TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MAY 25
585 BC The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.
1085 Alfonso VI takes Toledo, Spain from the Muslims.
1720 The Ship “Le Grand St Antoine” reaches Marseille, bringing Europe’s last major plague outbreak. Kills around 100,000
1787 The Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia under the leadership of George Washington, in order to establish a new U.S. government.
1844 The gasoline engine was patented by Stuart Perry.
1851 Jose Justo de Urquiza of Argentina leads a rebellion against Juan Manuel de Rosas, his former ally.
1895 Playwright Oscar Wilde was found guilty of gross indecency in London and sentenced two years of hard labor. Playwright Oscar Wilde was arrested on charges of “gross indecency” under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act earlier in April ( in 1895 ) this term implied ‘homosexual acts not amounting to buggery’.
1914 The British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule.
1925 A high school science teacher, John T. Scopes was indicted for teaching the theory of evolution in his classes, as the Tennessee state law prohibits the teaching of evolution in public schools.
1927 The “Movietone News” was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City.
1935 Track and field athlete Jesse Owens equals or breaks 4 world records in 45 minutes at a Big Ten meet at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Remembered as “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport”.
1953 The first atomic cannon is fired in Nevada.
1961 President Kennedy has asked Congress for $531 million to help the US put a man on the moon before the end of the decade . On July 21st 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon.
1963 African states unite to create the Organisation of African Unity / OAU to “decolonize” the remaining bastions of white rule in South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Mozambique and Angola with any and all means possible including providing African “freedom fighters” with finance, arms, volunteers and training bases.
1965 Muhammad Ali knocked Sonny Liston out cold in the first round, after 1 minute and 56 seconds, for the world heavyweight title.
1977 The first Star Wars film is released
George Lucas’ epic space opera encompassing seven films is one of the most popular works in movie history.
1977 An opinion piece by Vietnam verteran Jan Scruggs appeared in “The Washington Post.” The article called for a national memorial to “remind an ungrateful nation of what it has done to its sons” that had served in the Vietnam War.
1979 American Airlines flight 191 crashes shortly after takeoff
The photo showing the lopsided DC-10 hurtling towards the ground at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago is one of the most horrifying images in aviation history. All 258 people on board died.
1979 Etan Patz disappears
The disappearance and murder of the 6-year-old boy from New York City and the extensive publicity it received helped spark the missing children’s movement.
1981 Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago’s Sears Tower, while wearing a “Spiderman” costume, in 7 1/2 hours.
1986 Approximately Seven million Americans joined hands hoping to raise more than $50 million to fight hunger and homelessness in “Hands Across America.”
1992 Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
1997 In Sierra Leone a military coup overthrew the popularly elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. He was replaced with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
1999 A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People’s Republic of China concluded that China had “stolen design information on the U.S. most-advanced thermonuclear weapons” and that China’s penetration of U.S. weapons laboratories “spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today.”
2006 Former Enron Corp. Executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling are convicted in Houston of conspiracy and fraud for the company’s downfall. Kenneth Lay dies before sentencing and Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
2009 North Korea announces that it has conducted a n underground detonation of a nuclear device in the province of North Hamgyong as part of it’s nuclear weapons program. North Korea now believes it should be considered a full nuclear power, this raises a number of questions and problems for The United Nations Security Council over concerns that North Korea could sell this technology to other countries or terrorist organizations making nuclear proliferation likely.
2011 Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting and killing six people, and injuring US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a January incident, was found incompetent to stand trial. Loughner pleaded not guilty and was declared unfit for trial after being evaluated by mental competency experts.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
