May 26......

May 26 is the 146th (147th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 219 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Happiness "Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." — Joseph Addison

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Terrorism "Airports scrupulously apply the laughably ineffective airport harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to Muslim hijackers. It is preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed homicidal maniac. We know who the homicidal maniacs are." — Ann "Adam's apple" Coulter

Thought for the day: "If reality wants to get in touch with me, it knows where I am."

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 17 - Germanicus of Rome celebrated his victory over the Germans.

● 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place. The Armenians are defeated militarily but are guaranteed freedom to openly practise Christianity.

● 961 - German King Otto II crowned

● 1232 - Pope Gregory IX sent the first Inquisition team to Aragon in Spain, after turning its details over to the Dominicans the previous year. Nobody expected it.

● 1293 - Earthquake strikes Kamakura, Japan, kills 30,000.

● 1328 - William of Ockham, Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena, and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, get a sentence of death from Pope John XXII.

● 1521 - Edict of Worms outlaws Martin Luther & his followers

● 1538 - Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.

● 1596 - England, France & Netherlands signs Drievoudig Covenant against Spain

● 1608 - King Phillip III of Spain decreed that non-Roman Catholic Indians could be legally enslaved.

● 1637 - Captains John Mason and John Underhill attack and burn Pequot forts at Mystic, Conn., massacring 600 Indians and starting Pequot War.

● 1647 - A new law banned Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts. The penalty was banishment or death for a second offense.

● 1660 - King Charles II of England landed at Dover after being exiled for nine years.

● 1670 - In Dover, King Charles II of England and King Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover.

● 1691 - Jacob Leiser, leader of the popular uprising in support of William and Mary’s accession to the English throne, was executed for treason.

● 1736 - Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw soldiers repel a French and Choctaw attack on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. The French, under Louisiana governor Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to link Louisiana with Acadia and the other northern colonies of New France.

● 1770 - The Orlov Revolt, a first attempt to revolt against the Turks before the Greek War of Independence ends in disaster for the Greeks.

● 1790 - Territory South of River Ohio created by Congress

● 1791 - The French Assembly forced King Louis XVI to hand over the crown and state assets.

● 1798 - British kill about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara

● 1805 - Lewis & Clark 1st see Rocky Mountains

● 1805 - Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Duomo di Milano gothic cathedral in Milan.

● 1811 - Birth of William Hunter, American Methodist clergyman. The author of three collections of hymns, published during his lifetime, Hunter is best remembered today for the hymn entitled, "The Great Physician Now is Near."

● 1824 - Brazil is recognized by US

● 1824 - Men and women weavers in Pawtucket, Rhode Is. go on first "co-ed" strike in U.S.

● 1828 - Mysterious feral child Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg.

● 1830 - The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.

● 1831 - Russians defeated the Poles at battle of Ostrolenska.

● 1834 - Portuguese Civil war ends, Dom Miguel capitulates

● 1835 - A resolution was passed in the U.S. Congress stating that Congress has no authority over state slavery laws.

● 1836 - The U.S. House of Representatives adopted what has been called the Gag Rule. (Discussion of slavery was not allowed.)

● 1851 - San Francisco Stevedores & Longshoreman's strike.

● 1858 - In Pittsburgh, the Associate Presbyterian and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian churches merged to form the United Presbyterian Church in North America.

● 1860 - Garibaldi occupies Palermo Italy

● 1861 - Postmaster General Blair announces end of postal connection with South

● 1861 - Union blockades New Orleans LA & Mobile AL

● 1864 - Skirmish along the Totopotomoy Creek VA

● 1864 - Montana is organized as a United States territory.

● 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.

● 1868 - The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ends, with Johnson being found not guilty by one vote. {Johnson's saving grace was a two-thirds majority was required for conviction. This vote and those who voted not guilty are the subject of Profiles in Courage, JFK's Pulitzer Prize winning book.}

● 1869 - Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

● 1876 - HMS Challenger returns from 128,000-km oceanographic exploration

● 1879 - Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.

● 1889 - Opening of the first Eiffel Tower elevator to the public.

● 1894 - Western Federation of Miners strike for eight-hour day in Cripple Creek, Colo.

● 1895 - Birth of Dorothy Gretchen Steeves; founding member of Canadian CCF and National Democratic Party (NDP).

● 1896 - Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.

● 1896 - Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

● 1896 - James Dunham murders six people in Campbell, California.

