On This Day in History......

1345 "Quaden Maendach" in Gent: Battles between volders & weavers
1497 John Cabot departs to North-America
1526 German evangelical monarchy joins Schmalkaldische League
1536 King Henry VIII accused Anna Boleyn of adultery & incest
1595 King Philip II names Albrecht of Austria land guardian of Netherlands
1598 France & Spain signs Peace of Vervins
1652 Frederik Hendriks daughter Albertine Agnes marries Willem Frederik
1668 1st peace of Aken: ends French-Spanish war in The Netherlands
1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ends War of Devolution
1670 King Charles II charters Hudson Bay Company
1703 Portugal signs treaty with England to become a Great Covenant
1749 Empress Maria Theresa signs "Haugwitzschen State reform"
1750 Carlo Goldoni's "La Botega di Caffè" premieres in Mantua
1776 France & Spain agree to donate arms to American rebels
1780 William Herschel discovers 1st binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris
1808 Uprising against French occupation begins in Madrid
1824 Goethe visits Ettersberg (Buchenwald)
1833 Czar Nicolas bans public sale of serfs
1845 Domingo Sarmiento publishes "Civilización y Barbarie"
1847 Sabbath famine
1853 Franconi's Hippodrome opens (New York NY)
1863 Stonewall Jackson attacks Chancellorsville VA, wounded by his own men; South defeats North
1865 President Johnson offers $100,000 reward for capture of Jefferson Davis
1876 Ross Barnes hit 1st homerun in the National League
1878 US stops minting 20¢ coin
1885 "Good Housekeeping" magazine is 1st published
1885 Congo Free State established by King Leopold II of Belgium
1887 G Rossini's corpse transfered to Santa Croce, Florence
1887 Hannibal W Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film
1889 Abyssinian emperor Menelik II/Italy signs Treaty of Wichale
1890 Territory of Oklahoma created
1900 George Bernard Shaws "You Never Can Tell" premieres in London
1902 The 1st science fiction film, "A Trip To The Moon", is released
1903 29th Kentucky Derby: Hal Booker aboard Judge Himes wins in 2:09
1904 30th Kentucky Derby: Shorty Prior aboard Elwood wins in 2:08½
1905 French newspapers publish lists of Jules Vernes unpublished work
1906 32nd Kentucky Derby: Roscoe Troxler aboard Sir Huon wins in 2:08.8
1907 Belgium Jules baron de Trooz forms Belgian Government
1909 Honus Wagner steals his way around bases in 1st inning against Cubs
1911 French troops occupy Fès El Bali Morocco
1915 Old Fordham Road in the Bronx renamed Landing Road
1916 2nd Ave & Bronx Terrace renamed Bronx Blvd; Seward Place renamed Sycamore Ave; Herald Ave renamed Dickinson Ave; Monroe & Selwyn Avenue named
1916 US President Wilson signs Harrison Drug Act
1917 Cincinnati's Fred Tooney & Chicago's Hippo Vaughn pitch duel no-hitter, Vaughn gives up 2 hits & a run in the 10th, so Cincinnati wins 1-0
1919 1st US air passenger service starts
1920 1st game of National Negro Baseball League played in Indianapolis
1921 Begin 3rd anti-German revolt in Upper-Silesia
1922 WBAP-AM begins broadcasting from Fort Worth TX
1923 Senator Walter Johnson pitches his 100th shutout, beats Yankees 3-0
1924 Netherlands refuses to recognize USSR
1925 Kezar Stadium in San Fransisco's Golden Gate Park opens
1926 US military intervenes in Nicaragua
1927 International Economic Conference (52 countries including USSR) opens
1927 Pulitzer prize awarded to Louis Bromfield (Early Autumn)
1928 KPQ-AM in Wenatchee WA begins radio transmissions
1930 Des Moines (Western League) defeats Wichita 13-6 to open 1st ballpark with permanently installed lights
1932 Jack Benny's 1st radio show premieres (NBC Blue Network)
1932 Pulitzer prize awarded to Pearl S Buck (The Good Earth)
1933 In Germany, Adolf Hitler bans trade unions
1934 Nazi-Germany begins People's court
1936 "Peter & the Wolf" premieres in Moscow
1936 62nd Kentucky Derby: Ira Hanford aboard Bold Venture wins in 2:03.6
1936 Emperor Haile Selassie & family flee Abyssinia
1938 Ella Fitzgerald records "A-Tisket, A-Tasket"
1938 Pulitzer prize awarded to Thornton Wilder (Our Town)
1939 Lou Gehrig ends 2,130 consecutive game streak, Yankees beat Tigers 22-2
1941 FCC approves regular scheduled commercial TV broadcasts to begin July 1
1941 Martin Bormann succeeds Rudolf Hess as Hitler's deputy
1941 Nazi occupied Netherlands layoff Jewish journalists
1941 Ted Williams lowest average (.308) in the year he hit over .400
1942 68th Kentucky Derby: Wayne D Wright aboard Shut Out wins in 2:04.4
1942 Japanese troops occupy Mandalay Burma
1943 German troops vacate Jefna Tunisia
1944 WABD (WNEW, now WNYW) TV channel 5 in New York NY (DUM/MET/FOX) 1st broadcast
1945 Allies occupy Wismar
1945 Dutch Queen Wilhelmina & Princess Juliana reach Gilze-Rijen
1945 German Army in Italy surrenders
1945 Russia takes Berlin; General Weidling surrenders
1945 Yugoslav troops occupy Trieste
1946 Prisoners revolt at Alcatraz, 5 die
1947 Eugene O'Neill's "Moon for the Misbegotten" premieres in NYC
1949 Arthur Miller wins Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman"
1949 Bolivian state of siege proclaimed
1949 Don Newcombe, 1st start, shuts out Cincinnati on 5 hits to win 3-0
1950 Carlo Terrons "Giuditta" premieres in Milan
1950 Dutch 1st Chamber accept Laws on immigration
1950 Dutch PM Malan recognizes South-Africa but not China People's Republic
1952 1st performance of John Cage's "Water Music"
1952 1st scheduled jet airliner passenger service begins with a BOAC Comet
1952 Operations begin at United Suriname Workers of Netherlands which flew from London to Johannesburg carrying 36 passengers
1953 79th Kentucky Derby: Hank Moreno aboard Dark Star wins in 2:02
1953 Feisal II installed as king of Iraq
1953 Hussein I installed as king of Jordan
1954 Stan Musial hits 5 homeruns in a doubleheader
1955 India poses discrimination "onaanraakbaren" punishable
