Today is Thursday, May 19, the 140th day of 2016. There are 226 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 19, 1962, actress Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday to You” to President John F. Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
On this date:
In A.D. 715, Pope Gregory II assumed the papacy.
In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, was beheaded after being convicted of adultery.
In 1780, a mysterious darkness enveloped much of New England and part of Canada in the early afternoon.
In 1913, California Gov. Hiram Johnson signed the Webb-Hartley Law prohibiting “aliens ineligible to citizenship” from owning farm land, a measure targeting Asian immigrants, particularly Japanese.
In 1924, the Marx Brothers made their Broadway debut in the revue “I’ll Say She Is.”
In 1935, T.E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” died in Dorset, England, six days after being injured in a motorcycle crash.
In 1943, in his second wartime address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country’s full support in the fight against Japan.
In 1958, British actor Ronald Colman died in Santa Barbara, California, at age 67.
In 1973, Secretariat won the Preakness Stakes, the second of his Triple Crown victories.
In 1981, five British soldiers were killed by an Irish Republican Army land mine in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
In 1992, in a case that drew much notoriety, Mary Jo Buttafuoco of Massapequa, New York, was shot and seriously wounded by her husband Joey’s teenage lover, Amy Fisher. Vice President Dan Quayle sparked controversy by criticizing the CBS sitcom “Murphy Brown” for having its unmarried title character, played by Candice Bergen, decide to have a child.
In 1994, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York at age 64.
Ten years ago: A key U.N. panel joined European and United Nations leaders in urging the Bush administration to close its prison in Guantanamo Bay, saying the indefinite detention of terror suspects there violated the world’s ban on torture. Freddie Garrity, lead singer of the 1960s British pop band Freddie and the Dreamers, died in Wales at age 69.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama for the first time endorsed the Palestinians’ demand that their eventual state be based on borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war, a position that put him sharply at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Former Irish Taoiseach (TEE’-shuk) Garret FitzGerald, 85, died in Dublin. Katie Couric, the first regular solo anchorwoman of a network evening newscast, signed off the “CBS Evening News” for the last time after five years.
One year ago: On a visit to Ireland, Prince Charles shook hands with Sinn Fein (shin fayn) party president Gerry Adams in a significant moment for Anglo-Irish relations. National Football League owners meeting in San Francisco agreed to move back extra-point kicks and allow defenses to score on conversion turnovers. Margaretta “Happy” Rockefeller, 88, the widow of former U.S. Vice President and New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, died in Tarrytown, New York.
Today’s Birthdays: PBS newscaster Jim Lehrer is 82. TV personality David Hartman is 81. Actor James Fox is 77. Actress Nancy Kwan is 77. Actor Peter Mayhew is 72. Rock singer-composer Pete Townshend (The Who) is 71. Concert pianist David Helfgott is 69. Rock singer-musician Dusty Hill (ZZ Top) is 67. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Archie Manning is 67. Singer-actress Grace Jones is 64. Rock musician Phil Rudd (AC-DC) is 62. Actor Steven Ford is 60. Actress Toni Lewis is 56. Rock musician Iain Harvie (Del Amitri) is 54. Actress Polly Walker is 50. Actor Jason Gray-Stanford is 46. Gospel singer Israel Houghton is 45. Rock singer Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) is 44. TV personality Kim Zolciak Biermann (TV: “Real Housewives of Atlanta”) is 38. Country/rock singer Shooter Jennings is 37. Actor Drew Fuller is 36. Christian rock musician Tim McTague is 33. Rock musician James Richardson (MGMT) is 33. Actor Eric Lloyd is 30. Pop singer Sam Smith is 24. Actor Nolan Lyons is 15.
Thought for Today: “Every moment one lives is different from the other. The good, the bad, hardship, the joy, the tragedy, love, and happiness are all interwoven into one single, indescribable whole that is called life. You cannot separate the good from the bad. And perhaps there is no need to do so, either.” — Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994).
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