TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MAY 19
1536 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, is beheaded on Tower Green.
1568 Defeated by the Protestants, Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England where Queen Elizabeth imprisons her.
1588 The 130-ship-strong Spanish Armada set sail for England; it was defeated in August.
1635 Cardinal Richelieu of France intervenes in the great conflict in Europe by declaring war on the Hapsburgs in Spain.
1643 Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form the United Colonies of New England
1649 England is declared a Commonwealth by an act of the Rump Parliament making England a republic for the next 11 years
1743 Jean-Pierre Christin invents the Celsius thermometer
1780 Near total darkness descends on New England at noon. No explanation is found.
1858 A pro-slavery band led by Charles Hamilton executes unarmed Free State men near Marais des Cygnes on the Kansas-Missouri border.
1898 US Congress passes the Private Mailing Card Act, allowing private publishers and printers to produce postcards, had to be labelled “Private Mailing Cards” until 1901, known as “souvenir cards”
1921 Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system.
1962 Marilyn Monroe performs her famous rendition of Happy Birthday Monroe gave her sultry performance, which was to be her last, at a party for U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The two are believed to have been engaged in an affair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=EqolSvoWNck
1964 U.S. diplomats find at least 40 microphones planted in the American embassy in Moscow.
1971 USSR launches Mars 2, 1st spacecraft to crash land on Mars
1986 South African troops launch multiple raids on Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana in an effort to destroy bases purportedly used by the anti-apartheid organisation the African National Congress (ANC).
1992 The 27th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibited Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises, went into effect.
1992 Ric Flair wins NWA wrestling title
2005 The Rwandan defense minister, Marcel Gatsini, apologized for being a part of the Hutu government behind the genocide of 1994.
2008 A drunken man opened fire in Calamba, Philippines, and killed eight people, five of them children, while injuring another six people with an M-16 rifle.
2013 The country of Iran has hung two men accused and convicted of spying for Israel and the United States.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