1955 Pulitzer prize awarded Tennessee Williams for (Cat on Hot Tin Roof)
1955 WGBH TV channel 2 in Boston MA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1956 US Lab detects high-temperature microwave radiation from Venus
1956 US Methodist church disallows race separation
1958 Yankees threaten to broadcast games nationwide if National League goes ahead with plans to broadcast, games into NYC
1959 85th Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker aboard Tomy Lee wins in 2:02.2
1960 Harry Belafonte's 2nd Carnegie Hall performance
1960 House investigating committee, looking into payola questions
1960 Pulitzer prize awarded to Allen Drury (Advise & Consent)
1962 Benfica wins 7th Europe Cup I
1962 OAS strikes in Algeria
1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
1962 WMHT TV channel 17 in Schenectady-Albany NY (PBS) 1st broadcast
1964 90th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Northern Dancer wins in 2:00
1964 Beatles' "Second Album" goes #1 & stays #1 for for 5 weeks
1964 Mad Dog Vachon beats Verne Gagne in Omaha, to become NWA champion
1965 "New Faces of 1965" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 52 performances
1965 Early Bird satellite goes into commercial service
1965 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Shreveport Kiwanis Golf Invitational
1965 Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Peach Blossom Golf Open
1966 Pulitzer prize awarded Arthur M Schlesinger Jr (Thousand Days)
1967 Stanley Cup: Toronto Maple Leafs beat Montréal Canadiens, 4 games to 2
1968 1st performance of Roger Sessions' 8th Symphony
1968 22nd NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat Los Angeles Lakers, 4 games to 2
1968 Gold reaches then record high ($39.35 per ounce) in London
1968 Israeli television begins transmitting
1969 British liner Queen Elizabeth II leaves on maiden voyage to New York
1970 1st woman jockey at Kentucky Derby (Diane Crump)
1970 96th Kentucky Derby: Mike Manganello on Dust Commander wins 2:03.4
1970 KOAI (now KNAZ) TV channel 2 in Flagstaff AZ (NBC) 1st broadcast
1971 Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open
1972 Electrical fire in Sunshine Silver mine - 126 die (Kellogg Idaho)
1972 Lieutenant General Vernon A Walters, USA, becomes deputy director of CIA
1972 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1974 Former Vice President Spiro Agnew is disbarred
1975 Apple records closes down
1976 Joanne Carner wins LPGA Lady Tara Golf Classic
1977 "The King & I" opens at Uris Theater NYC for 719 performances
1978 NBA championship: Portland Trailblazers win in 4 games
1979 "Quadrophenia" premieres in London
1979 14th Academy of Country Music Awards: Kenny Rogers & Barbara Mandrell win
1980 Joseph Doherty & 3 other IRA men arrested for murder
1980 Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in Wall (Part II)" is banned in South Africa
1980 Pope John Paul II begins African tour
1980 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1981 107th Kentucky Derby: Jorge Velasquez on Pleasant Colony wins in 2:02
1981 Radio Shack re-releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3 with 2 fixes
1982 Beth Daniel wins LPGA Birmingham Golf Classic
1982 Falklands War: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men
1983 6.7 earthquake injures 487 in Coalinga CA
1984 "Sunday in the Park with George" opens at Booth NYC for 604 performances
1984 Indians' Andre Thornton ties record for most walks (6 in 16 innings)
1984 Mattingly's single breaks up Lamarr Hoyt's perfect game bid
1984 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1985 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1986 Dynamo Kiev wins 26th Europe Cup II
1986 Transportation Expo 86 opens in Vancouver British Columbia
1987 113th Kentucky Derby: Chris McCarron aboard Alysheba wins in 2:03.4
1988 Baltimore Orioles sign a 15 year lease to remain in Baltimore & get a new park
1988 David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" premieres in NYC
1988 Jackson Pollock's "Search" sold for $4,800,000
1988 Reds manager Pete Rose is suspended for 30 days for pushing an umpire
1990 "Some Americans Abroad" opens at Vivian Beaumont NYC for 62 performances
1990 South Africa & African National Congress open talks to end apartheid
1991 Pope John Paul II's encyclical on Centesimus annus
1992 "High Rollers Social & Pleasure Club" opens at Helen Hayes Theatre NYC fpr 14 performances
1992 118th Kentucky Derby: Pat Day aboard Lil E Tee wins in 2:03
1992 Yugoslav Army seize Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic
1993 "5 Guys Named Moe" closes at Eugene O'Neill NYC after 445 performances
1993 "Candida" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 45 performances
1993 "Redwood Curtain" closes at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC after 40 performances
1993 "Tango Passion" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 5 performances
1993 Kristi Albers wins Sprint Golf Classic
1993 Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Sprint Senior Challenge Golf Tournament
1994 Bus crashes into a tree at Gdansk Poland, 30 killed
1994 Dr Kevokian found innocent on assisting suicides
1994 Michael Bolton found to have plagiarized Isley Brothers "Love is Wonderful Thing"
1995 "Hamlet" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 121 performances
1995 Expos bat out of order against Mets in 6th inning
1995 Serb missiles exploded in the heart of Zagreb, killing six
1997 Donald Trump & Marla Maples announce they are separating
1997 Mercury Mail announces its 1 millionth internet subscriber
1997 Police arrest transsexual hooker Atisone Seiuli with Eddie Murphy
1997 Republic of Texas security chief Robert Scheidt surrenders
1998 124th Kentucky Derby: Kent Desormeaux aboard Real Quiet wins in 2:02.4
=======================================================

