trial. Nixon resigned before the House of Representatives could vote on impeachment.

1869 - Cincinnati Reds play their first baseball game, win 41-7

1872 - Metropolitan Gas Company lamps lit for first time

1874 - First recorded dam disaster in US (Williamsburg Mass)

1875 - Quake in Venezuela & Colombia kills 16,000

1877 - May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.

1879 - Antonin Dvorák's "Slavic Dancing," premieres

• In 1879 on this day, the Treaty of Gandamak established an Afghan state between Russia and the British.

1881 - In Germany, the world's first electric tram goes into service in Lichterfelder (near Berlin)

1882 - 8th Kentucky Derby: Babe Hurd aboard Apollo wins in 2:40.00

1884 - 10th Kentucky Derby: Isaac Murphy aboard Buchanan wins in 2:40.25

1888 - The first demonstration of recording on a flat disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner.

1888 - CPR opens Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver, BC

1888 - The capitol of Texas was dedicated in Austin.

1891 - George A Hormel and; Co introduce Spam

1894 - Fire in Boston destroys baseball stadium & 170 other buildings

1901 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Priory School" (BG)


1903 - First transcontinental motorcycle trip begins at SF (George Wymann)

1903 - George Wyman makes 1st motorcycle trip across the US

1910 - The U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1911 - Remains of a neanderthal man found in Jersey UK

•  On this day in 1911, the Zeppelin "Deutscheland" was wrecked at Dusseldorf, Germany.

1914 - The American Horseshoe Pitchers Association (AHPA) was formed in Kansas City, Kansas.

1914 - Ewing Field, near Masonic Street, opens

1916 - 41st Preakness: Linus McAtee aboard Damrosch wins in 1:54.8

•  The Sedition Act of 1918 was passed on this day by the U.S. Congress, effectively making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.

Picture of the Monument Jeanne d'Arc/Joan of Arc Monument (above) in the gardens in Québec City which now bears her name.

Joan of Arc Statue in Philadelphia

•  Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc) was canonized as a saint in Rome on this day in 1920.

1920 - Spanish bullfighter Joselito is fatally gored fighting his last bull

1921 - 47th Preakness: F Coltiletti aboard Broomspun wins in 1:54.2

1922 - White Star Line Majestic completes 5½ day maiden voyage

1924 - 108°F (42°C) in Blitzen Oregon


1927 - Supreme Court ruled bootleggers must pay income tax

1929 - The first Academy Awards were given on this night. The term, Oscars, was not used to describe the statuettes given to actors and actresses until 1931. "Wings," Emil Jennings and Janet Gaynor wins

1929 - In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.



1936 - First British air hostess (Daphne Kearley) flight to France


1938 - 38 die in Terminal Hotel fire (Atlanta Ga)


1939 - Food stamps are First issued

1940 - Nazi's forbid non-professional auto workers

Statue of soldier, author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London

•  On this day in 1940 during the German blitzkrieg campaign in western Europe of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill returned to London from Paris.

1941 - First US/radio performance of Bennett's "Symphony in D for the Dodgers"

•  In 1941 on this day during World War II, the Italian army under Aosta surrendered to the British at Amba Alagi in Ethiopia.

•  The Germans made their last major air attack of World War II in Great Britain on this day in 1941 in Birmingham.

1941 - Nazis forbid Dutch Organization of Actors (NOT)

1942 - First transport of British/Dutch prisoners to South Burma

1943 - -17th] RAF bombs Möhne & Eder (Battle of Ruhr)

