On This Day in History......

1303 Flemings conquers Middelburg
1471 Battle of Tewkesbury - King Edward IV vs Ex-queen Margaretha
1493 Spanish Pope Alexander VI divides non-Christian world between Spain & Portugal
1494 Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica
1540 Venice & Turkey sign Treaty of Constantinople
1572 Veere sides with Geuzen
1626 Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth & buttons
1626 Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherlands
1634 Johan van Walbeecks fleet departs to West-Indies
1652 Battle at Etampes: French army under Turenne beats Fronde rebels
1715 French manufacturer debuts 1st folding umbrella (Paris France)
1728 Georg F Händels opera "Tolomeo, re di Egitto" premieres in London
1747 Willem IV appointed viceroy of Overijssel
1776 Rhode Island declares independence from England
1780 American Academy of Arts & Science founded
1780 Charles Bunbury on Diomed wins 1st Epsom Derby
1783 Herschel reports seeing a red glow near lunar crater Aristarchus
1805 Henry C Overing buys 80 acres of Throggs Neck in the Bronx NY
1814 Bourbon reign restored in France
1818 Netherlands & England sign treaty against illegal slave handling
1834 Charles Darwin's expedition reaches 200 km from Atlantic Ocean
1839 The Cunard Steamship Company Ltd forms San Bonifacio
1843 Great-Britain annexes Natal
1846 US state of Michigan ends death penalty
1847 New York State creates a Board of Commissioners of Emigration
1851 1st major San Fransisco fire
1858 War of the Reform (México); Liberals establish capital at Vera Cruz
1861 At Gretna LA, one of 1st guns of Rebel navy is cast
1862 Battle at Williamsburg VA
1862 Yorktown VA - McClellan halted his troop before town as it is full of armed torpedoes left by CS Brigadier General Gabrial Rains
1863 Battle of Chancellorsville ends-Beaten Union army withdraws
1864 General Grant's Army at Potomac attacks at Rappahannock
1864 Ulysses S Grant crosses Rapidan & begins his duel with Robert E Lee
1865 Battle of Citronville AL; Richard Taylor surrenders
1865 Battle of Mobile AL
1866 Woodward's Gardens opens to public
1871 1st baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players), (Fort Wayne 2, Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets 1st hit, a double
1878 Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House
1883 John Gordon Cashmans begins "Vicksburg Evening Post" (Mississippi)
1886 Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen
1888 Italy & Spain sign military covenant
1893 Cowboy Bob Pickett invents bulldogging
1896 1st edition of London Daily Mail (½ penny)
1896 Grease fire ignites ½ ton of dynamite at Cripple Creek CO
1897 23rd Kentucky Derby: Buttons Garner aboard Typhoon II wins in 2:12.5
1897 Fire in Paris France bazaar at Rue Jean Goujon kills 200
1898 24th Kentucky Derby: Willie Simms aboard Plaudit wins in 2:09
1899 25th Kentucky Derby: Fred Taral aboard Manuel wins in 2:12
1910 Canadian Currency Act, 1910, receives Royal Assent
1910 Canadian parliament accept creation of Royal Canadian Navy
1910 Tel Aviv founded
1912 Italian mariners occupy Turkish Island of Rhodes
1915 Italy drops Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungaryb & Germany
1916 At request of US, Germany curtails its submarine warfare
1917 Arabs sack Tel Aviv
1918 Yankees set record with 8 sacrifices, beat Red Sox's Babe Ruth 5-4
1919 1st legal Sunday baseball game in NYC (Phillies beat Giants 4-3)
1919 FVC soccer team forms
1922 KNX-AM in Los Angeles CA begins radio transmissions
1923 Bloody street battles between Nazis, socialist & police in Vienna
1923 New York state revokes Prohibition law
1924 8th modern Olympic games open in Paris France
1924 German Republic election fascists & communists win
1925 League of Nations conference on arms control & poison gas usage
1926 General strike hits Britain