Missing In Action...

1966 WOOD WALTER S. FORT BRAGG NC
1968 ENGLANDER LAWRENCE J. VAN NUYS CA
1969 MASCARI PHILLIP L. CALDWELL NJ
1970 CROWSON FREDERICK H. PENSACOLA FL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED
1970 GRIFFIN RODNEY L. CENTRALIA MO "HELO FOUND, NO TRACE OF SUBJ"
1970 MASLOWSKI DANIEL L. CHICAGO IL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY PRG
1970 PRICE BUNYAN D. JR. BELMONT NC "HELO FOUND, NO TRACE OF SUBJ"
1970 RICHARDSON DALE W. CASHTON WI "HELO FOUND, NO TRACE OF SUBJ"
1970 VARNADO MICHAEL B. FERRIDAY LA "09/70 DIED IN CAMBODIA, ON PRG LIST" REMAINS RETURNED 07/25/89
1970 YOUNG ROBERT M. NEW ALEXANDRIA PA 09/72 ON PRG DIC LIST (EGRESS MURDRD BY LACK OF RR 12/07/97 MED TREAT/COLD/CONVUL/DEATH/BURIED
1972 BERKSON JOSEPH MIKE CHICAGO IL 07/72 REMAINS RECOVERED
1972 JESSE WILLIAM CLIFTON LAWTON OK 07/72 REMAINS RECOVERED
1972 MORGAN CHARLES VERNON WARSAW KY 07/72 REMAINS RECOVERED
1972 PETRILLA JOHN JOSEPH JR. PHILADELPHIA PA 07/72 REMAINS RECOVERED
1972 PORTERFIELD DALE KYETTE LOS ANGELES CA 07/72 REMAINS RECOVERED

Births which occurred on May 02:

1551 William Camden English historian (Brittania, Annales)
1601 Athanasius Kircher German Jesuit/inventor (magic lantern)
1660 Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti Palermo Italy, composer (Tigrane)
1729 Catherine II (the Great) empress of Russia (1762-96)
1729 Florian Johann Deller composer
1740 Elias Boudinot lawyer/patriot, found American Biblical Society
1752 Ludwig August Lebrun composer
1754 Vicente Martin y Soler composer
1768 Jean-Louis M Alibert French dermatologist
1772 Novalis writer
1779 John Galt Scotland, novelist (Ayrshire Legatees, Lawrie Todd)
1810 Hans Christian Lumbye composer
1810 Leo XIII 257th Roman Catholic pope (1878-1903)
1817 Zikmund Michal Kolesovsky composer
1821 Abram Sanders Piatt Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1908
1837 General Henry Martyn Robert parliamentarian (Robert's Rules of Order)
1840 Theodor Herzl founded Zionist movement
1843 Carl Michael Ziehrer composer
1844 Elijah McCoy black inventor, held over 50 patents including a lubricator for steam engines ("the Real McCoy")
1846 Zygmunt Noskowski composer
1849 Fürst Bernhard HM von Bülow German chancellor/Prussian PM (1900-09)
1853 Marie Verstraete actress (Louise-Frou Frou)
1855 Theodore Moses Tobani composer
1857 Frederic Cliffe composer
1859 Eugene D'Harcourt composer
1860 Sir D'Arcy Thompson zoologist/classicist (On Growth & Form)
1860 Theodor Herzl Austria, journalist/founder (Zionist movement)
1862 Marie F M Emmanuel French composer/musicologist (Salamine)
1869 Tyrone Power Sr London England, actor (Alexanders Ragtime Band)
1872 G G van der Hoeven Dutch editor-in-chief (NRC)
1884 François de Vries Dutch economist
1885 Hedda Hopper [Elda Furry] Hollidaysburg PA, gossip columnist (From Under My Hat)
1886 Gottfried Benn writer
1887 Edward Collins New York, Hall of Fame infielder (White Sox, A's)
1890 E[dward] E[lmer] "Doc" Smith US, sci-fi author (Triplanetary)
1892 Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen [the Red Baron], German WWI ace
1893 Beppie Nooij Jr Dutch actress (Rooie Sien) [or May 13, 1912]
1895 Alfred Kurella writer
1895 Peggy Bacon Ridgefield CT, author/illustrator (Off With Their Heads)
1898 Jef [Josephus C F] Last Dutch poet/politician (The Spark)
19-- Matt Thorr rocker (Jailhouse-Alive in a Mad World)
1900 Helen Morgan singer/actress (Applause, Frankie & Johnny)
1901 Lev N Lunts Russia, writer (Outside the Law, City of Truth)
1901 Robert Elliott Storey Wyatt cricketer (England batsman 1927-37)
1901 Willi Bredel writer
1902 Brian Aherne Worcestershire England, actor (Juarez)
1902 Erin O'Brien-Moore Los Angeles CA, actress (Peyton Place, Our Little Girl)
1903 Benjamin Spock New Haven CT, pediatrician/author (Common Sense Book of Baby Care)
1903 Oivin Fjeldstad composer
1904 Georgi Dimitrov composer
1905 Alan Rawsthorne Haslingden England, composer (Cortéges)
1906 Aileen Riggin Newport RI, springboard diver (Olympics-gold-1920, 24)
1906 Maurice Thiriet composer
1907 Pinky Lee children's show host (Pinky Lee Show)
1908 William Bakewell Los Angeles CA, actor (Stage manager-Pinky Lee Show)
1910 Laurie Nash cricketer (Tasmanian fast-bowler, 2 Tests for Australia)
1911 Lillian Rambach teacher violinist
1912 Axel Springer German newspaper magnate
1912 Marten Toonder writer/cartoonist (Mr Bommel)
1913 Nigel Patrick London England, actor/director (Sapphire, Prize of Gold)
1914 Dennis Dyer cricketer (opened batting for South Africa vs England 1947)
1915 Jan Hanus composer
1915 Van Alexander New York NY, orchestra leader (Gordon MacRae Show)
1918 Frederick Archibauld Warner diplomat
1919 Than Wyenn New York NY, actor (Pete Kelly's Blues)
1920 Jacob Gilboa composer
1921 Satyajit Ray Calcutta India, director (Goddess, Adversary)
1922 Abraham Rosenthal editor (New York Times)
1923 Christina Spierenburg Dutch singer
1924 Aafje Heynis Dutch singer
1924 Theodore Bikel Austrian/US folk singer/actor (The Russians Are Coming)
1925 David Ironside cricketer (South Africa swing bowler in 3 Tests vs New Zealand 1953-54)
1925 John Neville actor (Adventures of Baron Münchausen)
1925 Roscoe Lee Browne Woodbury NJ, actor (McCoy, Saunders-Soap)
1925 Svatopluk Havelka composer
