May 31......

May 31 is the 151st (152nd in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 214 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Human Nature "Man is by nature good; men are depraved and perverted by society." — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Arrogance "Only the little people pay taxes." — Leona Helmsley, businesswoman sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion

Thought for the day: "To criticize the incompetent is easy; it is more difficult, to criticize the competent."

{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

● 1279 BCE - Ramesses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

● 70 - Rome captures 1st wall of the city of Jerusalem

● 1223 - Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River - Mongol armies of Genghis Khan lead by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus, Kipchaks, Cumans, and Volga Bulgars warriors under Mstislav the Bold.

● 1417 - Jacoba van Bavarian becomes countess of Holland/Zealand/Henegouwen

● 1433 - Sigismund was crowned emperor of Rome.

● 1495 - Emperor Maximilian, Pope Alexander VI, Milan, King Ferdinand, Isabella & Venice sign anti-French Saint League

● 1531 - "Women's Revolt" in Amsterdam: wool house in churchyard aborted

● 1538 - The first of Hernando de Soto's 1,000 conquistadors land on Florida coast, beginning a three-year pillage in a fruitless search for gold.

● 1564 - Battle on Gotland: Lübeck & Denmark beat Sweden

● 1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.

● 1578 - Italian archaeologist Antonio Bosio became the first man in modern times to rediscover the Christian catacombs in Rome. Researchers (e.g., Giovanni B. de Rossi) who followed him dubbed Bosio "the Columbus of the Catacombs."

● 1621 - Sir Francis Bacon thrown into Tower of London for 1 night

● 1634 - US colony Massachusetts Bay annexes Maine colony

● 1638 - Colonial clergyman Thomas Hooker, 51, first arrived at the site of New Haven, CT, having migrated there with his church members who repudiated the autocratic rule of Puritanism in Boston. Hooker (the founder of Connecticut) believed Boston had become corrupt, and that church authority should rest in the people's consent.

● 1659 - Netherlands, England & France sign Treaty of The Hague

● 1665 - Jerusalem's rabbi Sjabtai Tswi proclaims himself Messiah

● 1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.

● 1678 - Tax protester Lady Godiva rides naked through Coventry.

● 1696 - John Salomonsz elected chief of Saint-Eustatius

● 1727 - France, England & Netherlands sign accord of Paris

● 1744 - French troops conquer Kortrijk

● 1759 - The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.

● 1769 - Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'He fulfills His promise in making our strength equal to our day; and every new trial gives us new proof how happy it is to be enabled to put our trust in Him.'

● 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Mecklenburg Resolutions adopted urging the American Colonies to declare independence from Great Britain.

● 1779 - General Washington orders Iroquois suppressed. A scorched-earth policy in which dozens of villages were burned follows.

● 1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

● 1790 - The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.

● 1809 - Composer Franz Joseph Haydn died in Vienna, Austria.

● 1813 - In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.

● 1817 - Birth of Georg Hervegh, social/libertarian poet.

● 1819 - Birth of Walt Whitman, famous queer. "To states everywhere, resist much; obey little."

● 1821 - Cathedral of Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, 1st US Catholic cathedral, is dedicated in Baltimore

● 1836 - HMS Beagle anchors in Simons Bay, Cape of Good Hope

● 1847 - Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens

● 1853 - Elisha Kane's Arctic expedition leaves New York aboard the Advance

● 1857 - Pius XI, who led the Roman Catholic Church from 1922 to 1939 , was born.

● 1861 - General Beauregard is given command of Confederate Alexandria Line

● 1861 - Mint at New Orleans closes

● 1862 - American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks) - Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G. W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.

● 1864 - Raid at Morgan's Kentucky

● 1864 - American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor - The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant & George G. Meade.

● 1866 - In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the English. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded.