1927 1st balloon flight over 40,000 feet (Scott Field IL)
1927 Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences forms
1927 Nicaragua agrees to a US supervised presidential election in 1928
1929 Lou Gehrig hits 3 consecutive homeruns, Yankees 11, Tigers 9
1931 Mustafa Kemal Pasja becomes Turkish president
1932 Al Capone, convict of income tax evasion, enters Atlanta Penitentiary
1933 Pulitzer prize awarded to Archibald Macleish (Conquistador)
1935 61st Kentucky Derby: Willie Saunders aboard Omaha wins in 2:05
1936 Pulitzer prize awarded to Harold L Davis (Honey in the Horn)
1938 Douglas Hyde (a protestant) becomes 1st president of Eire
1940 21 "not neutral" Nazis & communists arrested in Netherlands
1940 66th Kentucky Derby: Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 2:05
1942 Battle of Coral Sea begun (1st sea battle fought solely in air)
1942 Food 1st rationed in US
1942 German occupiers imprison 450 prominent Dutch as hostages
1942 Pulitzer prize awarded to Ellen Glasgow (In this our Life)
1943 National League's Ford Frick demonstrates revised balata ball to reporters by bouncing it on his office carpet ball proves to be 50% livelier
1945 German troops in Netherlands, Denmark & Norway surrender
1946 5 die in a 2 day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Fransisco bay
1946 72nd Kentucky Derby: Warren Mehrtens aboard Assault wins in 2:06.6
1946 Washington Senator's Cecil Travis gets 6 straight hits before being stopped
1948 The Hague Court of Justice convicts Hans Rauter (SS) to the death
1949 Air crash at Turijn (whole Torino-soccer team survives)
1952 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Fresno Golf Open
1953 Pulitzer prize awarded to Ernest Hemingway (Old Man & The Sea)
1954 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
1956 Queen Juliana unveils National Monument to Dams in Amsterdam
1956 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1957 83rd Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Iron Liege wins in 2:02.2
1957 Alan Freed hosts "Rock n' Roll Show" 1st prime-time network rock show
1957 Anne Frank Foundation forms in Amsterdam
1958 Alberto Lleras Camargo chosen President of Colombia
1959 1st Grammy Awards: Perry Como & Ella Fitzgerald win
1959 Pulitzer prize awarded to Archibald Macleish (JB)
1960 1st great Delta dam closes, North-South Beveland
1961 13 Freedom riders began bus trip through South
1961 1st on-the-road Spacemobile lecture given.
1961 Malcolm Ross & Victor Prather reach 34,668 meters (record) in balloon
1961 South-Africa ANC-leader John Nkadimeng arrested
1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
1963 89th Kentucky Derby: Braulio Baeza aboard Chateaugay wins in 2:01.8
1963 Pitcher Bob Shaw sets record of 5 balks in a game
1964 "Another World" & "As the World Turns" premiere on TV
1964 70 GATT-countries confer in Geneva
1964 KIII TV channel 3 in Corpus Christi TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
1964 Pulitzer prize awarded to Richard Hofstadter (Anti-intellectualism)
1965 Willie Mays 512th homerun breaks Mel Ott's 511th National League record homerun
1966 Soviet Government signs accord about building Fiat factory in USSR
1967 Lunar Orbiter 4 launched by US; begins orbiting Moon May 7
1968 1st ABA championship: Pittsburgh Pipers beat New Orleans Buccaneers, 4 games to 3
1968 94th Kentucky Derby: Ismael Valenzuela aboard Forward Pass wins in 2:02½
1968 Dancer's Image disqualified due to drugs after winning 94th Kentucky Derby
1969 Charles Gordone's "No Place to be Somebody" premieres in NYC
1969 Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Shreveport Kiwanis Club Golf Invitational
1969 Stanley Cup: Montréal Canadiens sweep St Louis Blues in 4 games
1970 National Guard kills 4 at Kent State in Ohio
1970 Premier Kosygin affirms existence Russian military advisors in Egypt