1929 Edward Levy Irving composer
1929 Luc Ferrari composer
1929 Sydney Gedye cricketer (opening batsman in four Tests for New Zealand 1964)
1930 Morris Courtright manned spaceflight pioneer and Arizona State legislator
1932 Bruce Glover Chicago IL, actor (Diamonds are Forever)
1932 Kees de Galan Dutch economist
1932 Malcolm Leyland Lipkin composer
1933 Bunk Gardner rocker (Mothers Of Invention)
1935 Faisal II King of Iraq (1939-58)/son of Ghasi I
1935 Hussain ibn Talal King of Jordan (1952-99)
1935 Link Wray rocker (Link Wray & His Ray Men)
1936 Michael Rabin New York NY, violinist (In Memorium)
1936 Quinn Redeker Woodstock IL, actor (Dan Raven, Young & Restless)
1937 Gisela Elsner writer
1937 Lorenzo Music Brooklyn NY, writer/actor/voice (Carlton the doorman-Rhoda, Garfield)
1938 Constantine Bereng Seeiso king Moshushoe II of Lesotho
1940 Bryan Davis cricketer (brother of Charlie; West Indies batsman vs Australia 1965)
1940 Roger Robinson Seattle WA, actor (Warren-Friends, Newman's Law)
1940 Sari van Heemskerck Pillis-Duvekot Dutch MP (VVD)
1941 Jules Wijdenbosch premier Suriname
1944 F Innerhofer writer
1944 John Verity rocker (Argent)
1945 Bianca Pérez Morena de Macias Jagger Nicaragua, model/Mick's ex-wife
1945 Bob Henrit English pop drummer (Kinks-Waterloo Sunset)
1945 Goldy McJohn rocker (Steppenwolf)
1945 Randy Cain US soul singer (4 Gents/Delfonics)
1945 Robert Henrit England, rocker (Argent)
1946 Lesley Gore Tenafly NJ, singer (It's My Party)
1947 Bill Lowery (Representative-R-CA, 1981- )
1947 Jo Ann Pflug Atlanta GA, actress (MASH, Candid Camera, Rituals)
1948 Larry Gatlin Seminole TX, country singer (Gatlin Brothers-Broken Lady)
1949 Joey Phillips percussionist (Atlantic Star-Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
1950 Lou Gramm Rochester NY, rocker (Foreigner-I Want to Know What Love Is)
1952 Christine Baranski Buffalo NY, actress (Maryann-Cybill, Birdcage)
1953 "Keith" Jamaal Wilkes NBA forward (Golden State-Rookie of Year 1975)
1954 Bulelani T Ngcuka South African attorney/leader (UDF)
1955 Ian Callen cricketer (one Test Australia vs India 1978, six wickets)
1955 Jay Osmond rocker (Osmond Brothers)
1955 Joe Callis rocker
1957 Domonic L Pudwill Gorie Lake Charles LA, USN/astronaut (STS-91)
1958 Kim Jones Sonoma CA, 5k runner
1959 Brian Tochi Los Angeles CA, actor (Dr Alan Poe-St Elsewhere, Renegades)
1960 Ravi Ratnayeke cricketer (Sri Lankan pace bowler & opening batsman)
1961 Doctor Robert [Bruce R Howard] rocker (Blow Monkeys-Wicked Ways)
1961 Peter Doohan Australia, tennis star
1962 Elizabeth Berridge Westchester NY, actress (Amadeus, Funhouse)
1962 Nancy Harvey Swift Current Sask, LPGA golfer (1995 Youngstown-11th)
1963 Jos van Eck Dutch soccer player (Sparta)
1963 Kenton Leonard CFL cornerback (Calgary Stampeders)
1964 Kelly Michael Gibson New Orleans LA, PGA golfer (1995 Bob Hope-7th)
1967 Kerryn McCann Australian marathoner (Olympics-96)
1968 Reggie Slack CFL quarterback (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
1968 Will Furrer WLAF quarterback (Amsterdam Admirals)
1969 Brian Lara cricketer (West Indies left-hand bat Smashed world records in 1994)
1969 Glen Young NFL linebacker (San Diego Chargers)
1970 Vania Thomas Miss US Virgin Islands Universe (1997)
1971 Greg Bishop NFL guard (New York Giants)
1972 Erik Maes Dutch soccer player (MVV)
1972 Jennifer Miriam Oklahoma City OK, playmate (March, 1997)
1972 Jill Savery Fort Lauderdale FL, synchronized swimmer (Olympics-gold-96)
1972 Peter Ogilvie Vancouver British Columbia, 100 meter sprinter (Olympics-96)
1973 Rich Yurkiewicz NFL/WLAF linebacker (Atlanta Falcons, Amst Admirals)
1974 Miles Joseph West Springfield MA, soccer forward (Olympics-gold-96)
1975 Mark Johnson Dayton OH, baseball pitcher (Olympics-bronze-96)
1975 Murray William Burdan Wellington New Zealand, swimmer (Olympics-96)
1976 Ailleen Damiles Miss Universe-Philippines/Miss Photogenic (1996)
1976 Nancy Feber Antwerp Belgium, tennis star
1977 Amy D'Entremont Stoneham MA, figure skater (1995 New England Jr champion)
1977 Jenna Von Oy actress (Six LeMeure-Blossom)
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Deaths which occurred on May 02:

0649 Maruta of Tagrit theology/1st mafriaan Jakobitische church, dies
1250 Toeransa sultan of Egypt, murdered
1459 Pierozzi Antoninus Italian archbishop of Florence/saint, dies
1488 Jacob van Horne Burgundy statesman, dies
1519 Leonardo Da Vinci artist/scientist, dies at 67
1567 Marin Drzic Croatian playwright (Dundo Maroje), dies
1669 Pieter Jansz Post master builder (Waag, Gouda), dies at 61
1685 Adriaen van Ostade Dutch painter, buried
1727 Paul Aler French jesuit/poet (Gradus ad Parnassum), dies at 70
1736 Albert Seba Amsterdam pharmacist, dies at 71
1799 Henri-Joseph Rigel composer, dies at 58
1818 Herman W Daendels Governor-General of Guinea (1815-18), dies at 55
1845 August Pauly German writer (Real Encyclopedia), dies at 48
1849 David H Chassé Baron/General (fought Napoleon at Waterloo), dies at 84
1857 LC Alfred the Musset French poet (Lesson caprices Marianne), dies
1864 Giacomo Meyerbeer composer, dies at 72
1892 Wilhelm Rust composer, dies at 69
1897 William Cleaver Francis Robinson composer, dies at 63
1919 Gustav Landauer German socialist, dies
1937 Arthur Somervell composer, dies at 73
1945 Martin Bormann propoganda minister for Hitler, dies
1954 Pauline de Cock-Manifarges singer, dies at 82
1955 Tadeusz Jarecki composer, dies at 66
1957 Joseph McCarthy commie hunting senator (R-WI), dies at 47
1957 Tadeusz Zygfryd Kassern composer, dies at 53
1958 Alfred Weber German economist/sociologist, dies at 89
1959 Yrlö Henrik Kilpinen Finnish composer, dies at 67
1960 Caryl Chessman rapist executed after 12 years of appeals at 39
1961 J C White cricketer (49 wickets in 15 Tests for England 1921-31), dies
1963 Jack Crawford cricketer (469 runs & 39 wickets in 12 Tests), dies
1963 Tomas Vackar composer, dies at 17
1963 Van Wyck Brooks US historian (Ordeal of Mark Twain), dies at 77
1964 Nancy N Witcher Astor US/Eng feminist/ex of Waldorf Astor, dies
1968 Donald L Hall airplane designer (Spirit of St Louis), dies at 69
1969 Franz von Papen German chancellor (1932), dies at 89
1972 Hugo Hartung writer, dies at 69
1972 J Edgar Hoover head of FBI (1924-72)/cross dresser, dies at 77
1973 Alan Carney actor (Herbie-Take it from Me), dies at 61
1980 Clarrie Grimmett cricket (36 Tests for Australia, 216 wickets), dies
1982 Helmut Dantine
1982 Hugh Marlowe actor (Ellery Queen, Jim Matthews-Another World), dies at 71
1983 Marius F Duintjer architect, dies
1984 Jack Barry game show emcee (Joker's Wild), dies at 66
1984 Piet van Aken Flemish writer (Failing God, Niggers), dies at 64
1985 Hal LeRoy dancer/actor (Harold Teen), dies at 71 after cardiac surgery
1985 Milton S Eisenhower US diplomat, dies at 85
1990 David Rappaport 3'11' actor (Wizard, LA Law), shoots himself at 38
1990 Oleg Anatolyevich Yakovlev Russian cosmonaut, dies at 49
1990 William Levi Dawson composer, dies at 90
1991 Hal Bell dies at 65
1991 Leib Lensky dies at 82
1992 Joey Cuevas dancer, dies at 34
1992 Lee Salk baby doctor/author, dies of cardiac arrest at 65
1992 Margareth Wallmann Austrian opera director, dies at 88
1992 Philip Dunne screenwriter, dies of cancer at 84
1992 Wilbur Mills (Representative-D-AR)/involved with Fanne Foxe, dies at 82
1993 Julio Gallo wine maker (Gallo), dies in a car accident at 82
1993 Will Weng Sunday Times crossword puzzle editor (1968-78), dies at 86
1994 Louis Calaferte writer (Requiem of the Innocents), dies at 65
1994 Wilson Charles Geoffery Baldwin hero, dies at 75
1996 Arthur Leslie Noel Douglas Houghton civil servant, dies at 97
1996 Emile Habibi writer, dies at 73
1996 Peter John Swales football club chairman, dies at 63
1995 Michael Hordern actor (Fool, Green Man, Scoop), dies at 83

