May 22, 1843: The first wagon train of Oregon-bound settlers departs from Independence, Missouri. 1939: Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler sign the Pact of Steel, formalizing the Rome-Berlin Axis. 1992: Johnny Carson hosts his final Tonight Show after nearly 30 years as the “King of Late Night Television.” 2004: A record F4 tornado measuring 4.5 miles wide destroys the town of Hallam, Nebraska, killing only one person.
May 23, 1785: The versatile and accomplished Benjamin Franklin announces the invention of bifocal glasses. 1873: The first Preakness Stakes is held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Survivor won by more than 10 lengths over the other six horses. 1934: Notorious outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (also known as Bonnie and Clyde) are shot and killed in a police ambush in Sayles, Los Angeles. 1960: Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announces that notorious Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured in Argentina. He will be tried and found guilty of numerous war crimes by a panel of judges.He was hanged near Tel Aviv, Israel in 1962
May 24, 1844: Samuel Morse taps the first telegraph message with the code that bears his name. “What Did God Create?” Round trip from the U.S. Capitol to Baltimore Station. 1883: The Brooklyn Bridge officially opens with President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland in attendance. 1935: The first night-time Major League Baseball game is played at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the local Reds defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1. President Franklin D. Roosevelt turned on the ceremonial lights from the White House. 1978: Management consultant Marilyn Rhoden first coins the term “glass ceiling” to refer to invisible career barriers for American women.
May 25, 1935: Ohio State track and field star Jesse Owens matches or breaks four world records in 45 minutes at the Big Ten track and field meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1961: President John F. Kennedy, in his address to a joint session of the House and Senate, promises to land a man on the moon and return him to Earth by the end of the decade. 1977: The first Star Wars movie, Episode IV: A New Hope, debuts in U.S. theaters. 2020: George Floyd, an African American man, is arrested and killed by police outside a store in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The video showing police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck and back for more than nine minutes sparked numerous protests across the United States.
May 26, 1896: The Dow Jones Index debuts on Wall Street, tracking the performance of 12 industrial stocks. It closes at 40.94 on its first day. 1897: Bram Stoker’s horror novel Dracula is published in London. 1927: The 15 millionth and last Model T rolls off the line at the Ford Motor Company’s assembly plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The last “Tin Lizzy” is driven off the line by Henry Ford and his son Edsel. 1977: Daredevil George Willig scales the South Tower of the World Trade Center from ground level to the top. He pays a fine of one penny for every 110 stories of the building, or $1.10.
May 27, 1679: Habeas Corpus is adopted by the British Parliament, strengthening the people’s ability to challenge unlawful arrest and imprisonment. 1930: The Chrysler Building opens in New York City and remains the world’s tallest building until the Empire State Building opens 11 months later. 1937: Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay opens. This was the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time, measuring 4,200 feet in length. 2022: 36 years after the original movie, “Top Gun: Maverick,” starring actor Tom Cruise, will be released in theaters!
May 28 – 1830: President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, immediately beginning the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
Trail of Tears National Historical Trail. National Park Service 2024
1916: Race car driver Barney Oldfield sets a new speed record at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a qualifying lap of 162.6 mph. 1934: Dionne quintuplets are born in Callander, Ontario, Canada. These five identical girls are the first quintuplets to survive infancy. 1972: Members of the so-called White House “plumbers” break into the Democratic Party’s national headquarters at the Watergate complex and install wiretapping devices. They would be arrested on his return visit three weeks later, which would cause all kinds of trouble for so many people.