1970 Pulitzer prize awarded to Erik H Erikson (Gandhi's Truth)
1972 Vietcong forms revolutionary government in Quang Tri South Vietnam
1973 1st TV network female nudity-Steambath (PBS)- Valerie Perrine
1973 BPAA US Women's Bowling Open won by Millie Martorella
1973 Longest game in Veterans' Stadium, Phillies beat Braves 5-4 in 20
1973 Patriarch Shenuda II of Kopitisch church visits the pope
1973 Wings release "Red Rose Speedway" in UK
1974 100th Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr aboard Cannonade wins in 2:04
1975 Ed Bullins' "Taking of Miss Jane" premieres in NYC
1975 Flyers 1-Isles 0-Semis-Flyers hold 3-0 lead-Isles held to 14 shots
1975 Houston's Bob Watson scores baseball's one-millionth run of all time
1975 Maria Astrologes wins LPGA Birmingham Golf Classic
1976 "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" opens at Mark Hellinger NYC for 7 performances
1978 Russian President Brezhnev visits West-Germany
1979 1st woman prime minister of Great Britain (Margaret Thatcher)
1979 Jackie Mercer wins her 4th golf title 31 years after her 1st
1979 NASA launches Fltsatcom-2
1980 Dodgers bat out of order against Phillies in 1st inning
1980 Hollis Stacy wins LPGA CPC Women's Internationalional Golf Tournament
1980 White Sox 1st baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Brewers, becoming 1st lefty to catch since Dale Long in 1958
1981 Rockline premieres on KLOS FM in Los Angeles
1981 Silvana Cruciata runs 15k female world record (49:44.0)
1981 Yankee Ron Davis strikes out 8 consecutive Angels, ran record of 13 strikeouts of last 14 faced, also saved Gene Nelsons 1st win, 4-2
1982 British torpedo boat Sheffield off Falkland hit by Exocet rocket
1982 Nordiques 2-Isles 4-Semifinals-Isles win series 4-0
1982 Twins rookie outfielder Jim Eisenreich, who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, removes himself, due to taunts from Red Sox bleacher fans
1983 China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Rebublic of China
1984 Dave Kingman's fly ball never comes down (stuck in Metrodome ceiling)
1985 111th Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr on Spend A Buck wins 2:00.2
1986 President Babrak Karmal resigns as party leader of Afghánistán
1988 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1989 Junior Felix of Toronto becomes 53rd to hit homerun on 1st at bat
1989 US launches Magellan to Venus
1989 US space shuttle STS-30 launched
1990 Angela Bowie reveals that ex husband David slept with Mick Jagger
1990 Latvia's parliament votes 138-0 (1 abstention) for Independence
1990 Oriole Gregg Olson sets relief pitcher record of 41 consecutive scoreless innings
1990 Pakistan beat Australia by 36 runs to win Austral-Asia Cup, Sharjah
1991 117th Kentucky Derby: Chris Antley aboard Strike the Gold wins in 2:03
1991 ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Doug Kent
1991 Actress Sharon Gless & producer Barney Rosenzeig wed
1991 Indians' Chris James sets club record for most RBIs in a game (9)
1991 Morris K Udall (Representative-D-AZ), resigns due to Parkinson disease
1991 New York Mets M Sasser & Mark Carreon are 8th to hit consecutive pinch homeruns
1991 President Bush is hospitalized for erratic heartbeat
1993 "Angels in America-Millennium Approaches" opens at Kerr for 367 performances
1994 Arsenal wins 34th Europe Cup II
1994 Courtney Love cleared of drug charges
1996 122nd Kentucky Derby: Jerry Bailey aboard Grindstone wins in 2:01
1996 ABC Bud Light Masters Bowling Tournament won by Ernie Schlegel
1996 Greg Pavlik one-hits Tigers making the Rangers 1st American League team to pitch back-to-back one-hitters since the Washington Senators in 1917
1997 Bruno's Memorial Senior Golf Classic
1997 Phil Blackmar wins 50th Houston golf Open
1997 Tammie Green wins LPGA Sprint Titlehoders Championship
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Missing In Action......