1740 Elias Boudinot is born

On this day in 1740, Patriot Elias Boudinot is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Boudinot would serve in numerous positions during the War for Independence, culminating in his role as president of the Continental Congress from 1782 to1783. As president, he signed the Treaty of Paris, ending hostilities with Great Britain.

Boudinot’s great-grandfather was a Huguenot (French Protestant) refugee, who fled France for colonial New York in 1687, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had protected Protestants’ right to worship in France, in 1685.

The Boudinot family enjoyed lofty connections among the American colonial elite. Elias’ father, a silversmith, was Benjamin Franklin’s neighbor and friend in Philadelphia. Elias studied law at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where his brother-in-law and future signer of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton, served as his mentor. Elias furthered ties between the two families by marrying Richard’s sister, Hannah Stockton, in 1762. Elias’ daughter, Susan Boudinot Bradford, married the future chief justice of Pennsylvania and President George Washington’s attorney general, William Bradford. Elias’ brother, Elisha, pursued a successful legal career, eventually becoming an associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey from 1798 to 1804.

Beginning in May 1775, Boudinot, a colonel, served the Continental Army as its commissary general for prisoners. This placed Boudinot in charge of the well-being of not only British and Loyalist soldiers in Patriot custody, but also Patriot soldiers in British custody. In November 1777, Boudinot was elected to the Continental Congress. The two posts conflicted and he was forced to delay serving in Congress until July 1778, when a replacement was able to assume his duties as commissary.

During Boudinot’s term as president from November 1782 to November 1783, Congress was forced to flee Philadelphia. As a member of the Board of Trustees for the College of New Jersey, Boudinot arranged to have Congress temporarily meet in the school’s Nassau Hall in Princeton.

After the War of Independence, Boudinot went on to represent New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives and served as director of the United States Mint under Presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Later, Boudinot advocated for the rights of African-Americans and Indians as president of the American Bible Society.
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1863 Jackson flanks Hooker at Chancellorsville

Stonewall Jackson administers a devastating defeat to the Army of the Potomac. In one of the most stunning upsets of the war, a vastly outnumbered Army of Northern Virginia sent the Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Joseph Hooker, back to Washington in defeat.

Hooker, who headed for Lee's army confident and numerically superior, had sent part of his force to encounter Lee's troops at Fredericksburg the day before, while the rest swung west to approach Lee from the rear. Meanwhile, Lee had left part of his army at Fredericksburg and had taken the rest of his troops to confront Hooker near Chancellorsville. When the armies collided on May 1, Hooker withdrew into a defensive posture.

Sensing Hooker's trepidation, Lee sent Jackson along with 28,000 troops on a swift, 14-mile march around the Union right flank. Splitting his army into three parts in the face of the mighty Army of the Potomac was a bold move, but it paid huge dividends for the Confederates. Although Union scouts detected the movement as Jackson swung southward, Hooker misinterpreted the maneuver as a retreat. When Jackson's troops swung back north and into the thick woods west of Hooker's army, Union pickets reported a possible buildup; but their warnings fell on deaf ears.

In the evening of May 2, Union soldiers from General Oliver Otis Howard's 11th Corps were casually cooking their supper and playing cards when waves of forest animals charged from the woods. Behind them were Jackson's attacking troops. The Federal flank crumbled as Howard's men were driven back some two miles before stopping the Rebel advance.

Despite the Confederate victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Union forces soon gained the upper hand in the war in the eastern theater. Scouting in front of the lines as they returned in the dark, Jackson and his aides were fired upon by their own troops. Jackson's arm was amputated the next morning, and he never recovered. He died from complications a week later, leaving Lee without his most able lieutenant.

1862 Confederate forces evacuate Yorktown during the Peninsular campaign
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1918 Allies argue over U.S. troops joining battle on Western Front

On this day in 1918, in a conference of Allied military leaders at Abbeville, France, the U.S., Britain and France argue over the entrance of American troops into World War I.

On March 23, two days after the launch of a major German offensive in northern France, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George telegraphed the British ambassador in Washington, Lord Reading, urging him to explain to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson that without help from the U.S., “we cannot keep our divisions supplied…for more than a short time at the present rate of loss….This situation is undoubtedly critical and if America delays now she may be too late.” In response, Wilson agreed to send a direct order to the commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force, General John J. Pershing, telling him that American troops already in France should join British and French divisions immediately, without waiting for enough soldiers to arrive to form brigades of their own. Pershing agreed to this on April 2, providing a boost in morale for the exhausted Allies.

