This Day in History
1862: The Mexican army defeats the French army in the battle of Puebla; this day later becomes the "Cinco de Mayo" holiday.
1864: In the two-day Battle of the Wilderness, the Union forces under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant suffer heavy losses against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army, but do not retreat.
1891: Carnegie Hall (then the Music Hall) has its grand opening, with Peter Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.
1893: The stock market crashes, setting off a financial panic and 4 years of economic depression.
1895: The first American comic strip, drawn by Richard Felton Outcault, appears in the New York Sunday World.
1904: Cy Young becomes the first baseball player in major league history to pitch a perfect game.
1961: Alan Shepard lifts off from Cape Canaveral, FL, in the Freedom 7, the first Mercury mission, and becomes the first American in space.
1985: Pres. Ronald Reagan arouses controversy when he visits a German military cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany .
1987: Congress begins holding hearings on the Iran-Contra affair.
2002: Incumbent French Pres. Jacques Chirac trounces right-wing Jean Marie Le Pen in the second round of balloting, garnering 82 percent of the vote.
2003: India and Pakistan restore diplomatic ties.
Today's Birthdays
1813: Sören Kierkegaard, philosopher/theologian (Denmark; died 1855)
1818: Karl Marx, socialist/political theorist (Treves, Germany; died 1883)
1867: Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman), journalist/adventuress and social reformer (Cochran's Mills, PA; died 1922)
1913: Tyrone Power, actor (Cincinnati, OH; died 1958)
1921: Arthur Schawlow, physicist who helped develop the laser (Mount Vernon, NY; died 1999)
1926: Ann B. Davis, actress (Schenectady, NY)
1927: Pat Carroll, actress (Shreveport, LA)
1934: John J. Sweeney, labor leader (New York, NY)
1938: Michael Murphy, actor (Los Angeles, CA)
1943: Michael Palin, actor/comedian and member of Monty Python (Sheffield, England)
1973: Tina Yothers, actress (Whittier, CA)