1966 MALONE JIMMY M. MORFOLK VA
1967 GRAHAM JAMES S. ARDMORE PA GOOD CHUTE WAVED IN DECENT REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85
1967 ROGERS CHARLES E. GARY IN
1968 KING PAUL C. JR. WALTHAM MA

Births which occurred on May 04:

1006 Abd-Allah Ansari Persian mystic/poet (Monadjat)
1611 Carlo Rainaldi composer
1622 Juan de Valdés Leal Spanish painter/sculptor
1631 Mary I Henriette Stuart daughter of Charles I/Queen of England
1635 Willem van Outhoorn Dutch Governor-General (Dutch East Indies)
1655 Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori Italy, piano builder
1738 Josef Kohaut composer
1744 Marianne von Martinez composer
1763 Franz Stanislaus Spindler composer
1769 Charles Hague composer
1776 Johann Friedrich Herbart Germany, philosopher/psychologist
1777 Charles-Louis-Joseph Hanssens composer
1796 Horace Mann US, educator/author/editor (pioneered public schools)
1796 Joseph Pannell Taylor Brigadier General (Union Army), died in 1864
1820 Joseph Whitaker England, publisher, founded Whitaker's Almanack
1820 Julia Gardiner Tyler 2nd wife of President John Tyler (1841-45)
1825 Thomas Henry Huxley scientist/humanist/Darwinist
1826 Frederick Church US romantic landscape painter (Hudson River School)
1835 Edmund Hart Turpin composer
1846 Emile Gallé French glass/marble/ceramic artist (Gallé Glaze)
1860 Emil Nikolaus Von Reznicek Vienna Austria, composer (Donna Diana)
1867 Dynam-Victor Fumet composer
1871 Mynona writer
1875 Ramiro de Maeztu y Whitney Spanish writer (Don Quixote & Celestine)
1875 Reggie Schwartz cricketer (1st of great South African googlists)
1877 Arthur Lang US, boxer/businessman (Died Aug 8, 1992 at 115)
1881 Aleksandr F Kerenski Russian premier (1917-Prelude to Bolshevism)
1882 Wilhelm Lehmann writer
1889 Francis J Spellman US Cardinal
1891 Frederick Jacobi composer
1891 Johan W F Werumeus Buning Dutch poet (Daily Bread)
1893 Edgar Dearing Ceres CA, actor (Abraham Lincoln, Free & Easy)
1893 Royal Butler [Edwin Richey] Atlanta GA, actor
1902 Cola [Nicolas] Debrot Bonaire Governor (Netherlands Antilles)/author
1902 Cvjetko Rihtman composer
1902 Rodney Meredith Thomas architect/painter
1903 Luther Adler New York NY, actor (Dr Bernard Altman-The Psychiatrist)
1905 Mátyás Seiber Budapest Hungary, composer (Scherzando)
1906 Esmond Knight East Sheen England, actor (Hamlet, Sleeping Murder)
1909 Howard Da Silva [Silverblatt] Cleveland OH, actor (Ben Franklin-1776)
1909 Jeroom Verten [Jozef F Vermetten] Flemish playwright
1910 Mady Alfredo [Maria M the Brieder] actress (Alicia)
1912 Lou Brown Brooklyn NY, orchestra leader (Jerry Lewis Show)
1914 Abdel Karim Kassem general/premier/dictator of Iraq (1958-63)
1914 Emmanuel Roblès Algerian-Fren journalist/playwright (Lesson Hauteurs)
1915 Curt Conway Boston MA, actor (Raw Deal)
1915 Pedro Saenz composer
1916 Maurice "Moe" Purtill jazz drummer
1917 Edward Toner Cone composer
1918 Kakuei Tanaka Japanese PM (1972-74), convicted of bribe-taking
1919 Dimiter Petkov composer
1919 Mary Ann McCall singer
1921 John van Kesteren Dutch tenor (Komische Oper, West-Berlin)
1921 Patsy Garrett Atlantic City NJ, actress (Nanny & the Professor)
1922 John Paul Hammerschmidt (Representative-R-AR, 1967- )
1924 Dennis Weaver actor (McCloud)
1924 Peter Aldersley actor/disc jockey
1924 Tat'yana Petrovna Nikolayeva composer
1925 Peter Blum German/South African/English poet (Capricorn)
1926 G Reinshagen writer
1926 Milton "Milt" Thompson US NASA-test pilot/chief-engineer (X-15)
1928 Betsy Rawls Spartanburg SC, LPGA golfer (Hall of Fame, US Women's Open-51, 53, 57, 60)
1928 Hosni Mubarak Egyptian President (1981- )
1928 Maynard Ferguson Verdun Québec Canada, jazz trumpeter (Birdland, Roulette)
1929 Audrey Hepburn [Edda Kathleen van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston] Brussels Belgium (Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Fair Lady)
1930 Roberta Peters New York NY, operatic soprano (New York Metropolitan)
1931 Ed Cassidy Chicago IL, drummer (Spirit-I Got A Line on You)