● 1898 - San Francisco approves City Charter, allows Municipal ownership of utilities

● 1899 - Future President William McKinley, 56, wrote in his notebook: 'My belief embraces the Divinity of Christ and a recognition of Christianity as the mightiest factor in the world's civilization.' (McKinley had been "born again," at age 10, during a revival meeting, and later joined a Methodist church.) {His assassination leads to Teddy Roosevelt becoming President.}

● 1899 - Birth of Aaron Douglas, Harlem Renaissance artist.

● 1900 - British troops under Ian Hamilton attack the Vaal in South Africa

● 1905 - A pogrom against Jews in Minsk Belorussia

● 1906 - Vauxhall Bridge is opened in London.

● 1907 - John Wayne was born Marion Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, the American actor famous for his roles in western movies.

● 1908 - At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.

● 1915 - H H Asquith forms a coalition government in England

● 1917 - A powerful F4 tornado rips Mattoon, Illinois apart, killing 101 persons and injuring 689. It was the world's longest-lasting tornado, lasting for over 7 hours and traveling 293 miles, spreading death and destruction along its path.

● 1918 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established when it declares independence from Russia.

● 1920 - IWW Marine Transport Workers strike, Philadelphia.

● 1922 - Lenin suffers a stroke

● 1923 - Socialist Workers Youth International forms in Hamburg

● 1924 - German Government of Marx resigns

● 1924 - President Coolidge signs Immigration Law (restricting immigration)

● 1926 - Lebanon adopts constitution

● 1926 - In Morocco, rebel leader Abd el Krim surrendered.

● 1930 - Supreme Court rules buying liquor does not violate the Constitution

● 1932 - Admiral Makoto Saito forms parliament in Tokyo

● 1933 - 2nd emergency Dutch Government of Colijn forms

● 1936 - 1st Government of Zealand in Belgium ends

● 1936 - In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he sat down in the early hours of the following morning, he had spoken for 10 hours.

● 1937 - Battle of the Overpass, involving Walter Reuther and the United Auto Workers (UAW). Company goons attack UAW organizers outside of Ford's enormous River Rouge, Mich. plant. Though General Motors and Chrysler signed collective bargaining agreements with the UAW in 1937, Ford held out until 1942.

● 1937 - "Little Steel" strike.

● 1937 - Dutch Rail NV at law forms

● 1937 - San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge opens

● 1938 - The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.

● 1940 - World War II: Battle of Dunkirk – In France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk called Operation Dynamo.

● 1941 - American Flag House (Betsy Ross' Home) given to city of Philadelphia

● 1941 - Ark Royal airplane sights German battleship Bismarck

● 1941 - German occupiers begin youth labor

● 1942 - Anglo-Soviet Treaty signed in London

● 1942 - Belgian Jews are required by Nazis to wear a Jewish star

● 1942 - Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps vs British army

● 1943 - 1st president of a black country to visit US (Edwin Barclay, Liberia)

● 1943 - Jews riot against Germany in Amsterdam

● 1943 - Premier Churchill & General Marshall fly from US to North Africa

● 1944 - 82nd Airborne division D-day-landing at La Haye du Puits to Ste Mère Eglise

● 1945 - US drop fire bombs on Tokyo

● 1946 - Klement Gottwald becomes premier of Czechoslovakia

● 1946 - Patent filed in U.S. for H-Bomb.

● 1946 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed a military pact with Russian leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin promised a "close collaboration after the war."

● 1948 - The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.

● 1948 - Entire Hagana-arm forces sworn-in as Israeli soldiers

● 1948 - South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy

● 1950 - UK drivers cheer end of fuel rations; Long queues appear at garages this evening and motorists have torn their ration books into confetti after an end to petrol rationing is announced.

● 1953 - Dutch Convair crashes at Schipholweg, 2 die

● 1955 - Conservatives win British parliamentary election

● 1955 - Khrushchev arrives in Belgrade

● 1956 - The first trailer bank opened for business in Locust Grove, Long Island, NY. The 46-foot-long trailer took in $100,000 in deposits its first day.

● 1956 - Aircraft carrier "Bennington" burns off Rhode Island, killing 103

● 1957 - The religious program "The Fourth R" aired for the last time over NBC television. Produced by several different religious organizations, this short-lived series aired on Sunday mornings.