● 1868 - 1st Memorial Day parade held in Ironton OH

● 1870 - Congress passes 1st Enforcement Act (rights of blacks)

● 1870 - E J DeSemdt patents asphalt pavement

● 1878 - German battleship Grosser Kurfürst sinks, 284 killed

● 1878 - US Congress accept decrease in dollar circulation

● 1879 - 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition

● 1883 - French fleet under Pierre begins siege of Tamatave, Madagascar

● 1884 - Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents "flaked cereal"

● 1889 - Johnstown Flood. 2,200 hundred people die as the South Fork Dam, long in a state of disrepair, finally broke, unleashing a 30-foot wall of water on the city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

● 1891 - Work on trans-Siberian railway begins

● 1899 - Conference of Bloemfontein fails

● 1900 - British troops under Lord Roberts occupy Johannesburg

● 1900 - Piet de Law captures Lieutenant-Colonel Spragges Irish Yeomanry

● 1900 - US troops arrive in Peking, help put down Boxer Rebellion

● 1902 - Second Boer War: The last Afrikaner resistance forces sign a peace treaty with the British at Pretoria, ending the war, and ensuring British control of South Africa. This was the Treaty of Vereeniging.

● 1905 - Emperor Wilhelm II lands in Tanger

● 1906 - Attack on King Alfonso XIII & Victoria von Battenberg in Madrid

● 1907 - Taxis 1st began running in NYC

● 1908 - Miss Pottelsberghe de la Pottery is 1st airplane passenger (Belgium)

● 1909 - 1st NAACP conference (United Charities Building, NYC)

● 1910 - Cape of Good Hope becomes part of the Union of South Africa

● 1910 - Creation of the Union of South Africa.

● 1911 - R.M.S. Titanic launched.

● 1912 - Birth of renowned war-mongering pork-barrel U.S. Senator from state of Boeing, Henry Jackson.

● 1912 - US marines land on Cuba

● 1913 - 17th amendment (direct election of senators) declared ratified

● 1915 - An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London

● 1916 - British battle cruiser Invincible explodes, killing all but 6

● 1916 - World War I: Battle of Jutland - The British Grand Fleet under the command of Sir John Jellicoe & Sir David Beatty engage and defeat the Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Reinhard Scheer & Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war.

● 1919 - NC-4 aircraft commanded by AC Read completes 1st crossing of Atlantic

● 1921 - Sacco and Vanzetti trial begins.

● 1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: A civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher. {Being a realist about this means, that African-American deaths just were plain not counted.}

● 1923 - China & USSR exchange diplomats

● 1924 - The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect.

● 1926 - Portuguese President Bernardino Machedo resigns after coup

● 1927 - The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles, all black. Henry Ford said, "Give them any color they want as long as it's black."

● 1930 - Building begins on Albert Canal in Belgium

● 1930 - Comet 73P/1930 (Schwassmann-Wachmann 3) approaches 0.0617 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth

● 1935 - Quake kills 50,000 in Quetta Pakistan

● 1937 - German battleships bomb Almeria Spain

● 1937 - Police open fire on striking steelworkers in at Republic Steel in South Chicago, killing ten and wounding over 160.

● 1940 - General-Major Bernard Montgomery leaves Dünkirchen

● 1940 - Prime Minister Winston Churchill flies to Paris

● 1941 - 32.0 cm rain falls on Burlington KS (state record)

● 1941 - 41 U boats sunk this month (325,000 tons)

● 1941 - British troops vacate Kreta

● 1941 - German occupiers forbids Jews access to beach & swimming pools

● 1942 - German warplanes bombed Canterbury, England, causing severe damage to the Canterbury Cathedral (seat of Anglicanism), in retaliation for Britain's assault on Cologne, Germany.

● 1942 - World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.

● 1944 - Allied breakthrough in Italy

● 1947 - Communists grab power in Hungary

● 1947 - Eastern DC-4 crashes between Port Deposit & Perryville MD, kills 53

● 1947 - Italian Government of Gasperi forms

● 1951 - Netherlands & South Africa sign cultural accord

● 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower retires from active service in the United States Army.

● 1953 - Lebanese President Camille Shamun disbands government

● 1955 - Construction begins on Soviet cosmodrome launch facilities

● 1955 - Great Britain proclaims emergency crisis due to railroad strike

● 1955 - U.S. Supreme Court, a year after Brown v. Board of Education of Topek, orders school integration "with all deliberate speed."