1931 Gennadi Rozhdestvensky Moscow Russia, conductor (USSR State Radio)
1932 Fausto Razzi composer
1932 Susan Brown San Francisco, actress (General Hospital)
1934 Pete Barbutti Scranton PA, comedian (Garry Moore Show)
1936 El Cordobés [Manuel Benítez] Spanish toreador
1937 Hans Ulrich Lehmann composer
1938 Tyrone Davis US R&B singer (Are you serious)
1938 William J Bennett US Secretary of Education (1985-88)
1939 Amos Oz Jerusalem Israel, author (My Michael)
1940 Dick Curl Chester PA, offensive coordinator coach (Barcelona Dragons)
1941 George F Will political analyst (Night Line)
1942 Ronnie Bond drummer (Troggs-Wild Thing)
1943 Nickolas Ashford Fairfield SC, singer (Ashford & Simpson-Solid as a Rock)
1943 Stella Parton sister of Dolly Parton/singer (A Woman's Touch)
1944 Dave [Otto Levenbach] Dutch singer (Du coté the Chez Swann)
1944 Paul Gleason Jersey City NJ, actor (Breakfast Club, Die Hard)
1944 Peggy Santiglia McGannon New Jersey, rocker (Angels)
1944 Ronnie Bond drummer (Troggs-Wild Thing)
1945 George Wadenius rocker (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1945 Monika van Paemel Belgian writer (Accursed Fathers)
1946 Renee Powell LPGA golfer
1948 Billy O'Donnell harness racer driver of the year (1984)
1949 Gerrit J P van Otterloo Dutch MP (PvdA)
1949 Sybil Danning [Danninger], Weis Austria, actress (Chained Heat)
1949 Zal Cleminson rocker (Alex Harvey Band)
1950 Darryl Hunt English pop bassist (Pogues-Pair of Brown Eyes)
1950 Hilly Hicks Los Angeles CA, actor (Roll Out, Roots)
1950 René CM van Asten Dutch actor (Herenstraat 10)
1951 Gene Greenwood (Representative-R-PA)
1951 Jackie [Sigmund Esco] Jackson Gary IN, rocker (Jackson 5-ABC)
1954 Julie Budd Brooklyn NY, singer (Child of Plenty)
1956 Jackie Bertsch LPGA golfer
1956 Michael L Gernhardt Mansfield OH, PhD/astronaut (STS 69, 83, 94, sk 100)
1956 Ulrike Meyfarth Frankfurt West Germany, high jumper (Olympics-gold-1972)
1957 Peter Sleep cricketer (Australian leg-spin all-rounder 1979-90)
1957 Richard E Grant Swaziland, actor (Posse, Bram Stoker's Dracula)
1958 Keith Haring Kutztown PA, graffiti artist (Vanity Fair, Paris Review)
1959 Randy Travis [Randy Bruce Traywick] Marshville NC, country singer (Forever and Ever Amen, Diggin' Up Bones)
1959 Robert Raymond Tway Oklahoma City OK, PGA golfer (1986 Shearson)
1959 Rohn Stark NFL punter (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1960 Martyn Moxon cricketer (England batsman in ten Tests 1986-89)
1961 Eugene Daniel NFL center (Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens)
1961 Jay Aston rocker
1961 Mary Elizabeth McDonough Van Nuys CA, actress (Erin-Waltons)
1962 Tracy Vaccaro Glendale CA, playmate (October, 1983)
1964 Goran Prpic Yugoslavia, tennis star
1965 Adri Bogers Dutch soccer player (Willem II)
1966 Monica Tranel [Michini] Billings MT, rower (Olympics-96)
1967 Derek MacCready CFL defensive tackle (Edmonton Eskimos)
1967 John Child East York Ontario, beach volleyballer (Olympics-bronze-96)
1967 Matthew Crane Kimberton PA, actor (Matt Cory-Another World)
1968 Andre Collins NFL linebacker (Cincinnati Bengals)
1968 Eddie Perez Cuidad Ojeda Venezuela, catcher (Atlanta Braves)
1968 Kevin Todd Winnipeg, NHL center (Los Angeles Kings)
1970 Dawn Staley Philadelphia PA, basketball guard (Olympics-gold-96)
1971 Derrick Clark NFL/WLAF fullback (Broncos, Rhein Fire)
1971 Steve Glenn CFL linebacker (British Columbia Lions)
1972 Ethan Watts Philadelphia PA, volleyball middle blocker (Olympics-96)
1972 Gretchen Ulion ice hockey forward (USA, Olympics-98)
1972 Marc Lamb WLAF T (London Monarchs)
1973 Edward Hervey NFL wide receiver (Dallas Cowboys)
1973 Matthew Barnaby Ottawa, NHL left wing (Buffalo Sabres)
1973 Melissa Boyd Miss Ohio USA (1996)
1973 Michelle Martinez Dallas TX, Miss America (Texas-Top 10-1997)
1975 Pablo Ruiz Buenos Aires Argentina, Spanish singer
1976 Heather Kozar Akron OH, playmate (January 1998)
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Deaths which occurred on May 04:

1594 Paul Buys Grand Pensionary of Holland, dies at 62
1604 Claudio Merulo composer, dies at 71
1605 Ulisse Aldrovandi Italian biologist/medical, dies at 82
1752 Pieter Snyers Flemish painter/engraver, dies at 71
1770 Christian Gottfried Krause composer, dies at 51
1832 Jan van Speyck Dutch Admiral, buried in New Church
1855 Camille Pleyel Austria piano builder/composer, dies at 66
1860 Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek composer, dies
1879 William Froude British civil engineer/shipbuilder (F Integer), dies at 68
1885 Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic monarch of Serbia (1842-58), dies at 78
1891 Sherlock Holmes "dies" at Reichenbach Falls
1893 George Washington Hewitt composer, dies at 82
1928 Barry E Odell Pain English writer (Punch), dies at 63
1929 Henry Morton Dunham composer, dies at 75
1935 Lodewijk Scharpé Flemish literature historian, dies at 65
1938 Carl von Ossietzky German pacifist/writer (Nobel 1935), dies at 48
1953 Edward B B Shanks British poet/critic, dies at 60
1953 Thomas Tertius Noble composer, dies at 85
1955 Georges Enescu Romanian/French violist/composer (Oedipe), dies at 73
1955 Louis Breguet French aviation pioneer, dies at 75
1961 Anita Stewart dies of heart attack at 66
1965 Norman Brokenshire TV moderator (Four Square Court), dies at 66
1966 Juan Maria Thomas Sabater composer, dies at 69
1967 Bengt Axel von Torne composer, dies at 75
1969 F Osbert S Sitwell English poet (Who Killed Cock Robin?), dies at 76
1970 Allison Krause 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1970 Jeffrey Miller 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1970 Sandy Scheuer 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1970 William Schroeder 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1971 Donald Dexter Van Slyke US chemist (Cyanosis), dies at 88
1971 Joseph Csaky Hungarian/French sculptor, dies at 83
1971 Louis de Bree [Louis C Davids] Dutch actor (Bluejackets), dies at 87
1973 Jane Bowles writer, dies at 56
1974 Israel Citkowitz composer, dies at 65
1974 John Wengraf actor (Pride & Passion, 12 to the Moon), dies at 77
1975 Moe Howard [Moses Horowitz] comedian (3 Stooges), dies at 77
1980 Josip Broz Tito leader of Yugoslavia (1945-80), dies at 87
1980 Kay Hammond actress (Blithe Spirit, 5 Golden Hours), dies in Brighton UK at 71
1981 Bobby Sands Irish IRA-terrorist, dies after hunger strike
1983 Nino Sanzogno composer, dies at 72
1984 Diana Dors actress (Berserk!), dies at 52 of cancer
1987 Cathryn Damon actress (Mary Campbell-Soap), dies at 56
1987 Dick Hillenius Dutch biologist/writer, dies at 59
1987 Paul Butterfield singer/harmonica player, dies of drug abuse at 44
1990 Don Appell dies
1991 Dennis Crosby son of Bing, commits suicide at 54
1992 Henri Guillemin French historian, dies at 89
1992 Ismael Galeano "Commandant Franklyn" (Contra), dies
1992 Vitali Andreyevich Grishchenko Russian cosmonaut, dies at 50
1994 Karl Francis Hettinger onion Field survivor, dies at 59
1995 Lewis T Preston banker, dies at 68
1995 Louis Krasner violinist, dies at 91
1996 Jean Crepin soldier/industrialist, dies at 87
1996 Stanley William Reed cineaste, dies at 85
1997 Alvy Moore actor/producer (Mr Kimball-Green Acres), dies at 75
1997 Vijayananda Dahanayake PM of Sri Lanka (1959-60), dies