● 1958 - Ceylon emergency crisis proclaimed

● 1958 - Union Square, San Fransisco becomes state historical landmark

● 1958 - US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests)

● 1961 - Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee established in Atlanta

● 1961 - USAF bomber flies the Atlantic in a record of just over 3 hours

● 1962 - Crew of Everyman I arrested upon sailing from San Francisco.

● 1963 - Gregory Lambrakis, pacifist and member of Greek Parliament, is run down and killed by military police. Salonika, Greece.

● 1963 - The Organisation of African Unity is formed.

● 1965 - Dutch Voting Rights Bill passes

● 1965 - Revised International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea takes effect

● 1966 - Buddhist sets self on fire at US consulate in Hué South-Vietnam

● 1966 - Twenty thousand march against war on Fifth Ave. in New York City.

● 1966 - British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.

● 1967 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1969 - Seattle police arrest 34 during clashes at Garfield High School and Seattle Central Community College.

● 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing.

● 1969 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their second Bed-In for Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

● 1970 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.

● 1972 - Thomas Cook packaged and sold; State-owned travel firm Thomas Cook & Son is sold to a consortium of private businesses headed by the Midland Bank.

● 1972 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1972 - First "Watergate break-in" attempt by agents of Dick "I am not a Crook" Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) fails; E. Howard Hunt and Virgilio Gonzales spend the night hiding in a staircase in the Watergate complex, unable to open a door leading to the offices of the Democratic National Committee.

● 1972 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.

● 1972 - The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) was signed by the U.S. and USSR. The short-term agreement put a freeze on the testing and deployment of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles for a 5-year period.

● 1973 - Bahrain adopts it's constitution

● 1977 - George Willig climbs World Trade Center, New York City. It take him three and a half hours to climb, costs him $1.10 in fines (a penny per floor), and leaves him with a feat that will never again be done.

● 1978 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.

● 1980 - Soyuz 36 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Hungarian) to Salyut 6

● 1981 - Italy in crisis as cabinet resigns; The entire Italian coalition cabinet under Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani steps down in the wake of a scandal over freemasonry. {In most countries this would be a non-issue but in Catholic Italy freemasonry is grounds for excommunication from the Church.}

● 1981 - Soyuz T-4 returns to Earth

● 1981 - Marine combatant aircraft crashes during a nighttime landing on the U.S. Nimitz during maneuvers off Florida. Three fliers on the plane and 11 crewmen die; 45 others injured, some critically.

● 1982 - British ship Atlantic Conveyor & Coventry were hit in Falkland war

● 1983 - Challenger moves to launch pad for STS-7

● 1983 - NASA launches Exosat

● 1983 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1983 - Strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggers a tsunami that kills at least 104 people, injures thousands. Many missing people and thousands of buildings destroyed.

● 1984 - Tulsa OK gets 13" of rain, 14 die

● 1985 - Explosions destroys 2 tankers off of Gibraltar, 30 die

● 1986 - The European Community adopts the European flag.

● 1987 - Great offensive against Tamil-rebellion in Jaffra Sri Lanka

● 1987 - Supreme Court ruled dangerous defendants could be held without bail

● 1987 - William H Webster replaces Robert M Gates as 14th director of CIA

● 1989 - At 7:42 AM, radio has a 30 second silence, honoring radio

● 1989 - Danish parliament allows legal marriage among homosexuals

● 1989 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1990 - China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Republic of China

● 1991 - Twenty thousand in Arab-Jewish peace rally, Tel Aviv, Israel.

● 1991 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.

● 1991 - Lauda Air Flight 004 explodes over rural Thailand, killing 223.

● 1992 - Charles Geschke, co-founder of Adobe Systems, Inc. was kidnapped at gunpoint from the Adobe parking lot in Mountain View, California for $650,000 and is held hostage in a rented house in Hollister, California. The FBI rescues him four days later.

● 1994 - U.S. President Clinton renewed trade privileges for China, and announced that his administration would no longer link China's trade status with its human rights record. {One of Clinton's critical errors appeasing the corporate community.}

● 1998 - Veterans reject Japanese 'sorrow'; Emperor Akihito of Japan speaks of his "pain" over the suffering inflicted by his country during World War II, but war veterans feel he does not go far enough.

● 1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island was mainly in New Jersey, not New York.

● 1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police officers in high-speed chases are liable for bystander injuries only if their "actions shock the conscience."

