TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MAY 9
1386 Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England (oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in force)
1502 Christopher Columbus leaves Spain on his final trip to the New World.
1754 the first American newspaper cartoon appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette. It showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing a colony, over the caption, “Join or die.”
1864 Union General John Sedgwick is shot and killed by a Confederate sharpshooter during fighting at Spotsylvania. His last words are: “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist–”
1899 Lawn mower patented
1913 17th amendment provides for election of senators by popular vote
1914 President Wilson proclaims Mother’s Day
1939 Catholic church beatified the 1st Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha
1941 The German submarine U-110 is captured at sea along with its Enigma machine by the Royal Navy.
1960 US becomes the first country to legalize the birth control pill
1961 FCC Chairman Newton N Minow criticizes TV as a “vast wasteland”
1962 A laser beam is successfully bounced off the moon for the first time.
1974 The House Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on Nixon impeachment.
1978 The body of slain former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro was found in an automobile in Rome.
1979 US & USSR sign Salt 2 treaty, limiting nuclear weapons
1984 It took the Chicago White Sox 25 innings, eight hours, and six minutes, over two days, to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6. It was the longest game (in elapsed time) in major-league history.
1989 Vice President Dan Quayle says in United Negro College Fund speech: “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind” instead of “a mind is terrible thing to waste”
2004 Chechnya’s Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed in a bombing. Six others were killed and another 60 wounded.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