1776 Rhode Island declares independence

On this day in 1776, Rhode Island, the colony founded by the most radical religious dissenters from the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony, becomes the first North American colony to renounce its allegiance to King George III. Ironically, Rhode Island would be the last state to ratify the new American Constitution more than 14 years later on May 29, 1790.

Rhode Island served as a mercantile center of the transatlantic slave trade in the 18th century. West Indian molasses became rum in Rhode Island distilleries, which was then traded on the West African coast for slaves. After taking their human cargo across the notorious middle passage from Africa across the Atlantic to the Caribbean islands, Rhode Island merchants would then sell those who survived the boats’ wretched conditions and rough ocean crossing to West Indian plantation owners for use as slaves in exchange for a fresh shipment of molasses.

Desire to protect this lucrative triangle trade led Rhode Islanders to bristle at British attempts to tighten their control over their colonies’ commerce, beginning with the Sugar Act of 1764, which tightened trade regulations and raised the duty on molasses. Two major incidents involving Rhode Islanders took place during the ensuing colonial protests of British regulation in the late 1760s and early 1770s. On June 10, 1768, British customs officials confiscated John Hancock’s sloop Liberty because it had previously been used to smuggle Madeira wine, inciting a riot in the streets of Boston. Four years later, near Providence, the British customs boat Gaspee ran aground, and Rhode Islanders, angered by continued British attempts to tax them in ways they perceived as unfair, boarded and burned it, wounding the ship’s captain.

Rhode Island mercantile strength caused almost as much trouble for the new American nation as it had the old British empire. Because it had independent wealth and trade coming through the two vibrant ports of Providence and Newport, Rhode Island was the only small state that could theoretically survive independent of the proposed federal union in 1787. The state had no desire to lose income in the form of import duties to the new federal government. As a result, Rhode Island was the last state to ratify the Constitution in 1790, when it was finally confronted with the prospect of the greater financial impositions it would suffer being treated as a foreign country from the United States.
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1864 Army of the Potomac crosses the Rapidan

On this day, the Army of the Potomac embarks on the biggest campaign of the Civil War and crosses the Rapidan River, precipitating an epic showdown that eventually decides the war. In March 1864, Ulysses S. Grant became commander of all the Union forces and devised a plan to destroy the two major remaining Confederate armies: Joseph Johnston's Army of the Tennessee, which was guarding the approaches to Atlanta, and Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Grant sent William T. Sherman to take on Johnston, and then rode along with the Army of the Potomac, which was still under the command of George Meade, to confront Lee.

On May 4, the Army of the Potomac moved out of its winter encampments and crossed the Rapidan River to the tangled woods of the Wilderness. Grant had with him four corps and over 100,000 men. The plan was to move the Federal troops quickly around Lee's left flank and advance beyond the Wilderness before engaging the Confederates. But logistics slowed the move, and the long wagon train supplying the Union troops had to stop in the Wilderness.

Although there was no combat on this day, the stage was set for the epic duel between Grant and Lee. In the dense environs of the Wilderness, the superior numbers of the Union army was minimized. Lee attacked the following day—the first salvo in the biggest campaign of the war. The fighting lasted into June as the two armies waltzed to the east of Richmond, ending in Petersburg, where they settled into trenches and faced off for nearly nine months.

1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville enters its fourth day

1864 House of Representatives approves the Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill over Lincoln's objections
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1916 Germany agrees to limit its submarine warfare

On this day in 1916, Germany responds to a demand by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson by agreeing to limit its submarine warfare in order to avert a diplomatic break with the United States.

Unrestricted submarine warfare was first introduced in World War I in early 1915, when Germany declared the area around the British Isles a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, would be attacked by the German navy. A string of German attacks on merchant ships—culminating in the sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania on May 7, 1915—led President Wilson to put pressure on the Germans to curb their navy. Fearful of antagonizing the Americans, the German government agreed to put restrictions on the submarine policy going forward, incurring the anger and frustration of many naval leaders, including the naval commander in chief, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who resigned in March 1916.