● 1998 - Date for Paula Jones sex harassment trial vs President Clinton

● 2000 - Hezbollah celebrates Israeli retreat; The Hezbollah leader is greeted by thousands of supporters during a victory rally to celebrate the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon.

● 2002 - Barges being pushed by a towboat crashed into the piers of the Interstate 40 bridge in Webbers Falls, Okla., causing part of the structure to fall into the Arkansas River, killing 14 people.

● 2002 - The Mars Odyssey finds signs of huge water ice deposits on the planet Mars.

● 2002 - Álvaro Uribe becomes President of Colombia.

● 2003 - Only three days after a previous record, Sherpa Lakpa Gelu climbs Mount Everest in 10 hours 56 minutes. The tourism ministry of Nepal confirms this record in July that year.

● 2004 - The New York Times publishes an admission of journalistic failings, claiming that its flawed reporting and lack of skeptism towards sources during the buildup to the 2003 war in Iraq helped promote the belief that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

● 2004 - Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing. (He later received 161 consecutive life sentences.)

● 2006 - The 2006 Java earthquake kills over 5,700 people, leaves 200,000 homeless.

BIRTHS

● 1264 - Prince Koreyasu, Japanese shogun (d. 1326)

● 1478 - Pope Clement VII (d. 1534)

● 1566 - Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1603)

● 1602 - Philippe de Champaigne, French painter (d. 1674)

● 1650 - John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, British general (d. 1722)

● 1667 - Abraham de Moivre, French mathematician (d. 1754)

● 1669 - Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (d. 1722)

● 1689 - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (d. 1762)

● 1700 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German religious and social reformer (d. 1760)

● 1764 - Edward Livingston, American jurist and statesman (d. 1836)

● 1799 - Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian author (d. 1837)

● 1822 - Edmond de Goncourt, French writer (d. 1896)

● 1837 - Washington Roebling, American civil engineer; designed the Brooklyn Bridge (d. 1926)

● 1863 - Robert Fitzsimmons, Boxing champion (d. 1917)

● 1865 - Robert W. Chambers, American artist (d. 1933)

● 1867 - Mary of Teck, wife of George V of the United Kingdom (d. 1953)

● 1873 - Olaf Gulbransson, Norwegian artist (d. 1958)

● 1878(77? NYT) - Isadora Duncan, American dancer (d. 1927)

● 1886 - Al Jolson, American singer (d. 1950)

● 1887 - Paul Lukas, Hungarian actor (d. 1971)

● 1893 - Norma Talmadge, American actress (d. 1957)

● 1895 - Salo Wittmayer Baron, Austrian-born American historian (d. 1989)

● 1895 - Dorothea Lange, American photographer (d. 1965)

● 1899 - Antonio Barrette, Quebec politician (d. 1968)

● 1904 - Vlado Perlemuter, Polish pianist (d. 2002)

● 1907 - John Wayne, American actor (d. 1979)

● 1907 - Jean Bernard, French physician (d. 2006)

● 1908 - Robert Morley, English actor (d. 1992)

● 1909 - Helen Eugenie Anderson, American ambassador to Denmark; first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador (d. 1997)

● 1909 - Sir Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 1994)

● 1909 - Adolfo López Mateos, President of Mexico (d. 1969)

● 1909 - Nikolay Guryanov, Russian Orthodox Christian mystic and priest (d. 2002)

● 1911 - Ben Alexander, American actor (d. 1969)

● 1912 - Jay Silverheels, American actor (d. 1980)

● 1912 - János Kádár, Prime minister of Hungary (d. 1989)

● 1913 - Peter Cushing, English actor (d. 1994)

● 1914 - Frankie Manning, American Lindy Hop dancer

● 1915 - Sam Edwards, American actor (d. 2004)

● 1915 - Antonia Forest, British children's author (d. 2003)

● 1916 - Henriette Roosenburg, Dutch journalist (d. 1972)

● 1918 - Anton Christoforidis, Greek boxer (d. 1985)

● 1920 - Peggy Lee, American singer (d. 2002)

● 1923 - James Arness, American actor ("Gunsmoke")

● 1923 - Roy Dotrice, British actor

● 1925 - Alec McCowen, Actor

● 1926 - Miles Davis, American musician

● 1928 - Jack Kevorkian, American physician

● 1938 - William Bolcom, American composer

● 1938 - Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano

● 1938 - Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Russian playwright and novelist