• On this day in 1943 during the Holocaust of World War II, the Jewish resistance known as the Warsaw Ghetto uprising ended in Poland after 30 days of fighting. Nazi soldiers gained control of Warsaw's Jewish ghetto, blowing up the last remaining synagogue and beginning the mass deportation of the ghetto's remaining dwellers to the Treblinka extermination camp.    Shortly after the German occupation of Poland began, the Nazis forced the city's Jewish citizens into a "ghetto" surrounded by barbed wire and armed SS guards. The Warsaw Ghetto had an area of only 840 acres but soon held almost 500,000 Jews in deplorable conditions. Disease and starvation killed thousands every month, and beginning in July 1942, 6,000 Jews a day were transferred to the Treblinka concentration camp. Although the Nazis assured the remaining Jews that their relatives and friends were being sent to work camps, word soon reached the ghetto that deportation to the camp meant extermination. An underground resistance group was established in the ghetto--the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB)--and limited arms were acquired at great cost.    On January 18, 1943, when the Nazis entered the ghetto to prepare a group for transfer, a ZOB unit ambushed them. Fighting lasted for several days, and a number of Germans soldiers were killed before they withdrew. On April 19, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler announced that the ghetto was to be cleared out in honor of Hitler's birthday the following day, and more than 1,000 SS soldiers entered the confines with tanks and heavy artillery. Although many of the ghetto's remaining 60,000 Jewish dwellers attempted to hide themselves in secret bunkers, more than 1,000 ZOB members met the Germans with gunfire and homemade bombs. Suffering moderate casualties, the Germans initially withdrew but soon returned, and on April 24 they launched an all-out attack against the Warsaw Jews. Thousands were slaughtered as the Germans systematically moved down the ghetto, blowing up buildings one by one. The ZOB took to the sewers to continue the fight, but on May 8 their command bunker fell to the Germans, and their resistant leaders committed suicide. By May 16, the ghetto was firmly under Nazi control, and mass deportation of the last Warsaw Jews to Treblinka began.    During the uprising, some 300 hundred German soldiers were killed to the thousands of Warsaw Jews who perished. Virtually all the former ghetto residents who survived to reach Treblinka were dead by the end of the war.   

1944 - First of 180,000+ Hungarian Jews reach Auschwitz

1944 - Milt police attack gypsies

1945 - Violent battles around Sugar Loaf/Half Moon Okinawa

1946 - The Irving Berlin musical "Annie Get Your Gun," starring Ethel Merman premieres in Broadway, NYC

1946 - Jack Mullin showed the world the first magnetic tape recorder.

1948 - The body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonika Bay in Greece. It had been a week after he'd disappeared.

1948 - Botvinnik wins 5-player tournament to determine world chess champion

1948 - Chaim Weizmann elected 1st president of Israel

1948 - Egyptians enter the Gaza

1948 - George Polk, CBS news correspondant, body found

1948 - Israel issues its first postage stamps

1951 - The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.

1952 - "New Faces (of 1952)" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 365 performances

1953 - Phillies Curt Simmons gives up a single, then retires next 27 in a row

1954 - Ted Williams gets 8 hits in 1st game (DH) since breaking collarbone

1954 - WGAN (now WGME) TV channel 13 in Portland, ME (CBS) 1st broadcast

1955 - Heavyweight Rocky Marciano KOs Don Cockell in SF

•  King Baudouin of Belgium visited what was still the Belgian colony in Congo on this day in 1955.

1955 - Rocky Marciano TKOs Don Cockell in 9 for heavyweight boxing title

1956 - Egypt recognizes People's Republic of China

1956 - Great Britain performs nuclear Test at Monte Bello Is Australia

1956 - Kraft Theater presents an act from "Profiles in Courage"



1957 - Maj Irwin, USAAF flies a Lockheed Starfight to a record 1,404.18 MPH

1957 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Invicti Athletae

1957 - US launches its 3rd atomic submarine, USS Skate, at Groton Conn

1957 - Yanks involved in Copacabana Incident, leads to Billy Martin trade

1958 - Eli Beeding experiences 83 g deceleration on a rocket sled, New Mex

1958 - Walter Irwin flies 2,259 KPH in F-104A Starfighter

1959 - 85th Preakness: William Harmatz aboard Royal Orbit wins in 1:57

1959 - WTOM TV channel 4 in Cheboygan, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting

•  The Big 4 summit in Paris collapsed on this day in 1960 as Soviet officials leveled spy charges against the United States due to the American U-2 spy plane incident.

1960 - Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.

1961 - 13rd Emmy Awards: Jack Benny Show, Raymond Burr & Barbara Stanwyck

1963 - "Beast in Me" opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 4 performances

1963 - After 22 Earth orbits in Faith 7, Gordon Cooper returned to Earth, ending Project Mercury.