On March 24, 1916, soon after Tirpitz’s resignation, a German U-boat submarine attacked the French passenger steamer Sussex, in the English Channel, thinking it was a British ship equipped to lay explosive mines. Although the ship did not sink, 50 people were killed, and many more injured, including several Americans. On April 19, in an address to the U.S. Congress, President Wilson took a firm stance, stating that “unless the Imperial German Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of warfare against passenger and freight carrying vessels this Government can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the Government of the German Empire altogether.”

To follow up on Wilson’s speech, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, James W. Gerard, spoke directly to Kaiser Wilhelm on May 1 at the German army headquarters at Charleville in eastern France. After Gerard protested the continued German submarine attacks on merchant ships, the kaiser in turn denounced the American government’s compliance with the Allied naval blockade of Germany, in place since late 1914. Germany could not risk American entry into the war against them, however, and when Gerard urged the kaiser to provide assurances of a change in the submarine policy, the latter agreed.

On May 6, the German government signed the so-called Sussex Pledge, promising to stop the indiscriminate sinking of non-military ships. According to the pledge, merchant ships would be searched, and sunk only if they were found to be carrying contraband materials. Furthermore, no ship would be sunk before safe passage had been provided for the ship’s crew and its passengers. Gerard was skeptical, writing in a letter to the U.S. State Department that German leaders, “forced by public opinion, and by the von Tirpitz and Conservative parties” would “take up ruthless submarine warfare again, possibly in the autumn, but at any rate about February or March, 1917.”

Gerard’s words proved accurate, as on February 1, 1917, Germany announced the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. Two days later, Wilson announced a break in diplomatic relations with the German government, and on April 6, 1917, the United States formally entered World War I on the side of the Allies.
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1945 As the Nazi threat dies, the Red Army rises

On this day in 1945, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov informs U.S. Secretary of State Stettinius that the Red Army has arrested 16 Polish peace negotiators who had met with a Soviet army colonel near Warsaw back in March. When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill learns of the Soviet double-cross, he reacts in alarm, stating, "There is no doubt that the publication in detail of this event...would produce a primary change in the entire structure of world forces."

Churchill, fearing that the Russian forces were already beginning to exact retribution for losses suffered during the war (the Polish negotiators had been charged with "causing the death of 200 Red Army officers"), sent a telegram to President Harry Truman to express his concern that Russian demands of reparations from Germany, and the possibility of ongoing Russian occupation of Central and Eastern Europe, "constitutes an event in the history of Europe to which there has been no parallel." Churchill clearly foresaw the "Iron Curtain" beginning to drop. Consequently, he sent a "holding force" to Denmark to cut off any farther westward advance by Soviet troops.
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1961 Rusk reports on Viet Cong strength

At a press conference, Secretary of State Dean Rusk reports that Viet Cong forces have grown to 12,000 men and that they had killed or kidnapped more than 3,000 persons in 1960. While declaring that the United States would supply South Vietnam with any possible help, he refused to say whether the United States would intervene militarily. At a press conference the next day, President John F. Kennedy said that consideration was being given to the use of United States forces. Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, did eventually commit more than 500,000 American troops to the war.
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1970 Four students killed at Kent State

At Kent State University, 100 National Guardsmen fire their rifles into a group of students, killing four and wounding 11. This incident occurred in the aftermath of President Richard Nixon's April 30 announcement that U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had been ordered to execute an "incursion" into Cambodia to destroy North Vietnamese bases there. In protest, a wave of demonstrations and disturbances erupted on college campuses across the country.

At Kent State University in Ohio, student protesters torched the ROTC building on campus and Ohio Governor James Rhodes responded by calling on the National Guard to restore order. Under harassment from the demonstrators, the Guardsmen fired into the crowd, killing four and wounding 11. The Guardsmen were later brought to trial for the shootings, but found not guilty.

President Nixon issued a statement deploring the Kent State deaths, but said that the incident should serve as a reminder that, "When dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy." The shooting sparked hundreds of protests and college shutdowns, as well as a march on Washington, D.C., by 100,000 people. The National Student Association and former Vietnam Moratorium Committee leaders called for a national university strike of indefinite duration, beginning immediately, to protest the war. At least 100 colleges and universities pledged to strike. The presidents of 37 universities signed a letter urging President Nixon to show more clearly his determination to end the war.