TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: MAY 25
585 BC The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.
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.
1810 In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Spanish Viceroy Cisneros during Semana de Mayo
1810 Argentina declares independence from Napoleonic Spain.
1851 Jose Justo de Urquiza of Argentina leads a rebellion against Juan Manuel de Rosas, his former ally.
1914 The British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule.
1925 John Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwinian theory in school
1927 Henry Ford stops producing Model T car (begins Model A)
1927 The “Movietone News” was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City.
1959 Supreme Court rules that Louisiana prohibiting black-white boxing is unconstitutional
1963 32 African countries form a coalition against white rule
1965 Muhammad Ali knocked Sonny Liston out cold in the first round, after 1 minute and 56 seconds, for the world heavyweight title.
1968 The Gateway Arch was dedicated in St. Louis.
1969 Midnight Cowboy, the only x-rated film to win a best picture Oscar, was released.
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.
1977 “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” released
1979 Etan Patz disappears
1979 The worst air disaster in U.S. history (excluding the Sept. 11 attacks) occurred when a DC-10 crashed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, killing over 270 people.
1981 Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago’s Sears Tower, while wearing a “Spiderman” costume, in 7 1/2 hours.
1983 “Return of the Jedi” (Star Wars 3) released
1986 Hands Across America – 7 million people hold hands from California to New York
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 In Houston, former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skillinng were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for the downfall of Enron.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
