Sunday May 9, 2021
Today is Sunday, May 9th, the 129th day of the year 2021. There are still 236 days in the year. This is mother’s day.
Today’s highlight in history:
On May 9, 1994, the newly elected South African parliament elected Nelson Mandela as the country’s first black president.
On this date:
In 1712, the Carolina Colony was officially divided into two entities: North Carolina and South Carolina.
In 1914, based on a joint Congressional resolution, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
In 1926, the Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett are said to have been the first men to fly over the North Pole. (However, US scientists announced in 1996 that their examination of Byrd’s flight diary revealed that he had returned 150 miles from his destination.)
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In 1951, the United States carried out its first thermonuclear experiment as part of Operation Greenhouse, in which a 225-kiloton device was detonated on the Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific, nicknamed “George”.
In a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters in 1961, Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow declared the majority of television programming to be “vast wastelands.”
In 1962, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded in reflecting a laser beam from the surface of the moon.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon made a surprise and impromptu visit to the Lincoln Memorial before dawn, where he was talking to a group of protesters who had been resting on the steps of the memorial after protests against the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings.
In 1974 the House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. (The committee eventually passed three impeachment lawsuits against the president, who resigned before the entire House admitted one of them.)
In 1980, 35 people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, Florida, collapsing a 1,400-foot section of the southern span.
In 2012, President Barack Obama stated his clear support for same-sex marriage in a historic announcement made three days after Vice President Joe Biden spoke for such unions on NBC’s Meet the Press.
In 2019, Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns to report sexual abuse and clerical cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.
Ten years ago: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced on social networking sites that he was running for Republican President nomination. Dallas Wiens, the country’s first full face transplant recipient, joined surgeons at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in its first public appearance since the 15-hour procedure in March 2011. Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt lost control of his bike and fell down a mountain pass until his death during the third stage of the Giro d’Italia.
Five years ago: Filipinos voted to elect Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial, tenacious mayor of the city of Davao, as their country’s next president.
A year ago: The Food and Drug Administration approved a coronavirus antigen test that could quickly detect virus proteins from swabs wiped into the marine cave. Rock and roll pioneer Little Richard, known for his piercing wailing, pounding piano, and towering pompadour, died in Tennessee at the age of 87 after battling bone cancer. He had helped break the color line on the music charts while introducing Black R&B to white America.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor and writer Alan Bennett is 87 years old. The actress and politician Glenda Jackson is 85 years old. The producer and director James L. Brooks is 84 years old. The musician Sonny Curtis (Buddy Holly and the Crickets) is 84 years old. The singer Tommy Roe is 79 years old. Musician Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield and Poco) is 77. Actor Candice Bergen is 75. Pop singer Clint Holmes is 75. Actor Anthony Higgins is 74. Singer Billy Joel is 72. Blues singer-musician Bob Margolin is 72. Rock singer – Musician Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick) is 71. Actor Alley Mills is 70. Actor Amy Hill is 68. Actor Wendy Crewson is 65. Actor John Corbett is 60. Singer Dave Gahan (GAHN) (Depeche Mode) is 59. Actor Sonja Sohn is 57. Rapper Ghostface Killah is 51. Actor Chris Diamantopoulos (dy-uh-MAN’-toh-POO’-lehs) is 46. R&B singer Tamia (tuh-MEE’-ah) is 46. Actor Daniel Franzese is 43. Rock singer Pierre Bouvier (Simple Plan) is 42. Actor Rosario Dawson is 42. Rock singer Andrew WK is 42. Actor Rachel Boston is 39. TV personality Audrina Patridge is 36. A. ctor Grace Gummer is 35 years old.
Monday, May 10, 2021
Today is Monday, May 10th, the 130th day of the year 2021. There are still 235 days in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On May 10, 1869, a golden thorn was driven in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.
On this date:
In 1774, Louis XVI. The throne of France.
In 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Colonel Benedict Arnold, conquered the British fortress in Ticonderoga, New York.
In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by the Union Forces in Irwinville, Georgia.
In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed acting director of the Bureau of Investigation (later known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI).
In 1933 the Nazis carried out massive public book burnings in Germany.
During the Second World War, German forces began invading the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and France in 1940. On the same day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill formed a new government.
In 1941, Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess threw himself on a peace mission to Scotland. (Hess was serving a life sentence in Spandau prison until 1987, when he apparently committed suicide at the age of 93.)
In 1977 Oscar-winning film star Joan Crawford died in New York.
In 1994 Nelson Mandela took the oath of office in Pretoria to become South Africa’s first black president. The state of Illinois executed serial killer John Wayne Gacy, 52, for the murders of 33 young men and boys.
In 1995, the office of former President George HW Bush released his National Rifle Association resignation letter in which Bush expressed his outrage over an NRA donation letter pointing to federal agents as a “criminal.” (Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, apologized a week later.)
In 2002, a tense 39-day stalemate between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ended with 13 suspected militants flown into European exile and 26 released to Gaza.
In 2010, President Barack Obama introduced Supreme Court candidate Elena Kagan and billed her as a unifying force on a broken court.
Ten years ago: The bulging Mississippi rolled into the Mississippi Delta after peaking in Memphis, Tennessee before dawn, causing widespread damage. In a double strike against Moammar Gaddafi’s armed forces, NATO warplanes struck a command center in Tripoli and hit targets around the besieged port of Misrata.
Five years ago: When his White House dreams faded, Bernie Sanders added another state to his record against Hillary Clinton with a win in West Virginia. Republican Donald Trump won there and in Nebraska too, a week after leaving the field of his remaining rivals. Stephen Curry became the first unanimous NBA MVP and received the award for the second straight season after leading defending champions Warriors to a record season.
A year ago: Vice President Mike Pence reportedly self-isolating at home two days after his spokeswoman Katie Miller tested positive for the coronavirus. American families celebrated Mother’s Day amid the social distancing restrictions caused by the coronavirus.
Today’s Birthdays: Author Barbara Taylor Bradford is 88 years old. R&B singer Henry Fambrough (The Spinners) is 83 years old. The actor David Clennon is 78 years old. The writer, producer and director Jim Abrahams is 77 years old. The singer Donovan is 75 years old. Singer-songwriter Graham Gouldman (10cc) is 75. Singer Dave Mason is 75. Actor Mike Hagerty is 67. Sports anchor Chris Berman is 66. Actor Bruce Penhall is 64. Former Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa., Is 63rd Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, R. -Miss. Is 62 years old. Actress Victoria Rowell is 62 years old. The rock singer Bono (BAH’-noh) (U2) is 61 years old. Former Senator Dean Heller, R-Nev., Is 61 years old. The rock musician Danny Carey (Tool) is 61 years old 60. Actor Darryl M. Bell is 58. Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is 58. Model Linda Evangelista is 56. Rapper Young MC is 54. Actor Erik Palladino is 53. Rock singer Richard Patrick (Filter) is 53. Actor Lenny Venito is 52. Actor Dallas Roberts is 51. Actor Leslie Stefanson is 50. Actor-singer Todd Lowe is 49. Actor Andrea Anders is 46. Racing driver Helio Castroneves is 46. Rock musician Jesse Vest is 44. Actor Ke nan Thompson is 43. Rhythm and blues singer Jason Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 41. Actor Odette Annable is 36. Actor Lindsey Shaw is 32. Actor Lauren Potter is 31st Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin is 26.
