May 14 ...
In 1643 Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. In 1796 English physician Edward Jenner administered the first vaccination against smallpox to an 8-year-old boy. In 1804 the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis. In 1904 the first Olympic Games to be held in the US opened in St. Louis, as part of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In 1906 German revolutionary, American politician and reformer, Civil War Union Army general, and journalist Carl Schurz died in New York City at age 77. In 1948 the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv. In 1955 representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, formed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The Pact was dissolved in July 1991.) In 1967 New York Yankee great Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run. In 1970 actress Billie Burke died in Los Angeles, CA, at age 84. She was best known for her role as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in the Wizard of Oz. In 1973 the US launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station. In 1975 US forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 US servicemen were killed in the military operation. In 1980 President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services. In 1998 Frank Sinatra died at age 82; also on this day, the final episode of the TV series Seinfeld aired after nine years on NBC.