1964 - 90th Preakness: Bill Hartack aboard Northern Dancer wins in 1:56.8

1964 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1964 - Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in Omaha, to become NWA champ

1965 - "Roar of the Greasepaint" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 232 perfs

1965 - Balt Oriole Jim Palmer's pitching debut, beats Yankees 7-5 & homers

1965 - Bomb destroys USAF base Bien Hoa South Vietnam

1965 - Spaghetti-O's went on sale.

1965 - WNJU TV channel 47 in NY-Linden, NY (TEL) begins broadcasting

1965 - The Campbell Soup Company introduces SpaghettiOs under its Franco-American brand.

The cover of the landmark "Pet Sounds" album by the Beach Boys

•  The iconic Pet Sounds album by the Beach Boys was released on this day in 1966.

1966 - National Welfare Rights Organization organizes

1966 - Stokely Carmichael named chairman of Student Nonviolent Coordinating

1967 - Phila voters approve a $13 million bond issue to build a new stadium

1968 - Earthquake kills 47 in Japan

Le Drapeau Tricolore (Tricour Flag) which was a product of the French Revolution, and which remains the national flag of France to this day.

• On this day in 1968, protests escalated around France.  In France, the May 1968 crisis grew as a general strike spreads to factories and industries across the country, shutting down newspaper distribution, air transport, and two major railroads. By the end of the month, millions of workers were on strike, and France seemed to be on the brink of radical leftist revolution.    After the Algerian crisis of the l950s, France entered a period of stability in the 1960s. The French empire was abolished, the economy improved, and President Charles de Gaulle was a popular ruler. Discontent lay just beneath the surface, however, especially among young students, who were critical of France's outdated university system and the scarcity of employment opportunity for university graduates. Sporadic student demonstrations for education reform began in 1968, and on May 3 a protest at the Sorbonne (the most celebrated college of the University of Paris) was broken up by police. Several hundred students were arrested and dozens were injured.    In the aftermath of the incident, courses at the Sorbonne were suspended, and students took to the streets of the Latin Quarter (the university district of Paris) to continue their protests. On May 6, battles between the police and students in the Latin Quarter led to hundreds of injuries. On the night of May 10, students set up barricades and rioted in the Latin Quarter. Nearly 400 people were hospitalized, more than half of them police. Leftist students began calling for radical economic and political change in France, and union leaders planned strikes in support of the students. In an effort to defuse the crisis by returning the students to school, Prime Minister Georges Pompidou announced that the Sorbonne would be reopened on May 13.    On that day, students occupied the Sorbonne buildings, converting it into a commune, and striking workers and students protested in the Paris streets. During the next few days, the unrest spread to other French universities, and labor strikes rolled across the country, eventually involving several million workers and paralyzing France. On the evening of May 24, the worst fighting of the May crisis occurred in Paris. Revolutionary students temporarily seized the Bourse (Paris Stock Exchange), raised a communist red flag over the building, and then tried to set it on fire. One policeman was killed in the night's violence.    During the next few days, Prime Minister Pompidou negotiated with union leaders, making a number of concessions, but failed to end the strike. Radical students openly called for revolution but lost the support of mainstream communist and trade union leaders, who feared that they, like the Gaullist establishment, would be swept away in a revolution led by anarchists and Trotskyites. On May 30, President de Gaulle went on the radio and announced that he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling national elections. He appealed for law and order and implied that he would use military force to return order to France if necessary. Loyal Gaullists and middle-class citizens rallied around him, and the labor strikes were gradually abandoned. Student protests continued until June 12, when they were banned. Two days later, the students were evicted from the Sorbonne.    In the two rounds of voting on June 23 and 30, the Gaullists won a commanding majority in the National Assembly. In the aftermath of the May events, de Gaulle's government made a series of concessions to the protesting groups, including higher wages and improved working conditions for workers, and passed a major education reform bill intended to modernize higher education. After 11 years of rule, Charles de Gaulle resigned the presidency in 1969 and was succeeded by Pompidou. He died the next year just before his 80th birthday. 