● 1957 - Arthur Miller guilty of contempt; US playwright Arthur Miller is convicted of contempt of Congress after refusing to reveal the names of alleged Communist writers.

● 1957 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Christmas Island (atmospheric)

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

● 1961 - Dominican Republic President Trujillo assassinated

● 1961 - JFK visits Charles de Gaulle in Paris

● 1961 - Judge Irving Kaufman orders Board of Education of New Rochelle, to integrate

● 1961 - Union of South Africa becomes a republic, leaving the Commonwealth

● 1962 - Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann was a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust.

● 1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves.

● 1964 - Charles Schmid kills first Pied Piper victim

● 1966 - Vietnamese Buddhist burns to death; Nguyen Thi Can becomes the fifth Buddhist in three days to set fire to herself in protest against South Vietnam's regime.

● 1970 - The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.

● 1971 - In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.

● 1973 - The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War. This is despite pleas from war criminal Dr. Henry Kissinger.

● 1974 - Israel & Syria sign an agreement concerning Golan Heights

● 1974 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1977 - Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani becomes heir apparent to throne of Qatar

● 1977 - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed.

● 1979 - Zimbabwe proclaims independence

● 1980 - Police & youthful rebels battle in Zurich

● 1982 - Vancouver Island, Canada - "ecoterrorists," including Gerry Hannah, bass player for the punk rock group Subhumans, blows up BC hydro power substation.

● 1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1985 - 41 Tornados in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York & Canada kill 88 & injure more than 1,000

● 1985 - Guatemala adopts constitution

● 1987 - Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station starts broadcasting in Greece.

● 1988 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan arrived in Moscow in an effort to relieve Cold War tensions. He was the first president to do so in 14 years. {Ironic since he was the a major factor in the escalation of tensions.}

● 1989 - Speaker of the House Jim Wright resigns

● 1990 - NYC's Zodiac killer shoots 3rd victim, Joseph Ponce

● 1991 - Sides in Angola sign a treaty ending 16 year civil war

● 1993 - President Dobrica Cosic of little Yugoslavia flees

● 1994 - The U.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.

● 1995 - Bob Dole singled out Time Warner for "the marketing of evil" in movies and music. Dole later admitted that he had not seen or heard much of what he had been criticizing.

● 1997 - "Rosie the Riveter" (Rose Will Monroe) dies in Clarksville, Ind. During WWII she helped bring women into the labor force.

● 1997 - The Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick.

● 2001 - Two notoriously thuggish Central District patrol officers for the Seattle Police Department shoot and kill an unarmed black man, Aaron Roberts, in suspicious circumstances. Weeks of protests follow.

● 2002 - The United States Secretary of the Navy issued Instruction 10520.6 directing all United States Navy ships to fly the First Navy Jack in honor of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The ensign will be flown for the duration of the War on Terrorism.

● 2002 - A series a major storms blew through Western Pennsylvania, killing 1 person when the Whip pavillion at Kennywood collapses.

● 2003 - In Murphy, North Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing and several abortion clinics. (He later pleaded guilty to four bombings - including those at a Birmingham. Ala., abortion clinic and at the Atlanta Olympics - and was sentenced to four life terms.)

● 2004 - A foul-up during routine software update at the Royal Bank of Canada leads to a three-day misplacement of 10 million account balances.

● 2005 - Breaking a silence of 30 years, former FBI official W. Mark Felt stepped forward as "Deep Throat," the secret Washington Post source that helped bring down President Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

BIRTHS

● 1048 - Omar Khayyám, Persian philosopher (d. 1131)

● 1443 - Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)

● 1469 - Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)

● 1522 - Guido de Bres, Belgian theologian (d. 1587)

● 1535 - Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)

● 1557 - Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)

● 1613 - John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)

● 1640 - Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)

● 1656 - Marin Marais, French composer (d. 1728)

● 1753 - Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French revolutionary (d. 1793)

● 1754 - Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817)

● 1773 - Ludwig Tieck, German writer (d. 1853)

● 1801 - Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)

● 1819 - Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892)

● 1838 - Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900)

● 1841 - William Rockefeller, American industrialist and financier; helped to establish Standard Oil with his brother (d. 1922)

