Today is Monday, May 27th, the 148th day of 2024. There are 218 days left this year.
Today’s History Highlights:
On May 27, 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge, connecting San Francisco with Marin County, California, opened to pedestrian traffic (vehicle traffic opened the following day).
In 1861, Chief Justice Roger Taney, who was a judge on the Baltimore Circuit Court, ruled that President Abraham Lincoln did not have the authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (a ruling that Lincoln ignored).
In 1896, a tornado struck St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing 255 people.
In 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case Schechter Poultry Company v. United States, unanimously invalidated the National Industrial Recovery Act, a key part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” legislative program.
In 1936, Cunard’s liner RMS Queen Mary set off on its maiden voyage from England to New York.
In 1941, the Royal Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off the coast of France, killing around 2,000 men. Three days earlier, the Bismarck had sunk the Royal Navy battleship Hood, killing more than 1,400 men.
In 1942, Doris “Dorie” Miller, a cook on the USS West Virginia, became the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross for “extraordinary gallantry and act of disregard for her own safety” during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1957, Buddy Holly’s group, the Crickets, released the single “That’ll Be the Day” on Brunswick Records.
In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. O’Brien, upheld the conviction of David O’Brien for destroying his draft card outside a Boston courthouse, ruling that the act was not protected by free speech.
In 1993, a bomb attack occurred at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, killing five people and destroying or damaging approximately 30 paintings.
In 1994, Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after 20 years in exile to an emotional crowd of thousands.
In 1998, Michael Fortier, the government’s main witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the terrible plot. (Fortier was released in January 2006.)
Gregg Allman, the music legend who helped propel the Allman Brothers Band to superstardom and contribute to the birth of Southern Rock with his bluesy voice and soulful touch on the Hammond B-3 organ in 2017, passed away at his home near Savannah, Georgia. He was 69 years old.
In 2018, LeBron James advanced to his eighth consecutive NBA Finals when the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody rocked Minneapolis for two nights in 2020, with some people looting stores and setting fires. The protests spread to other cities, with hundreds of people blocking freeways in Los Angeles and smashing the windows of California Highway Patrol vehicles.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Lee Meriwether is 89. Actor Bruce Weitz is 81. Former Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) is 80. Singer Bruce Cockburn (KOH’-burn) is 79. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is 77. Singer and actor Dee Dee Bridgewater is 74. Actor Richard Schiff is 69. Singer Siouxsie Sioux (Creatures, Siouxsie and the Banshees) is 67. Rock singer and musician Neil Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House) is 66. Actor Peri Gilpin is 63. Actor Cathy Silvers is 63. Comedian Adam Carolla is 60. Actor Todd Bridges is 59. Rock musician Sean Kinney (Alice in Chains) is 58. Actor Dondre Whitfield is 55. Actor Paul Bettany is 53. Rock singer and musician Brian Desveaux (Nine Days) is 53. Country singer Jace Everett is 52. Actor Jack McBrayer is 51. Rapper Andre 3000 (Outkast) is 49. Rapper Jadakiss is 49. TV chef Jamie Oliver is 49. Alternative country singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson is 48. Actor Ben Feldman is 44. Actor Michael Steger is 44. Actor Darin Brooks is 40. Actor and singer Chris Colfer is 34. Actor Ethan Damp is 30. Actor Desiree Ross (TV: Greenleaf) is 25.
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