1969 - Barbra Streisand appears at a Friars Club Tribute

1969 - •  Students occupies Magden House Amsterdam

1969 - US nuclear sub Guitarro sinks off SF

1969 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1969 - Venera 5, a Russian spacecraft, landed on the planet Venus, and returns data on the atmosphere.

1969 - Who's Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey charged with assault

1970 - 96th Preakness: Eddie Belmonte aboard Personality wins in 1:56.2

1970 - Grover Henson Feels Forgotten by Bill Cosby hits #70

1971 - U.S. postage for a one-ounce first class stamp was increased from 6 to 8 cents.

1971 - Benjamin Britten's opera "Owen Wingrave," premieres in Aldwych

1971 - Bulgaria adopts it's constitution

1972 - "Don't Play Us Cheap" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 164 perfs

1972 - Greg Luzinski's 500' HR hits Liberty Bell monument in Phila Vet

1973 - ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Dave Soutar

1973 - AC Milan wins 13th Europe Cup II in Saloniki

1974 - Helmut Schmidt becomes West German chancellor

1974 - USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

•  India annexed the Principality of Sikkim on this day in 1975.

• Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest on this day in 1975.    Via the southeast ridge route, Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world.    Located in the central Himalayas on the border of China and Nepal, Everest stands 29,035 feet above sea level. Called Chomo-Lungma, or "Mother Goddess of the Land," by the Tibetans, the English named the mountain after Sir George Everest, an early 19th-century British surveyor of the Himalayas. In May 1953, climber and explorer Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal made the first successful climb of the peak. Hillary was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for the achievement. Ten years later, American James Whittaker reached Everest's summit with his Sherpa climbing partner, Nawang Gombu. In 1975, Junko Tabei conquered the mountain, and in 1988 Stacy Allison became the first American woman to successfully climb Everest.

1975 - Muhammad Ali TKOs Ron Lyle in 11 for heavyweight boxing title

1975 - Wings release "Listen to What the Man Said" in UK

1976 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens sweep Phila Flyers in 4 games

1977 - Five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling on top of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.

1977 - Muhammad Ali beats Alfredo Evangelist in 15 for heavyweight boxing title

1979 - FC Barcelona wins 19th Europe Cup II in Basel

1979 - NL approves Astros sales from Ford Motors to John J McMullen for $19M

1980 - 34th NBA Championship: LA Lakers beat Phila 76ers, 4 games to 2

1980 - Brian May of rock group Queen collapses on stage with hepatitis

1980 - Paul McCartney releases "McCartney II" album

• Former Buggles members Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn replaced Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman in Yes on this day in 1980.

1981 - "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes hits #1 for next 9 weeks

1981 - 107th Preakness: Jorge Velasquez aboard Pleasant Colony wins in 1:54.6

1981 - Houston Astro Craig Reynolds hits 3 triples beating Cubs 6-1

1982 - "Barnum" closes at St James Theater NYC after 854 performances

1982 - "Is There Life after High School?" closes at Barrymore after 12 perfs

1982 - Columbia moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating in preparation for STS-4

1982 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Lady Michelob Golf Tournament

1982 - Salvador Jorge Blanco wins presidential election in Dominican Rep

1982 - Stanley Cup: NY Islanders sweep Vancouver Canucks in 4 games

1983 - Lebanese parliament accept peace accord with Israel

1983 - Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government.

1984 - Guinea-Bissau adopts constitution

1984 - Juventus wins 24th Europe Cup II in Basel

1984 - Phillie pitcher Steve Carlton hits a grand slam homer

1984 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site

1984 - Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets to keep Twins in Minnesota Twins sell 51,863 tickets but only 6,346 fans show up for the game

1985 - Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year

1985 - Pope John Paul II arrives in Belgium

1986 - "Top Gun," premieres

1986 - Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) comes back from dead on Dallas

1986 - Joaquín Balaguers PRSC wins Dominican Rep parliamentary election

Flag of South Africa during the apartheid era

•  On this day in 1986 during white minority apartheid rule, South African President P W Botha sent Coetzee to visit the imprisoned Nelson Mandela.

1986 - The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.

