May 2
1859 Humorist Jerome K. Jerome was born.
1903 Dr. Benjamin Spock, anti-war activist and
authority on child care, was born in New Haven, Connecticut.
1904 Singer, composer, and actor Bing Crosby
(Harry Lillis Crosby) was born in Tacoma, Washington.
1907 Comedian and TV star Pinky Lee (Pincus Leff)
was born in St. Paul, Minnesota.
1924 Singer and actor Theodore Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria.
1946 Singer Lesley Gore was born in Tenafly, New Jersey.
1954 Stan Musial hit five home runs in two games
for the St. Louis Cardinals.
1972 J. Edgar Hoover, founder and head of the FBI, died.
May 3
1689 Freeholders in Suffolk, New York, rebelled against the Dominion
of New York City and ousted appointed officials.
1904 Yankee pitcher Red Ruffing was born in Illinois.
1921 Champion boxer "Sugar Ray" Robinson
was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1937 Singer Frankie Valli was born in Newark, New Jersey.
1971 A massive Anti-Vietnam War demonstration, took place in Washington DC.
1983 U.S. Catholic bishops called for elimination of all nuclear weapons and a ban
on nuclear war.
May 4
1776 Rhode Island spokesmen declared independence from Great Britain.
1825 Writer T. H. Huxley was born in England.
1826 Frederick Church, Hudson River school painter,
was born in Hartford, Connecticut.
1905 Belmont race track opened in New York.
1929 Actress Audry Hepburn (Edna van Heemstra Hepburn-Rusten)
was born near Brussels, Belgium.
1971 A Superior Court judge ordered the release of 12,000 people arrested
by Washington DC police during a demonstration against the Vietnam war.
May 5
1768 "Johnny Appleseed" was born.
1819 Julia Ward Howe, abolitionist, author,
and philanthropist, was born.
1821 French emperor and warmonger Napoleon Bonaparte died
in exile on St. Helens island.
1862 Mexicans defeated invading French soldiers at the Battle of Puebla.
1867 Journalist Nellie Bly was born in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania.
She exposed the inhumane conditions that prevailed in "insane asylums"
by posing as an inmate and then documenting her experiences.
She was also an adventurer who traveled around the world in 72 days,
out-doing Jules Verne's fictional character Phineas Fogg by 8 days.
1891 Carnegie Hall opened in New York City.
1904 Cy Young pitched the first perfect game in baseball history.
1914 Actor Tyrone Power was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1943 Comedian Michael Palin was born in Sheffield, England.
1945 Denmark Liberation Day when Nazi German occupation ended.
May 6
1776 The Virginia convention instructed their representatives to move
for independence.
1783 Negotiation for British evacuation began.
1861 Arkansas seceded from the Union.
1889 The Paris Exposition, with the Eiffel Tower, opened.
1902 Movie star Rudolph Valentino
was born in Castellaneta, Italy.
1915 Actor and film maker Orson Wells
was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
1915 Babe Ruth hit his first major league home run
for the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees.
1931 Baseball star Willy Mays was born in Westfield, Alabama.
1947 Actor George Clooney was born at Agusta, Kentucky.
1954 Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile
in under 4 minutes.
May 7
1711 Philosopher and historian David Hume
was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1824 Beethoven's ninth symphony premiered in Vienna, Austria.
1833 Composer Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany.
1840 Composer Tchaikovsky was born in Vatkinsk, Russia.
1885 Western movie actor George "Gabby" Hayes was born in New York.
1901 Movie star Frank James (Gary) Cooper was born in Helena, Montana.
1922 Actor Darren McGavin was born in Spokane, Washington.
1931 Singer Teresa Brewer was born in Toledo, Ohio.
1933 Football Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas was born
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
May 8
1737 Historian Edward Gibbon was born.
1794 Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was
born in Paris.
1828 Jean Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, was born in
Geneva, Switzerland.
1869 Religious freedom was proclaimed in Spain.
1883 Philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset was born in Madrid.
1899 Economist and social philosopher Friederich von Hayek
was born in Vienna, Austria.
1926 Comedian Don Rickles was born.
1940 Peter Benchley, author of Jaws, was born
in New York City.
1943 Singer Toni Tennille was born.
1959 Football star Ronny Lott was born.
1968 Jim "Catfish" Hunter pitched a perfect game.
May 9
1754 The first cartoon in America was published by
Benjamin Franklin.
1788 A motion was made in the British Parliament to abolish the slave
trade.
1860 Sir James Barrie, author of Peter Pan,
was born in Scotland.
1862 General David Hunter issued orders to free all slaves in
South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
(Dictator Abraham Lincoln countermanded the orders
on May 19, 1862.)
1928 Tennis star Pancho Gonzales was born.
1949 Singer and songwriter Billy Joel was born
in Hicksville, New York.
1960 Baseball star Tony Gwynn was born.
May 10
238 Roman emperor Gaius Julius Verus Maximus
was murdered by his own troops.
1727 Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, early theorist
of marginal utility, subjective value, and free trade, was born in Paris.