The continued German offensive continued to take its toll throughout the month of April, however, as the majority of American troops in Europe—now arriving at a rate of 120,000 month—still did not see battle. In a meeting of the Supreme War Council of Allied leaders at Abbeville, near the coast of the English Channel, which began on May 1, 1918, Clemenceau, Lloyd George and General Ferdinand Foch, the recently named generalissimo of all Allied forces on the Western Front, worked to persuade Pershing to send all the existing American troops into the fray at once. Pershing resisted, reminding the group that the U.S. had entered the war “independently” of the other Allies—indeed, the U.S. would insist during and after the war on being known as an “associate” rather than a full-fledged ally—and stating “I do not suppose that the American army is to be entirely at the disposal of the French and British commands.”

On May 2, the second day of the meeting, the debate continued, with Pershing holding his ground in the face of heated appeals by the other leaders. He proposed a compromise, which in the end Lloyd George and Clemenceau had no choice but to accept: the U.S. would send the 130,000 troops arriving in May, as well as another 150,000 in June, to join the Allied line directly. He would make no provision for July. This agreement meant that of the 650,000 American troops in Europe by the end of May 1918, roughly one-third would see action that summer; the other two-thirds would not join the line until they were organized, trained and ready to fight as a purely American army, which Pershing estimated would not happen until the late spring of 1919. By the time the war ended, though, on November 11, 1918, more than 2 million American soldiers had served on the battlefields of Western Europe, and some 50,000 of them had lost their lives.
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1945 German troops in Italy surrender to the Allies, while Berlin surrenders to Russia's Zhukov.

On this day in 1945, approximately 1 million German soldiers lay down their arms as the terms of the German unconditional surrender, signed at Caserta on April 29, come into effect. Many Germans surrender to Japanese soldiers-Japanese Americans. Among the American tank crews that entered the northern Italian town of Biella was an all-Nisei (second-generation) infantry battalion, composed of Japanese Americans from Hawaii.

Early that same day, Russian Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov accepts the surrender of the German capital. The Red Army takes 134,000 German soldiers prisoner.
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1964 U.S. ship sunk in Saigon port

An explosion of a charge assumed to have been placed by Viet Cong terrorists sinks the USNS Card at its dock in Saigon. No one was injured and the ship was eventually raised and repaired. The Card, an escort carrier being used as an aircraft and helicopter ferry, had arrived in Saigon on April 30.
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1970 Joint forces continue attack into Cambodia

American and South Vietnamese forces continue the attack into Cambodia that began on April 29. This limited "incursion" into Cambodia (as it was described by Richard Nixon) included 13 major ground operations to clear North Vietnamese sanctuaries 20 miles inside the Cambodian border. Some 50,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and 30,000 U.S. troops were involved, making it the largest operation of the war since Operation Junction City in 1967.

The operation began on April 29 with South Vietnamese forces moving into what was known as the "Parrot's Beak," the area of Cambodia that projects into South Vietnam above the Mekong Delta. During the first two days of the operation, an 8,000-man South Vietnamese task force, including elements of two infantry divisions plus four ranger battalions and four armored cavalry squadrons, killed 84 communist soldiers while suffering 16 dead and 157 wounded.

The second stage of the campaign began on May 2 with a series of joint U.S.-South Vietnamese operations aimed at clearing communist sanctuaries located in the densely vegetated "Fishhook" area of Cambodia (across the border from South Vietnam, 70 miles from Saigon). The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division and 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, along with the South Vietnamese 3rd Airborne Brigade, killed 3,190 communists in the action and captured massive amounts of war materiel, including 2,000 individual and crew-served weapons, 300 trucks, and 40 tons of foodstuffs. By the time all U.S. ground forces departed Cambodia on June 30, the Allied forces had discovered and captured or destroyed 10 times more enemy supplies and equipment than they had captured inside South Vietnam during the entire previous year.

Many intelligence analysts at the time believed that the Cambodian incursion dealt a stunning blow to the communists, driving main force units away from the border and damaging their morale, and in the process buying as much as a year for South Vietnam's survival. However, the incursion gave the antiwar movement in the United States a new rallying point. News of the operation set off a wave of antiwar demonstrations, including one at Kent State University that resulted in the deaths of four students at the hands of Army National Guard troops. Another protest at Jackson State in Mississippi resulted in the shooting of two students when police opened fire on a women's dormitory. The incursion also angered many in Congress, who felt that Nixon was illegally widening the scope of the war; this resulted in a series of congressional resolutions and legislative initiatives that would thenceforth severely limit the executive power of the president.