On May 21st...

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1471 Engraver Albrecht Dürer was born.

1527 King Philip II of Spain was born.

1688 Poet Alexander Pope was born.

1690 John Eliot, producer of the first Bible to be printed in America, died.

1792 Mount Unzen, on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupted, creating a tsunami and killing about 15,000 people.

1832 The first Democratic National Convention was held, in Baltimore, Maryland.

1840 Captain William Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over New Zealand, the North Island by treaty, the South Island by discovery.

1856 Lawrence, Kansas, was sacked by pro-slavery forces.

1860 Jane Addams, founder of the Settlement House Movement, died.

1870 William C. Coleman, founder of the Coleman Company, was born.

1878 Jimmy Carter rode Day Star to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
1878 Aviator Glenn Curtiss was born.

1881 Clara Barton founded what became the American Red Cross.

1891 American politician Alphonso Taft died.

1898 Businessman Armand Hammer was born.

1904 The Federation Internationale de Football Association was formed.
1904 Jazz pianist Fats Waller was born.

1906 Louis H. Perlman patented a demountable tire carrying rim for cars.
1906 The United States and Mexico signed an agreement over distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande.

1908 The first horror movie, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, premiered, in Chicago.

1914 Grehound Bus Company was founded.

1917 Leo Pinckney became the first American draftee of World War I.
1917 Actor Raymond Burr was born.

1918 Radio personality Dennis Day was born.

1920 Mexican President Venustiano Carranza was executed by army generals after he fled an armed rebellion.

1921 Andrei Sakharov, physicist and activist, was born.

1924 Leopold and Loeb kidnapped Bobby Franks.

1927 Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

1932 Amelia Earhart landed in Ireland to become the first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight.

1934 Oskaloosa, Iowa, became the first U.S. city to fingerprint its citizens.

1945 Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married.
1945 Actor Richard Hatch was born.

1948 Singer Leo Sayer was born.

1952 Wrestler/actor Mr. T was born.

1956 The United States exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll.

1957 The Haitian army, under Brigadier General Leon Cantave, took control of the government.
1957 French Premier Guy Mollet submitted his resignation after a vote of "no confidence" by the National Assembly.
1957 Tornadoes killed a reported 13 persons and injured 70 in the St. Louis, Missouri, area.
1957 Actor Judge Reinhold was born.

1958 A train derailment near Bombay, India, killed 30 persons and injured 41.

1960 Brazil formally moved its capital to Brasilia.
1960 Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was born.

1961 A bus carrying pilgrims to a festival plunged into a 60-foot ravine and caught fire near Seville, Spain, killing 21 persons.

1963 A boat returning to Jomalig Island from a fiesta on Luzon Island, both in the Philippines, capsized in shark-infested waters, killing at least 22 people.

1964 The first nuclear-powered lighthouse began operations, in Chesapeake Bay.

1966 Muhammad Ali TKO'd Henry Cooper in the sixth round for the heavyweight boxing title.

1972 Rapper Notorious B.I.G. was born.

1977 Seattle Slew won the Preakness Stakes and became the tenth horse to win the Triple Crown.

1982 British troops landed on the Falkland Islands.

1990 The final episode of "Newhart" aired on CBS-TV.

1991 Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.

1999 All My Children star Susan Lucci won a Daytime Emmy, after being nominated a record 19 times.

2000 Author Barbara Cartland died.

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This page was last updated on May 26, 2018.