● 1847 - William Pirrie, Irish shipbuilder; built the Titanic (d. 1924)

● 1852 - Francisco Moreno, Argentine explorer (d. 1919)

● 1857 - Pope Pius XI, Italian Pope 1922-39 (d. 1939)

● 1860 - Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)

● 1863 - Francis Younghusband, British explorer (d. 1942)

● 1872 - Charles Abbot, American astrophysicist (d. 1973)

● 1872 - Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944)

● 1882 - Sándor Graf Festetics, Hungarian politician (d. 1956)

● 1883 - Lauri Kristian Relander, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)

● 1887 - Saint-John Perse, French diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)

● 1892 - Michel Kikoine, Belarus painter (d. 1968)

● 1892 - Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky, Russian writer (d. 1968)

● 1894 - Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)

● 1898 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)

● 1901 - Alfredo Antonini, American conductor and composer (d. 1983)

● 1905 - Florence Desmond, English actress and comedian (d. 1993)

● 1908 - Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)

● 1908 - Nils Poppe, Swedish actor (d. 2000)

● 1911 - Maurice Allais, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate

● 1912 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)

● 1916 - Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (d. 1997)

● 1921 - Alida Valli, Italian actress (d. 2006)

● 1922 - Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)

● 1923 - Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)

● 1924 - Patricia Harris, American public official; first African-American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet (d. 1985)

● 1929 - Elaine Stewart, Actress

● 1930 - Clint Eastwood, American actor

● 1931 - John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

● 1931 - Shirley Verrett, American soprano

● 1932 - Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994)

● 1935 - Jim Bolger, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand

● 1937 - Johnny PayCheck, American singer (d. 2003)

● 1938 - John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

● 1938 - Peter Yarrow, American folk singer (Peter, Paul and Mary)

● 1939 - Terry Waite, British humanitarian

● 1940 - Augie Meyers, Country musician

● 1940 - Gilbert Shelton, American underground comics illustrator (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat)

● 1941 - Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate

● 1943 - Sharon Gless, American actress ("Cagney and Lacey", the blond skinny one)

● 1943 - Joe Namath, American football player and Hall of Fame member

● 1945 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German film director (d. 1982)

● 1946 - Ted Baehr, American media critic

● 1948 - Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative, R-Calif.

● 1948 - John Bonham, British musician (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)

● 1949(50? NYT) - Tom Berenger, American actor

● 1950 - Gregory Harrison, American television actor

● 1953 - Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor

● 1954 - Vicki Sue Robinson, American singer (d. 2000)

● 1954 - Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer

● 1957 - Jim Craig, American hockey player

● 1958 - Roma Maffia, Actress ("Nip/Tuck")

● 1959 - Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver

● 1960 - Greg C. Adams, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1960 - Kyle Secor, Actor

● 1960 - Chris Elliott, American comedian

● 1961 - Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1961 - Lea Thompson, American actress ("Back to the Future" movies)

● 1962 - Corey Hart, Canadian musician

● 1962 - Sebastian Koch, German actor

● 1963 - Teresa Cheung, Hong Kong socialite & actress

● 1963 - Hugh Dillon, Canadian actor

● 1963 - Wesley Willis, American musician (d. 2003)

● 1964 - Leonard Asper, Canadian businessman

● 1964 - Scotti Hill, American rock guitarist

● 1964 - Kid Frost, Rapper

● 1964 - Darryl McDaniels (DMC), American musician (Run-D.M.C.)

● 1965 - Brooke Shields, American model

● 1966 - Jeremy Hotz, Canadian stand-up comedian

● 1966 - Nick Scotti, American actor and singer

● 1967 - Ed Adkins, Country musician (The Derailers)

● 1967 - Kenny Lofton, baseball player

● 1967 - Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress

● 1967 - Vampiro, Canadian professional wrestler

● 1967 - Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television personality

● 1972 - Frode Estil, Norwegian cross-country skier

● 1972 - Sarah Murdoch, English model

● 1972 - Karl Geary, Irish actor

● 1974 - Adrian Tomine, American cartoonist

● 1975 - Sienna Guillory, English actress

● 1976 - Colin Farrell, Irish actor

● 1976 - Dane Rauschenberg, American Record-holding Marathoner

● 1977 - Eric Christian Olsen, Actor

● 1977 - Debbie King, English TV presenter

● 1977 - Scott Klopfenstein, American musician (Reel Big Fish, The Littlest Man Band)

