2015-05-20

1310 – Shoes were made for both right & left feet

1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).

1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut, India – first European to reach India by sea

1609 – Shakespeare’s sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.

1631 – Magdeburg in Germany seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire under earl Johann Tilly, most inhabitants massacred, one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years’ War.

1639 – Dorchester Mass, forms 1st school funded by local taxes

1759 – William Thornton, Virgin Islander-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (d. 1828) was born.

1775 – Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is signed in Charlotte, North Carolina

1768 – Dolley Dandridge Payne Madison, 1st lady (1809-17) Born

1802 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.

1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.

1818 – William Fargo, American businessman and politician, co-founded Wells Fargo and American Express (d. 1881) was birthed.

1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.

1861 – US marshals appropriate previous year’s telegraph dispatches, to reveal prosecessionist evidence

1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.

1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.

1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope.

1896 – The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd below resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.

1899 – The first traffic ticket in the US: New York City taxi driver Jacob German was arrested for speeding while driving 12 miles per hour on Lexington Street.

1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country’s first President. (1902 – Cuba gains independence from Spain / US military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1, 1899) ends / 1902 – The United States withdraw its troops from Cuba as its first president, Tomas Estrada Palma, is installed

1903 – Britain’s House of Commons begins a debate on the charges of poor administration and ill treatment of natives in Belgium’s colony in the Congo Free State

1908 – Jimmy Stewart [James], Indiana Pennsylvania, American actor (Mr Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life) born

1913 – William Redington Hewlett, American engineer, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (d. 2001) was birthed.

1916 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting (Boy with Baby Carriage).

1917 – Turkish government authorizes Jews to return to Tel Aviv & Jaffa

1918 – 1st electrically propelled warship (New Mexico)

1920 – Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.

1920 – Policemen raid the Cubs’ bleachers & arrest 24 fans for gambling

1920 – Mexican President Venustiano Carranza, under attack by American petroleum companies, faces an armed rebellion by right-wing Sonoro triumvirate after nationalizing subsoil rights

1926 – Congress passes Air Commerce Act, licensing of pilots & planes

1926 – Railway Labor Act became law in USA

1926 – Thomas Edison says Americans prefer silent movies over talkies

1927 – Treaty of Jeddah: The United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

1927 – At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world’s first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He touched down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.

1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.

1941 – Harry James and his orchestra recorded “You Made Me Love You.” The famed bandleader made many movie appearances and was one of the most successful of his time.

1942 – “I’ve Got A Gal in Kalamazoo” was recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. The song made it to the top spot on the music charts for seven weeks, only being knocked off by Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.

1944 – A group of officers from the German Army attempt an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler by exploding a bomb in his headquarters during a staffing meeting

1944 – US Communist Party dissolves

1944 – Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (The Grease Band) (d. 2014) was born.

1946 – Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (Sonny & Cher) was born.

1948 – 1st use of Israeli Air Force & 1st war victory, defeating Syrian army

1949 – In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.

1954 – Guy Hoffman, American musician (Violent Femmes) Born

1956 – In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

1958 – Jane Wiedlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (The Go-Go’s and Frosted) was born

1959 – Susan Cowsill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Cowsills and Continental Drifters) was born.

1961 – An angry mob consisting of all white’s attacked a busload of “Freedom Riders” ( Freedom Riders were testing the United States Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia, that gave them a legal right to disregard local segregation ordinances regarding interstate transportation facilities. ) in Montgomery, Ala., prompting the federal government to send in United States marshals to restore order.

1964 – Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.

1964 – Rudy Lewis, American singer (The Drifters) (b. 1936) died.

1965 – Ted Allen, American television host and author was born.

1966 – Dan Abrams, American cable news “journalist” was birthed.

1967 – 10,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam

1967 – Ramzi Yousef, Kuwaiti-Pakistani terrorist, FBI patsy of the World Trade Center bombing was born.

1968 – Terence O’Neill, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, is showered with eggs, flour and stones after a meeting of the Woodvale Unionist Association, a loyalist vigilante group

1969 – US troop capture Hill 937/ “Hamburger Hill” Vietnam

1969 – Road Dogg, American wrestler, producer, and soldier was born.

1970 – 100,000 march in NY supporting US policies in Vietnam

1971 – Tony Stewart, American race car driver was born.

1972 – Busta Rhymes, American rapper, producer, and actor (The Conglomerate and Leaders of the New School) was born.

1980 – In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.

1980 – 710 families in Love Canal area (Niagara Falls NY) are evacuated

1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.

1983 – Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by Umkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.

1985 – Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.

1985 – FBI arrests John A Walker Jr, convicted of spying for USSR

1989 – The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.

1990 – Hubble Space Telescope sends 1st photograph’s from space

1991 – Soviet parliament approves law allowing citizens to travel abroad

1992 – India launches its 1st satellite independently

1992 – Rap singer raps 597 syllables in under 60 seconds

1994 – Bobcat Goldthwait charged with misdemeanors for fire on Tonight Show

1996 – Jon Pertwee, English actor, third Doctor Wo (b. 1919) died.

1996 – UN and Iraq agree to Resolution 986, which provides Iraq with the opportunity to sell $1 billion of oil for 90 days for a 180-day trial period; proceeds from the sale would be used for humanitarian purposes

1996 – Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.

1997 – US President Clinton signs an executive order barring new US investment in Burma (also known as Myanmar), effective May 21 and renewable annually

2009 – The American actor who had provided the voice of Mickey Mouse died at the age of sixty-two of complications from diabetes. Wayne Allwine became the voice of Mickey Mouse in 1977 and was married to the actress who voiced Minnie Mouse.

2009 – Mexico is the first Latin American country to officially enter recession

2011 – Randy Savage, American Pro-Wrestler (b. 1952) dies

2012 – At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.

2012 – Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Libyan terrorist, conducted the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing (b. 1952) died.

2012 – Robin Gibb, Manx-English singer-songwriter and producer (Bee Gees, The Rattlesnakes, and One World Project) (b. 1949) died.

2013 – An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.

2013 – Ray Manzarek American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (The Doors, Rick & the Ravens, Manzarek–Krieger, and Nite City) (b. 1939) died.

2014 – More than 118 people are killed in two bombings in Jos, Nigeria.

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