TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – May 31
1433 Sigismund is crowned emperor of Rome.
1678 The Godiva procession, commemorating Lady Godiva’s legendary ride while naked, becomes part of the Coventry Fair.
1790 The first U.S. Copyright Law was enacted, protecting books, maps, and other original materials.
1859 Big Ben rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, England for the first time.
1870 E.J. DeSemdt patented asphalt.
1879 New York’s Madison Square Garden opens its doors for the first time.
1884 Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented “flaked cereal.”
1889 Heavy rains caused the South Fork Dam to collapse, sending 20 million tons of water into Johnstown, Pa. Over 2,200 people were killed and the town was nearly destroyed.
1900 U.S. troops arrive in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
1902 The Boer War ends with the Treaty of Vereeniging.
1909 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) holds its first conference.
1913 The 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for direct election of senators, is ratified.
1941 An armistice is arranged between the British and the Iraqis.
1955 The Supreme Court orders that states must end racial segregation “with all deliberate speed.”
1957 The House for Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) convicts the playwright Arthur Miller of contempt of Congress for refusing to reveal the names of alleged Communist writers with whom he had attended five or six meetings in New York.
1962 Adolf Eichmann, the former SS commander, is hanged near Tel Aviv, Israel.
1964 It is reported that the United States provided about 97% of total economic, technical, and medical foreign aid to South Vietnam
1974 Israel and Syria sign an agreement on the Golan Heights.
1977 The almost 800 miles long Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline is completed connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to the sea port of Valdez in the Gulf of Alaska in southern Alaska.
1995 Bob Dole singled out Time Warner for “the marketing of evil” in movies and music. Dole later admitted that he had not seen or heard much of what he had been criticizing.
2003 In North Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing.
2005 Deep Throat reveals himself Former FBI agent Mark Felt admitted that he was the most important informant in the 1970’s Watergate scandal which uncovered the dirty tricks of the Nixon administration, ultimately leading to Nixon’s resignation.
2010 Nine people are dead after an Israeli navy commando attacks a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats on their way to Gaza to provide aid and supplies for the area.
2012 Interpol has added Luke Rocco Magnotta, suspected killer, to their most wanted list. Magnotta is suspected of murdering Jun Lin, a Chinese student who was possibly in a relationship with him, and sending body parts of the victim to political party offices in Ottawa. Magnotta had fled Canada was found by police in Berlin and was taken into custody on June 4th.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
