1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist in the early 1950s during the Red Scare.
0068 – Galba, governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani, breaking the line of Roman emperors begun with Julius Caesar and Augustus.
1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (stanbul), which would fall on May 29.
1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida. The next day he went ashore.
1550 – Jews are expelled from Genoa Italy
1755 – Commodore William James captures pirate fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
1767 – King Charles III of Spain gives orders to expel the Jesuits from the Spanish Empire
1792 – The U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act to regulate the coins of the United States. The act authorized $10 Eagles, $5 Half Eagles, $2.50 Quarter Eagle gold coins, silver dollars, dollars, quarters, dimes and half-dimes to be minted.
1801 – During the Napoleonic Wars, the Danish fleet was destroyed by the British at the Battle of Copenhagen.
1860 – The first Italian Parliament met in Turin.
1863 – Richmond Bread Riot: Food shortages incite hundreds of angry women to riot in Richmond, Virginia and demand the Confederate government to release emergency supplies
1865 – Confederate President Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA.
1872 – G.B. Brayton received a patent for the gas-powered streetcar.
1877 – The first Egg Roll was held on the grounds of the White House in Washington, DC.
1884 – London prison for debtors closed
1885 – Wandering Spirit massacres 9 white settlers and Metis at Frog Lake Saskatchewan takes one man and two women prisoner with 7 other Crees.
1889 – Charles Hall patented aluminum.
1900 – The Foraker Act passes through Congress, giving Puerto Ricans limited self-rule.
1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated by a terrorist in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg
1905 – The Simplon rail tunnel officially opened. The tunnel went under the Alps and linked Switzerland and Italy.
1910 – Karl Harris perfected the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber.
1914 – The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announced plans to divide the country into 12 districts.
1917 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson presented a declaration of war against Germany to the U.S. Congress.
1926 – Riots between Muslims & Hindus in Calcutta
1930 – Ras Tafari Makonnen becomes Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
1932 – A $50,000 ransom was paid for the infant son of Charles and Anna Lindbergh. He child was not returned and was found dead the next month.
1935 – Sir Watson-Watt was granted a patent for RADAR.
1942 – USS Hornet with Jimmy Doolittles B-25 departs from San Francisco
1944 – The Soviet Union announced that its troops had crossed the Prut River and entered Romania.
1947 – The U.N. Security Council voted to appoint the U.S. as trustee for former Japanese-held Pacific Islands.
1951 – U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower assumed command of all allied forces in the Western Mediterranean area and Europe.
1954 – Ed Wood’s cult classic film “Glen or Glenda?”, initially screened as “I Changed My Sex” premieres in San Francisco, California
1958 – The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics was renamed NASA.
1960 – France signed an agreement with Madagascar that proclaimed the country an independent state within the French community.
1963 – Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King began the first non-violent campaign in Birmingham, AL.
1966 – South Vietnamese troops joined in demonstrations at Hue and Da Nang for an end to military rule.
1967 – In Peking, hundreds of thousands demonstrated against Mao foe Liu Shao-chi.
1968 – Chad creates Union of Central African States
1971 – Libya concludes 5 weeks of negotiations with Western oil companies in Tripoli
1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist in the early 1950s during the Red Scare.
1973 – Launch of LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act in an effort to help the U.S. economy rebound
1981 – In Lebanon, thirty-seven people were reported killed during fighting in the cities of Beirut and Zahle. It was the worst violence since the 1976 cease fire.
1982 – Argentina invaded the British-owned Falkland Islands. The following June Britain took the islands back.
1984 – John Thompson became the first black coach to lead his team to the NCAA college basketball championship.
1987 – The speed limit on U.S. interstate highways was increased to 65 miles per hour in limited areas.
1988 – U.S. Special Prosecutor James McKay declined to indict Attorney General Edwin Meese for criminal wrongdoing.
1989 – General Prosper Avril, Haiti’s military leader, survived a coup attempt. The attempt was apparently provoked by Avril’s U.S.-backed efforts to fight drug trafficking.
1990 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened to incinerate half of Israel with chemical weapons if Israel joined a conspiracy against Iraq.
1992 – Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering. He was later sentenced to life in prison.
1995 – The costliest strike in professional sports history ended when baseball owners agreed to let players play without a contract.
1996 – Lech Walesa resumed his old job as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard. He was the former Solidarity union leader who became Poland’s first post-war democratic president.
2002 – Israeli troops surrounded the Church of the Nativity. More than 200 Palestinians had taken refuge at the church when Israel invaded Bethlehem.
2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt a thwarted bombing of the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid.
2012 – Oikos University, Oakland shooting kills seven people and injures 3
2013 – The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons.
2014 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that limits on the total amount of money individuals can give political candidates and political action committees were unconstitutional.
2015 – 140 people are killed after gunmen attack Garissa University College, Kenya
2017 – Attack on visitors to Muslim shrine by a custodian and others in Sargodha, Pakistan leaves 20 dead
2020 – Record 6.6 million Americans filed claims for unemployment in last week according to the US Department of Labor, 10 million over 2 weeks
2022 – Ukraine liberates the entire Kyiv region from retreating Russian forces
2023 – Footage of deepest living fish ever recorded, the snailfish, released caught on camera at depth of 27,349 feet (8,336 meters) in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
