This Week in History

USPA NEWS - US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on Nixon impeachment, Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess escapes to Britain to open secret negotiations with the Allies parachuting into Scotland, Pope John Paul II is shot and critically wounded by Turkish gunman Mahemet Ali Agca in St. Peter’s Square Vatican City, and Stanford University scientists develop prototype bionic eye. This and so much more happened this week in history.

May 9 (1865) United States President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end. This is the commonly accepted end date of the American Civil War. (1914) US President Woodrow Wilson proclaims Mother’s Day. (1922) The International Astronomical Union formally adopt Annie Jump Cannon’s stellar classification system, which with only minor changes, is still used today. (1941) British intelligence at Bletchley Park breaks German spy codes after capturing Enigma machines aboard the weather ship Muenchen. (1955) German Federal Republic (West Germany) joins NATO. (1974) US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on Nixon impeachment. (1992) Salem Village Witchcraft Victims’ Memorial dedicated in Danvers (formally Salem Village) to mark 300 year anniversary of trials. (1994) Mass murderer Joel Rifkin found guilty in New York. (2002) In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130. (2012) US President Barack Obama officially states his support for same-sex marriage.

May 10 (1823) First steamboat to navigate the Mississippi River arrives at Fort Snelling. (1869) Golden Spike driven, completing the first US Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah and connecting the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific. (1877) US President Rutherford B. Hayes has first White House telephone installed, in the telegraph room. (1915) Canadian physician Cluny MacPherson first presents his gas mask invention to the British War Office. (1941) Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess escapes to Britain to open secret negotiations with the Allies, parachuting into Scotland. (1969) US troops begin attack on Hill 937 (“Hamburger Hill”), Vietnam. (1973) Bruce Lee collapses in Golden Harvest studios in Hong Kong and is rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors diagnose him with cerebral edema. (1994) Nelson Mandela sworn in as South Africa’s first black president. (2005) A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 65 feet from US President George W. Bush while giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, it malfunctions and does not detonate. (2017) Apple becomes the first company to be worth more than $800 billion.

May 11 (868) “The Diamond Sutra”, the world’s oldest surviving and dated printed book is printed in Chinese and made into a scroll. (1310) Fifty-four members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics. (1921) Tel Aviv is first all Jewish municipality. (1951) American engineer Jay Forrester applies for patent for computer core memory. (1965) Bangladesh windstorm kills 17,000. (1970) “The Long and Winding Road” becomes the Beatles’ last American single release. (1987) First heart-lung transplant take place in Baltimore. (1995) More than 170 countries agree to extend the Nuclear Non proliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. (2012) Chinese scientists break world record by transferring photons over 97 kilometers using quantum teleportation. (2015) Record price for a work of art at auction: Picasso’s The Women of Algiers (Version ‘O’) sells for $179.3 million at Christies in New York.

May 12 (1908) Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B. Stubblefield. (1928) Second Opium Law introduced – international law to control drugs. (1932) The body of kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in Hopewell, New Jersey. (1942) Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River. (1967) First quadraphonic concert by Pink Floyd at the Games for May concert in London. (1984) South African prisoner Nelson Mandela sees his wife Winnie Mandela for the first time in 22 years. (1985) Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as the first woman Conservative rabbi. (2002) Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro’s 1959 revolution. (2008) Wenchuan earthquake, measuring 7.8 in magnitude occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 87,000, injuring 374,643 and leaving homeless between 4.8 million and 11 million people. (2012) The discovery of a missing Mayan calendar piece disproves 2012 Armageddon.

May 13 (1767) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s first opera “Apollo et Hyacinthus”, written when he was 11 years old, premieres in Salzburg. (1913) First four-engined aircraft built and flown by Igor Sikorsky of Russia. (1934) Great dustbowl storm sweeps across US prairies. (1943) German occupiers attempt to confiscate all radios in the Netherlands. (1950) First ever race of the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship is run at Silverstone, England and won by Giuseppe Farina of Italy in an Alfa Romeo. (1958) The motorcade carrying US Vice President Richard Nixon is attacked in Caracas, Venezuela. Several of Nixon’s staff are injured. (1981) Pope John Paul II is shot and critically wounded by Turkish gunman Mahemet Ali Agca in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City. (1985) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police drop explosive device on house occupied by revolutionary Black separatist group “Move”, killing 11, during a stand-off after a shoot-out. The ensuing fire destroys 61 homes. (1998) Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped. (2012) Torrential rain in Hunan Province, China, destroys a bridge, 3,500 homes and displaces 28,000 people.

May 14 (1607) English colonists establish the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown. (1787) Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US constitution. (1853) Gail Borden, land surveyor, newspaper publisher and inventor, patents his process for condensed milk. (1944) General Rommel, Speidel and von Stulpnagel attempt so assassinate Hitler. (1961) Bus with first group of Freedom Riders bombed and burned in Alabama. (1973) Skylab launched, the first Space Station. (1986) Netherlands Institute for War Documentation publishes Anne Frank’s complete diary. (1988) Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27. (1995) Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second most senior spiritual leader. (2012) Stanford University scientists develop prototype bionic eye.

May 15 (1897) The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee is founded in Berlin by Magnus Hirschfeld, the first-ever LGBT rights organization. (1917) The first officer’s training camp is opened in the US, as the country prepares for war. (1928) Mickey Mouse makes his first ever appearance in silent film “Plane Crazy”. (1940) Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald’s restaurant in San Bernadino, California. (1944) 14,000 Jews of Munkacs, Hungary, deported to Auschwitz. (1951) First vaginoplasty procedure (sex reassignment surgery) in the UK performed on Roberta Cowell by Harold Gillies. (1972) The island of Okinawa, under US military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control. (1989) Maxwell House coffee runs ads during “Roe vs Wade” movie despite threat of boycott by right-to-lifers. (1991) US President George H.W. Bush takes Queen Elizabeth to Oakland A’s-Baltimore Oriole baseball game. (2018) Controversial Kerch bridge linking Russia and annexed Crimea opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin. At 19km, it is the longest bridge in Europe.

Thank you for reading my article. These are merely my thoughts and insights based on the facts. I use only verified sources. No fake news here. I write about a variety of subjects, mainly things I want to research and know more about. You can check out my website – Small Village Life at smallvillagelife.com, where I share useful articles and news.

Wendy writes for the United States Press Agency and is a former columnist with the Fulton County Expositor, Wauseon, Ohio.