On this Day

Tuesday, May 24th
The 144th day of 2005
There are 221 days left in the year

Today's Highlights in History

On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic. (Go to article)

On May 24, 1819, Queen Victoria, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, was born. Following her death on Jan. 22, 1901, her obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obituary)

On May 24, 1879, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Russia. (See the cartoon and read an explanation)

Reference: The New York Times



(The following Via Iraq War Today)

Today in History
1626 - Peter Minuit buys Manhattan for trinkets worth approximately $24.
1689 - English Parliament guarantees freedom of religion for Protestants.
1818 - General Andrew Jackson captures Pensacola, FL.
1830 - "Mary Had A Little Lamb" is written; The first passenger rail service in begins in the U.S.
1846 - General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey in Mexican War.
1854 - Anthony Burns, slave, is arrested in Boston by U.S. Deputy Marshals; the first Black college (Lincoln University, PA) forms.
1856 - In Kansas, the Pottawatomie Massacre occurs.
1861 - Federal troops occupy Alexandria, VA; Major General Benjamin Butler declares slaves to be "contraband of war."
1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge opens.
1900 - Britain annexes the Orange Free State.
1916 - U.S. pilot William Thaw shoots down a German Fokker.
1921 - Northern Ireland's first parliament is elected.
1922 - Russia and Italy sign a trade agreement.
1931 - Ironically, B&O Railroad installs the first air-conditioned train.
1936 - Dutch bishops forbid membership of the Nazi party.
1940 - The Dutch army demobilizes; German tanks reach Atrecht, France; Hitler affirms General von Rundsted's "Stopbevel."
1941 - The Bismarck sinks the British battle cruiser HMS Hood, 1,416 are killed; 3 survive.
1943 - Admiral Dönitz stops a U-boat in in the Atlantic Ocean; U-441 shoots a Sunderland seaplane down over the Gulf of Biskaje.
1951 - Racial segregation in Washington, DC restaurants is ruled to be illegal.
1954 - The first rocket attains an altitude of 150 miles.
1957 - Anti-American riots breakout in Taipei, Taiwan.
1958 - UP and International News Service merge, becoming United Press International.
1959 - The first house with a built-in bomb shelter is exhibited in PA.
1961 - 27 Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, MS; Explorer-12 failes to reach Earth orbit.
1965 - The Supreme Court declares that a federal law allowing the post office to intercept communist propaganda is unconstitutional.
1975 - Soyuz 18B carries 2 cosmonauts to space station Salyut 4.
1976 - The Concorde flies to Washington; the first commercial SST flight to North America. 1980 - Iran rejects a call by the World Court to release U.S. hostages.
1981 - Hostage situation ends at Central Bank in Barcelona, Spain.
1983 - Supreme Court rules the government can deny tax breaks to schools that racially discriminated against students.
1989 - French war criminal Paul Touvier is arrested in a monastery in Nice.
1993 - Eritrea achieves independence from Ethiopia after 30 years of civil war.
1993 - A Kurd rebellion kills 33 soldiers and 5 citizens in Turkey.

Birthdays
15 - Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commandant
1650 - John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough / English general strategist
1738 - King George III of Great-Britain
1743 - Jean-Paul Marat, French revolutionist
1753 - Oliver Cromwell, African-American Revolutionary war hero, served with Washington
1811 - Confederate Brigadier General Charles Clark
1816 - Emanuel Leutze, painter - Washington Crossing the Delaware; Union Brevet Major General Robert Seaman Granger
1819 - Victoria Alexandrine, Queen of Great Britain
1854 - Louis Mountbatten, WWI Admiral
1904 - Kenneth Buckley, British Rear-Admiral
1909 - Wilbur Mills (Representative-AR)
1918 - Coleman A. Young, civil rights leader, Mayor of Detroit
1933 - Tony Mullett, Director-General, National Criminal Intelligence Service
1943 - Gary Burghoff, actor (Radar-MASH)
1951 - Ronald A. Parise, Ph.D. /astronaut (STS 35, STS 67)

Passings
1153 - David I, King of Scotland
1543 - Nicolas Copernicus, astronomer
1861 - Elmer Ellsworth, US warrior (Chicago Zouaves), shot
1879 - William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist
1941 - Lancelot Holland, British Vice-Admiral, in battle
1959 - John Foster Dulles, U.S. Secretary of State
1981 - Jaime Roldós Aguilera President of Ecuador, in a plane crash
1986 - Stephen D. Thorne Lieutenant, Commander USN/astronaut, in a plane crash
1993 - Milton O. Thompson astronaut (Dynasoar, X-15)

Reported Missing in Action
1968
Rucker, Emmett, Jr., USAF (TX)
Shanks, James Lee, USAF (NY)

1969
Manske, Charles J., USAF (TX)
Montez, Anastacio, US Army SF (TX)

1972
Beeler, Carroll R., USN (TX) Released by DRV March, 1973 - alive and well in 1998
Henn, John R., Jr., US Army (MA)