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Today's Highlights in History
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On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
(Go to article.)
On
May
1,
1909,
Kate
Smith,
the American singer who was considered the "first lady of radio,"
was born.
Following her death on
June
17,
1986,
her obituary appeared in The Times.
(Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
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On May 1, 1880, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the mass migration of Southern blacks to the West.(See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
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On this date in:
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| 1786 |
The opera ''The Marriage of Figaro,'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered in Vienna.
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| 1898 |
Commodore George Dewey gave the command, ''You may fire when you are ready, Gridley,'' as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.
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| 1931 |
New York's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated.
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| 1941 |
The Orson Welles motion picture ''Citizen Kane'' premiered in New York.
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| 1948 |
The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed.
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| 1967 |
Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.
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| 1967 |
Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas. They divorced in 1973.
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| 1971 |
Amtrak, which combined and streamlined the operations of 18 intercity passenger railroads, went into service.
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| 1987 |
During a visit to West Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz
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| 1992 |
On the third day of the Los Angeles riots, beaten motorist Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, asking, ''Can we all get along?''
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| 1998 |
Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona, Calif., at age 62.
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| 1999 |
The ''Liberty Bell 7,'' the Mercury space capsule flown by Gus Grissom, was found in the Atlantic 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, 38 years after it sank.
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Current Birthdays
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Judy Collins turns 62 years old today.
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AP Photo/Ed Bailey
Singer Judy Collins turns 62 years old today.
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| 85 |
Glenn Ford
Actor
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| 83 |
Jack Paar
Former ''Tonight Show'' host
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| 82 |
Dan O'Herlihy
Actor
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| 76 |
Scott Carpenter
Former astronaut
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| 72 |
Sonny James
Country singer
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| 67 |
Shirley Horn
Jazz singer
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| 59 |
Stephen Macht
Actor
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| 56 |
Rita Coolidge
Singer
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| 52 |
Douglas Barr
Actor-director
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| 47 |
Ray Parker Jr.
Singer-songwriter
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| 36 |
Wayne Hancock
Country singer
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| 35 |
Johnny Colt
Rock musician (The Black Crowes)
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| 35 |
Charlie Schlatter
Actor (''Diagnosis Murder'')
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| 34 |
Tim McGraw
Country singer
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| 33 |
D'Arcy
Rock musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
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| 25 |
Darius McCrary
Actor
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Historic Birthdays
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Kate Smith
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5/1/1909 - 6/17/1986
American radio and television singer
(Go to obit.)
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47
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Joseph Addison
5/1/1672 - 6/17/1719
English essayist, poet and dramatist
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56
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Benjamin Latrobe
5/1/1764 - 9/3/1820
British-born American architect and civil engineer
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83
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Arthur Wellington
5/1/1769 - 9/14/1852
English general; defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo (1815)
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48
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Jose Alencar
5/1/1829 - 12/12/1877
Brazilian journalist, novelist and playwright
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100
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Mary Harris Jones
5/1/1830 - 11/30/1930
American labor organizer known as "Mother Jones"
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87
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Cecilia Beaux
5/1/1855 - 9/17/1942
American portrait painter
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73
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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
5/1/1881 - 4/10/1955
French philosopher and paleontologist
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87
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Mark Clark
5/1/1896 - 4/17/1984
American army general during World War II and the Korean War
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93
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Eugene Black
5/1/1898 - 2/20/1992
American financier; president of the World Bank (1949-62)
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60
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Winthrop Rockefeller
5/1/1912 - 2/22/1973
American philanthropist and governor of Arkansas (1967-71)
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71
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Terry Southern
5/1/1924 - 10/29/1995
American novelist and screenwriter
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