1775 Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys
captured Fort Ticonderoga.
1899 Dancer and movie star Fred Astaire
was born in Omaha, Nebraska.
1954 Rock Around the Clock was released as the B-side of Thirteen Women
(And Only One Man in Town) by Bill Haley and His Comets.
2001 Congress passed the largest tax cut in 20 years.
May 11
1752 The first fire insurance policy in the US was issued in Philadelphia.
1865 Kukule devised the benzene theory.
1888 Composer Irving Baline (Berlin)
was born in Tyumen, Siberia.
1904 Surrealist painter Salvador Dali was born in Figueras, Spain.
1912 Comedian Phil Silvers was born in Brooklyn.
1927 Comedian Mort Sahl was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
1987 The first heart and lung transplant was performed in Baltimore.
2008 Amari Halliday was born in Wichita Falls, Texas.
May 12
1774 Patriots met at Fauneil Hall and agreed to send food to Boston to
sustain the inhabitants while the port was closed.
1775 Seth Warner and the Green Mountain Boys captured Crown Point.
1820 Nurse Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy.
1925 Yankee catcher and philosopher Lawrence "Yogi" Berra
was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
1929 Composer Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri.
1933 The Chicago World's fair opened.
1937 Comedian George Carlin was born in New York City.
1972 The Right-Wing Individualist Tradition in America series of reprints,
edited by Murray Rothbard, was released by Arno Press.
May 13
1774 The Boston Committee of Correspondence joined with other committees in
urging all colonists to boycott trade with England.
1842 Composer Arthur Sullivan was born in London.
1914 Champion boxer Joe Louis was born near Lafayette, Alabama.
1939 Actor Harvey Keitel was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1943 Mary Wells, Motown's first singing star, was born
in Detroit, Michigan.
1950 Singer and songwriter Steveland Hardaway (Stevie Wonder)
was born in Saginaw, Michigan.
May 14
1686 Physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Danzig, Germany.
1727 Painter Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, England.
1796 Vaccination was invented by Edward Jenner.
1936 Singer and actor Bobby Darin was born in New York City.
1944 Movie maker George Lukas was born in Modesta, California.
1951 Ernie Kovacs hosted his first TV show.
May 15
1776 Virginia voted for independence.
1776 The Continental Congress renounced allegiance to
George III.
1856 Frank L. Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
was born in Chittenango, New York.
1859 Pierre Curie, co-discoverer of radium, was born in Paris.
1937 Singer Trini Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas.
1953 Baseball star George Brett
was born in Glen Dale, West Virginia.
May 16
1804 Elizabeth Peabody, educator, author, and publisher, was
born in Billerica, Massachusetts.
1905 Actor Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska.
1928 Yankee player and manager Billy Martin was born in
Berkeley, California.
1955 Olympic gold medal gymnast Olga Korbut
was born in Grondo, USSR.
1959 Sam Snead became the first golfer to break 60
in 18-hole tournament play.
1966 Pop singer and exhibitionist Janet Jackson
was born in Gary, Indiana.
May 17
1749 Dr. Edward Jenner, inventor of the smallpox vaccine,
was born in Berkeley, England.
1814 Anarchist philosopher Mikhail Bakunin was born in Russia.
1903 James "Cool Papa" Bell, Baseball Hall of Fame
inductee who has been called the fastest man to ever play the game,
was born in Starkville, Mississippi.
1956 Boxing champion "Sugar" Ray Leonard was born
in Wilmington, North Carolina.
May 18
1652 An anti-slavery law was enacted in Rhode Island.
1692 Moral philosopher Joseph Butler was born in England.
1872 Philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell
was born in Wales.
1912 Singer Pierno (Perry) Como
was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
1920 Anti-communist Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) was
born in Wadowice, Poland.
1937 Great third-baseman Brooks Robinson
was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1946 Baseball slugger Reggie Jackson was born
in Wyncote, Pennsylvania.
1970 Comedy writer and actress Tina Fey was born.
May 19
1795 Doctor Johns Hopkins was born.
1884 Rabies treatment was perfected by Louis Pasteur.
1885 Shoes were mass produced for the first time
(by Jan Matzelinger in Lynn, Massachusetts).
1928 Yankee infielder Gil McDougald was born in San Francisco.
1947 Actress Glenn Close was born.
May 20
1775 The Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence was signed
at Charlotte, North Carolina.
1799 Novelist Honore de Balzac was born in Tours, France.
1861 North Carolina declared its independence again by seceding from the Union
on the anniversary of the Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence.
1895 The US Supreme Court declared the whole income tax law
unconstitutional.
1908 Actor Jimmy Stewart was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
1919 Lonesome comedian George Gobel was born in Chicago.
1927 Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field,
Long Island on the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
1946 Yankee outfielder Bobby Mercer was born in Oklahoma.
1946 Singer and actress Cher (Cherylynn Sarkisian)
was born in El Centro, California.
1972 The Libertarian Party of California was founded.
May 21
1471 Renaissance painter and engraver Albrecht Durer
was born in Nuremberg, Germany.