● 1939 - Merab Kostava, Georgian anti-Soviet leader

● 1939 - Brent Musburger, American sports broadcaster

● 1940 - Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Quebec politician

● 1940 - Levon Helm, American musician (The Band)

● 1941 - Cliff Drysdale, South African tennis player

● 1941 - John Kaufman, Sculptor

● 1941 - Reg Bundy, British performer (d. 2003)

● 1943 - Erica Terpstra, President of the Dutch Olympic Committee

● 1944 - Gates Nichols, Country musician (Confederate Railroad)

● 1944 - Sam Posey, American race car driver

● 1945 - Garry Peterson, Rock musician (Guess Who)

● 1946 - Mick Ronson, English musician (d. 1993)

● 1948 - Stevie Nicks, American songwriter

● 1949 - Ward Cunningham, American inventor

● 1949 - Philip Michael Thomas, American actor ("Miami Vice")

● 1949 - Hank Williams Jr., American singer

● 1949 - Pam Grier, American actress

● 1951 - Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Irish politician

● 1951 - Sally Ride, American astronaut (1st American woman in space)

● 1952 - David Meece, Christian musician

● 1953 - Michael Portillo, British politician

● 1954 - Alan Hollinghurst, British novelist

● 1954 - Danny Rolling, American murderer (d. 2006)

● 1955 - Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef

● 1955 - Wesley Walker, American football player

● 1956 - Frédéric Dutoit, French politician

● 1957 - Margaret Colin, American actress

● 1957 - Kristina Olsen, American musician

● 1957 - Roberto Ravaglia, Italian racing driver

● 1957 - Pontso S.M. Sekatle, Lesotho academic and politician

● 1959 - Dave Robbins, Country singer (Blackhawk)

● 1959 - Steve Hanley, English musician

● 1960 - Doug Hutchison, Actor

● 1960 - Rob Murphy, American baseball player

● 1962 - Bobcat Goldthwait, American actor

● 1962 - Genie Francis, American actress ("General Hospital")

● 1964 - Lenny Kravitz, American musician

● 1964 - Caitlín R. Kiernan, Irish-American writer

● 1965 - Hazel Irvine, British television presenter

● 1966 - Helena Bonham Carter, English actress

● 1966 - Zola Budd, South African athlete

● 1968 - Phillip Rhodes, Rock musician

● 1968 - Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

● 1968 - Pat Kenney, American wrestler

● 1970 - Joseph Fiennes, Actor

● 1970 - Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese cartoonist

● 1971 - Joey Kibble, R&B singer (Take 6)

● 1971 - Ivan O. Godfroid, Belgian writer

● 1971 - Matt Stone, American television producer ("South Park")

● 1972 - Patsy Palmer, British actress

● 1974 - Lars Frölander, Swedish swimmer

● 1975 - Travis Lee, American baseball player

● 1976 - Justin Pierre, American singer (Motion City Soundtrack)

● 1977 - Mark Hunter, American musician (Chimaira)

● 1977 - Misaki Ito, Japanese actress

● 1977 - Luca Toni, Italian soccer player

● 1979 - Ashley Massaro, American wrestler

● 1979 - Elisabeth Harnois, American actress

● 1981 - Irini Merkouri, Greek singer

● 1982 - Yoko Matsugane, Japanese model

● 1991 - Julianna Rose Mauriello, American actress

DEATHS

● 604 - Augustine of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury

● 818 - Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (b. 766)

● 946 - King Edmund I of England (b. 921)

● 1055 - Margrave Adalbert of Austria

● 1421 - Mehmed I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1389)

● 1512 - Bayezid II, Ottoman Sultan

● 1536 - Francesco Berni, Italian poet

● 1595 - Philip Neri, Italian churchman (b. 1515)

● 1648 - Vincent Voiture, French poet (b. 1597)

● 1653 - Robert Filmer, English writer (b. 1588)

● 1679 - Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1636)

● 1685 - Karl II, Elector Palatine (b. 1651)

● 1703 - Samuel Pepys, English civil servant and diarist (b. 1633)

● 1762 - Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher (b. 1714)

● 1799 - James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish judge (b. 1714)

● 1824 - Capel Lofft, English writer (b. 1751)

● 1831 - Ciro Menotti, Italian patriot (b. 1798)

● 1840 - Sidney Smith, British admiral (b. 1764)

● 1881 - Jakob Bernays, German philologist (b. 1824)

● 1883 - Edward Sabine, Irish astronomer (b. 1788)