1987 - "Mystery of Edwin Drood" closes at Imperial NYC after 608 perfs

1987 - 113th Preakness: Chris McCarron aboard Alysheba wins in 1:55.8

1987 - Weird Al Yankovic performs live at 72nd National Orange Show

1987 - The Bobro 400 set sail from New York Harbor with 3,200 tons of garbage. The barge travelled 6,000 miles in search of a place to dump its load. It returned to New York Harbor after 8 weeks with the same load.

1988 - A report released by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared that nicotine was addictive in similar was as heroin and cocaine.

1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police do not have to have a search warrant to search discarded garbage.  

•  Soviet President Mikhail S Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping ended a 30-year rift between the two nations when they formally met in Beijing on this day in 1989.

1990 - Dominican Republic President Joaquín Ricardo Balaguer re-elected

1990 - Juventus wins 19th UEFA Cup in Avellino

1991 - Daily Planet fires cub reporter Jimmy Olson (Superman character)

1991 - Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the United States Congress.

1992 - "Smells Like Nirvana," by Weird Al Yankovic hits #35

1992 - 118th Preakness: Chris McCarron aboard Pine Bluff wins in 1:55.6

•  Polls released on this day in 1992 showed that the American presidential election between candidates Ross Perot, incumbent Republican President George H.W. Bush and Democratic challenged Bill Clinton could be in a virtual deadlock.

1992 - US space shuttle STS-49 landed safely (maiden voyage of Endeavour)

1993 - "3 Men on a Horse" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 40 performances

1993 - "Wilder, Wilder, Wilder" closes at Circle in Sq NYC after 30 perfs

1993 - Farmer Sugeng finds 1.2 million year old Pithecanthropus IX skull

1993 - Judd Nelson pleads no contest to kicking Kim Evans in the head

1993 - Suleyman Demirel elected president of Turkey

1994 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Orlando FL on WTKS 104.1 FM

1994 - Jacqueline Onassis admitted to the hospital for cancer treatment

1994 - Joaquín Balaguer (86) elected president of Dominican Republic

1994 - Tennis star Jennifer Capriati arrested on possession of marijuana

1996 - Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the nation's top Navy officer, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after some of his military awards were called into question.

1995 - Japanese police arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara and charged him with Nerve-gas attack on Tokyo's subways two months earlier

1996 - Sammy Sosa is 1st Chic Cub to hit 2 HRS in 1 inning

• President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (since renamed Congo, as it had traditionally been before Mobutu's rule) had his 32 years of autocratic rule forcefully ended when rebel forces led by Laurent Kabila expelled him from the country.

1997 - Atlanta Braves beat St Louis Cardinals, 1-0 in 13 innings

1997 - Brandi Sherwood, (Idaho) replaces Brook Lee (Miss Univ) as Miss USA

1997 - Brook Mehealani Lee, 26, of US crowned 46th Miss Universe

1997 - Expos trailing SF Giants by 9 runs comeback to win 14-13

1997 - St Louis Cards Gary Gaetti records his 2,000th hits 1998 - 124th Preakness

2000 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office.

•  In Casablanca, Morocco, on this day in 2003, 33 civilians were killed and more than 100 people were injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.

2003 - Adam Rich was placed on three years probation after he pled no contest to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He was also ordered to take part ina 60-day treatment program and pay about $1,200 in fines.

2004 - The Day of Mourning at Bykivnia forest, just outside of Kiev, Ukraine. Here during 1930s and early 1940s communist bolsheviks executed over 100,000 Ukrainian civilians.

•  On this day in 2005, Kuwait permitted women's suffrage by a 35-23 National Assembly vote.

2005 - Sony Corp. unveiled three styles of its new PlayStation 3 video game machine.

2006 - A large earthquake (7.4 on the Richter scale) occurs near New Zealand.

•  Alex Salmond was elected First Minister of Scotland on this day in 2007, becoming the first Scottish National Party leader to be elected as First Minister after winning a historic victory at the Scottish general election on the 3rd May.

2011 - •  Space shuttle Endeavour launches for its final commission in space

 

These are the web pages that I used to complete this blog:

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/may16.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history