● 1977 - Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-born Greek volleyball player

● 1980 - Andy Hurley, American musician (Fall Out Boy)

● 1982 - Jonathan Tucker, Actor ("The Black Donnellys")

● 1983 - Dustin Wells, New Zealand footballer

● 1983 - Reggie Yates, English television presenter

● 1984 - Jason Smith, Australian actor

● 1985 - Ian Vouyoukas, Greek basketball player

● 1986 - Sopho Khalvashi, Georgian musical artist

● 1987 - Curtis Williams Jr., Actor

DEATHS

● 1246 - Isabella of Angouleme, queen of John of England

● 1349 - Thomas Wake, English politician (b. 1297)

● 1408 - Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1358)

● 1410 - King Martin I of Aragon (b. 1356)

● 1495 - Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, (b. 1415)

● 1558 - Philip Hoby, English politician (b. 1505)

● 1594 - Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518)

● 1680 - Joachim Neander, German clergyman (b. 1650)

● 1740 - King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)

● 1747 - Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)

● 1799 - Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)

● 1809 - Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)

● 1809 - Jean Lannes, French marshal (b. 1769)

● 1831 - Samuel Bentham, British mechanical engineer (b. 1757)

● 1832 - Évariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)

● 1837 - Joseph Grimaldi, British clown (b. 1779)

● 1846 - Philip Marheineke, German clergyman (b. 1780)

● 1847 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor (b. 1780)

● 1848 - Eugénie de Guérin, French writer (b. 1805)

● 1908 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet (b. 1839)

● 1910 - Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (b. 1821)

● 1957 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)

● 1960 - Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)

● 1960 - Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882)

● 1961 - Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)

● 1962 - Henry Fountain Ashurst, American politician (b. 1874)

● 1970 - Terry Sawchuk, hockey player (b. 1929)

● 1976 - Jacques Monod, French biologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)

● 1977 - William Castle, American director (b. 1914)

● 1978 - József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)

● 1983 - Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)

● 1986 - Jane Frank (Jane Schenthal Frank), American artist (b. 1918)

● 1986 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)

● 1987 - John Abraham (Director), Indian film director

● 1996 - Timothy Leary, American professor and LSD advocate (b. 1920)

● 1997 - James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (b. 1905)

● 2000 - Tito Puente, American musician (b. 1923)

● 2000 - Johnnie Taylor, American singer (b. 1938)

● 2004 - Robert Quine, American guitarist (b. 1941)

● 2006 - Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)

● 2006 - Ryan Bennett, broadcast commentator (b. 1970)

● 2006 - Lula Mae Hardaway, American songwriter (b. 1930), mother of singer Stevie Wonder

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
● St. Angela Merici, virgin
● St. Aurelia Petronilla, virgin
● Sts. Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla, & Protus
● St. Crescentian
● St. Gislemerio
● St. Hermias
● St. Mechtilde of Diessen
● St. Paschasius
● St. Petronella
● St. Thomas Du
● St. Vitalis
● Sts. Winnow, Mancus, & Mybrad

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar forMay 18 (Civil Date: May 31)
● Greek Calendar Entries Only:
● Martyr Julian.
● St. Stephen the New, Patriarch of Constantinople.
● Hieromartyr Theodore, pope of Rome.
● St. Anastaso of Lukada.
● St. Martinian of Areovinthus, monk.
● Repose of Archimandrite Macarius, missionary to the Altai, Siberia (1847), and Blessed Philip, founder of the Gethsemane Caves Skete of St. Sergius' Lavra (1869).

● Syaday (Discordianism) (5th day of the season of Confusion, honors Apostle Sri Syadasti).

● The Godiva procession.

● World No Tobacco Day.

● Botswana : President's Day

● Brunei : Royal Brunei Malay Regiment

● Namibia, South Africa : Union Day (1910), Republic Day (1961)

● Zimbabwe : Independence Day (1979)

● 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 )


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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