● 1883 - Abd al-Qadir, Algerian political and military leader (b. 1808)

● 1902 - Almon Strowger, American inventor (b. 1839)

● 1904 - Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French neurologist (b. 1857)

● 1907 - Ida McKinley, First Lady of the United States (b. 1847)

● 1908 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam (b. 1835)

● 1924 - Victor Herbert, Irish composer (b. 1859)

● 1926 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (b. 1879)

● 1933 - Horatio Bottomley, British financier and politician (b. 1860)

● 1933 - Jimmie Rodgers, American singer (b. 1897)

● 1939 - Charles Horace Mayo, American medical practitioner (Mayo Clinic) (b. 1865)

● 1943 - Edsel Ford, American automobile executive (b. 1893)

● 1948 - Theodore Morell, Hitler's personal physician (b. 1886)

● 1951 - Lincoln Ellsworth, American scientist (b. 1880)

● 1954 - Lionel Conacher, Canadian athlete (b. 1900)

● 1955 - Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)

● 1968 - Little Willie John, American singer (b. 1937)

● 1969 - Paul Hawkins, Australian racing driver (b. 1937)

● 1974 - Silvio Moser, Swiss racing driver (b. 1941)

● 1976 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (b. 1889)

● 1978 - Cybele, Greek actress (b. 1887)

● 1979 - George Brent, British actor (b. 1899)

● 1995 - Friz Freleng, American animator (b. 1905)

● 1999 - Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (b. 1906)

● 1999 - Waldo Semon, American inventor (b. 1898)

● 2001 - Moven Enock Mahachi, Defence Minister of Zimbabwe is killed in a car crash.

● 2001 - Vittorio Brambilla, Italian racing driver (b. 1937)

● 2002 - Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (b. 1932)

● 2003 - Kathleen Winsor, American writer (b. 1919)

● 2004 - Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, Russian astronomer (b. 1931)

● 2004 - Dullah Omar, South African lawyer (b. 1934)

● 2005 - Eddie Albert, American actor (b. 1906)

● 2005 - Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1928)

● 2006 - Édouard Michelin, CEO of Michelin (b. 1963)

● 2006 - Kevin O'Flanagan, Irish athlete and physician (b. 1919)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Alphaeus
● St. Becan
● St. Berencardus
● St. Berenger (died 1093)
● St. Dyfan
● St. Eleutherius, Pope [175-178], martyr
● St. Felicissimus
● St. Fugatius and Damian
● St. Germain of Paris
● St. Guinizo
● St. John Hoan
● St. Lambert (d. 1154)
● St. Mariana de Paredes
● St. Matthew Phuong
● St. Oduvald
● St. Philip Neri (died 1595)
● St. Quadratus
● St. Simitrius
● St. William of Aquitaine
● St. Zachary
● Bl. Eva of Liege
● Bl. Peter Sanz
● Bl. Pieter of Ter Duinen

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for May 13 (Civil Date: May 26)
● Virgin Martyr Glyceria at Heraclea.
● Martyr Laodicius, jailer of St. Glyceria.
● Martyr Alexander of Rome.
● St. George the Confessor of Constantinople.
● St. Pausicacius, Bishop of Synnada.
● St. Euthymius the New, founder of Iveron Monastery, and his fellow Georgian saints of Mt. Athos. his father John, his cousin George, and Gabriel.
● Commemoration of monks of Iveron martyred by the Latins in the 13th century.
● Righteous Virgin Glyceria of Novgorod.
● Translation of the Relics of St. Macarius, archimadrite of Obruch or Kanev.
● St. Macarius, abbot of Glushets (Vologda).
● St. Sergius Georgius the Confessor of Constantinople.

● Greek Calendar:
● St. Nicephorus, priest of the Monastery of Ephapsios.
● Hieromartyr Alexander of Tiverias.
● Repose of Righteous Priest Alexis of Bartsumany, disciple of St. Seraphim (1848),
● Repose of Ryasofor-monk John of St. Nilus of Sora Monastery (1863).

● Anglican:
● Augustine, English Apostle, 1st Archbishop of Canterbury

● Australia - National Sorry Day

● Poland - Mother's Day

● Georgia - National Day

● Guyana : Independence Day (1966)

● These Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● US : Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868) - ( Monday )
● Virginia : Confederate Memorial Day (1868) - ( Monday )

IN FICTION

● 1903 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of the 3 Gables"


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

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