1688 Poet Alexander Pope was born in London.
1878 Inventor and aviator Glenn Curtiss was born
in Hammondsport, New York.
1881 The American Red Cross was organized by Clara Barton.
1927 Charles Lindbergh landed in Paris after a 37-hour,
solo flight from New York.
1957 Actor Judge Reinhold was born in Wilmington, Delaware.
May 22
1570 The first atlas, with 70 maps, was published.
1813 Richard Wagner, opera composer whose music is
better than it sounds, was born in Leipzig, Germany.
1859 Arthur Connan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes stories,
was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1907 Actor, director, and theater manager Lawrence Olivier
was born in Dorking, England.
1941 Baseball pitching star Tommy John
was born in Terre Haute, Indiana.
1962 Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard
was published.
May 23
1707 Botanist Carolus Linnaeus was born.
1785 Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals.
1861 Virginia citizens voted 3 to 1 in favor of secession.
1928 Singer Rosemary Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky.
1945 Nazi Minister of the Interior Heinrich Himmler killed himself.
1954 Boxing champion Marvin Hagler was born in Newark, New Jersey.
May 24
1844 Samuel Morse telegraphed the first message
from Washington to Baltimore.
1883 The Brooklyn Bridge opened.
1935 At Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the
Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 in the first
night baseball game played in the major leagues.
1941 Songwriter Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman)
was born in Duluth, Minnesota.
1995 The epic libertarian movie Braveheart premiered.
May 25
1803 Libertarian philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson
was born in Boston.
1878 H.M.S. Pinafore premiered.
1878 Tap dancer "Bojangles" Robinson
was born in Richmond, Virginia.
1897 Boxer Gene Tunney was born in New York City.
1923 Libertarian writer Karl Hess was born.
1935 Jesse Owens broke five world records and tied a sixth in the
Olympic Games.
1975 Singer, songwriter, and model Lauryn Hill was born.
May 26
1857 Dred Scott and his family were freed from slavery.
1886 Entertainer Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson) was born
in St. Petersburg, Russia.
1907 Actor Marion Morrison (John Wayne)
was born in Winterset, Iowa.
1920 Singer Peggy Lee (Norma Egstrom)
was born in Jamestown, North Dakota.
1923 TV star James Arness was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1948 Singer Stevie Nicks was born in Phoenix, Arizona.
1949 Singer Hank Williams Jr. was born in Shreveport, Louisiana.
May 27
1882 Lysander Spooner's "Letter to Thomas Bayard," was published
in Liberty magazine.
1894 Mystery writer Dashiell Hammett
was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland.
1911 Actor Vincent Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
1912 Golfing great Sam Snead was born in Hot Springs, Virginia.
1922 Actor Christopher Lee was born in London, England.
1935 Jazz musician Ramsey Lewis was born in Los Angeles.
1935 The Supreme Court declared the National Industrial Recovery
Act unconstitutional.
1936 Actor Lou Gossett, Jr. was born in Brooklyn, New York.
May 28
1888 Jim Thorpe, professional football and baseball star and winner
of the 1912 Olympic Games pentathlon and decathlon competitions, was
born near Prague, Oklahoma.
1908 Ian Flemming, author of James Bond novels,
was born in London.
1929 The first Technicolor movie premiered (On With the Show).
1944 Singer Gladys Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia.
May 29
1736 Revolution leader Patrick Henry
was born in Studley, Virginia.
1776 Committee of Mechanics in New York urged New York delegates to vote
for independence.
1865 With a few exceptions, President Andrew Johnson
granted amnesty and pardons to those who participated in the rebellion against
the US.
1874 Author G. K. Chesterton was born in London.
1903 Comedian Leslie Townes (Bob) Hope
was born in Eltham, England.
1910 Glen Curtiss made a successful cross-country flight
down the Hudson River from Albany to New York.
1939 The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge opened to traffic.
1953 Tensing Norgay and Edmund Hillary
became the first to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
May 30
1765 Patrick Henry's resolutions asserting the right of
self-government and denouncing the Stamp Act
passed in Virginia's House of Burgesses after they listened
to Henry's "If this be treason" speech.
1886 War critic Randolph Bourne was born.
1908 Mel Blanc, voice
of many cartoon characters, was born in San Francisco.
1909 Band leader and musician Benny Goodman
was born in Illinois.
1939 Actor Michael J. Pollard was born in Passaic, New Jersey.
1943 Football Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers
was born in Wichita, Kansas.
May 31
1043 According to tradition, Lady Godiva
rode naked through the streets of Coventry, England, to protest taxes.
1775 The first local resolution for independence came from
Mecklenburg, North Carolina, which declared English laws null and void.
1819 William Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic,
was born in Manchester, England.
1930 Clint Eastwood, movie actor, director, and producer,
was born in San Francisco.
1938 Singer and songwriter Peter Yarrow was born in New York City.
1943 Football star Joe Namath
was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
1990 Seinfeld premiered on NBC.
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