On May 15th...

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1602 Cape Cod was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.

1672 The first copyright law was enacted by Massachusetts.

1701 The War of the Spanish Succession began.

1718 James Puckle, a London lawyer, patented the world's first machine gun.

1788 American statesman James Gadsden was born.

1817 The first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason, opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1845 Biologist Élie Metchnikoff was born.

1852 Louisa Adams, wife of U. S. President John Quincy Adams, died.

1855 Walt Whitman published the first edition of his Leaves of Grass.

1856 Author L. Frank Baum was born.

1859 Chemist Pierre Curie was born.

1862 The United States Department of Agriculture was created by act of Congress.

1869 The National Woman Suffrage Association was formed.

1873 Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the first Prince of Romania, died.

1876 Bobby Swim rode Vagrant to victory in the United States.

1886 Poet Emily Dickinson died.

1891 The British Central African Protectorate was formed.

1894 Frank Goodale rode Charit to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1902 Lyman Gilmore became the first person to fly a powered craft.
1902 Richard J. Daley, long-time Mayor of Chicago, was born.

1904 Étienne-Jules Marey, pioneer in motion-picture technology, died.

1905 Las Vegas, Nevada, was founded.

1911 The U. S. Supreme Court dissolved Standard Oil.

1914 Tenzing Norgay, Edmund Hillary's guide/assistant during the first known ascent of Mount Everest, was born.

1918 The United States began regular air-mail service.
1918 Singer Eddy Arnold was born.

1926 Albert Johnson rode Bubbling Over to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

1928 Mickey Mouse made his first ever appearance in the silent film Plane Crazy.

1929 Fire in x-ray film stock at Crile Clinicin Cleveland, Ohio, killed 125 persons.

1930 Boeing hired Ellen Church to be the world's first airplane stewardess, on its Oakland, California-to-Chicago, Illinois, route.

1932 Japanese Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was killed during an attempted coup d'état.

1935 The Moscow (Russia) Metro was opened to the public.

1936 Amy Johnson completed a flight from South Africa to Croydon, England, in a record time of 4 days 16 hours.

1937 American diplomat Madeleine Albright was born.

1940 McDonald's opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.

1942 Gasoline rationing began in the United States.

1947 The U. S. Congress approved the Truman Doctrine.

1948 Troops from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia attacked Israel.
1948 Music producer Brian Eno was born.

1953 Baseball player George Brett was born.
1953 Musician Mike Oldfield was born.

1955 The United Kingdom, France, the United States, and the Soviet Kingdom restored Austria's independence.

1957 The United Kingdom exploded its first hydrogen bomb.
1957 Billy Graham began a 100-day series of revival meetings in New York City, New York.

1960 An express train collided with a local train at Leipzig, Germany, killing 59 persons.

1963 The last Project Mercury flight, L. Gordon Cooper in Faith 7, was launched.

1967 The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that juveniles under arrest are entitled to the same constitutional protections as adults.
1967 Painter Edward Hopper died.

1968 A tornado killed 36 persons in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

1969 U. S. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned.

1970 Elizabeth Hoisington and Anna Mae Mays were named as the first female U.S. Generals.
1970 The International Olympic Committee expelled South Africa from competition due to the nation's racial discrimination policies.

1971 Baseball player Goose Goslin died.

1972 The United States formally returned control of Okinawa and other islands of the Ryukyus to Japan.
1972 Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland.

1974 Palestinian terrorists took a school in Ma'alot, Israel, hostage.

1978 Robert Gordon Menzies, former Prime Minister of Australia, died.

1980 Shawn Weatherly (Miss South Carolina) was crowned Miss USA.

1988 The Soviet Union began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

1990 Mona Grudt (Miss Norway) was crowned Miss Universe.

1991 Edith Cresson became France's first female Premier.

1993 The Alamadome opened in San Antonio, Texas.
1993 The Montreal Expos retired Rusty Staub's uniform #10.

2003 Singer June Carter Cash died.

2007 Televangelist Jerry Falwell died.

2010 Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop, and unassisted around the world (age 16).

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This page was last updated on July 09, 2018.