This Day in History
1915: The British ship Lusitania, traveling from New York to Liverpool, is torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland.
1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea, a two-day air engagement of World War II near Australia, marks a turning point in the war because it effectively checks the Japanese advance to the south.
1945: Germany unconditionally surrenders in World War II.
1984: Vietnam War veterans reach an out-of-court settlement with 7 chemical companies in a class-action suit over the herbicide Agent Orange.
1992: The 27th Amendment, finally ratified 203 years after it was written by James Madison, provides that any pay raise Congress votes itself will not take effect until after an intervening congressional election.
1999: A U.S. Stealth bomber accidentally bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia during air raids on the city, killing 3 Chinese citizens and wounding 27 people.
2000: Acting Pres. Vladimir Putin is sworn in for a full term as Russian president.
Today's Birthdays
1711: David Hume, historian and philosopher (Edinburgh, Scotland; died 1776)
1812: Robert Browning, poet (Camberwall, England; died 1889)
1833: Johannes Brahms, composer (Germany; died 1897)
1836: Joseph Cannon, Illinois U.S. representative and Speaker of the House (New Garden, Guilford County, NC; died 1926)
1840: Peter Tchaikovsky, composer (Vatkinsk, Russia; died 1893)
1867: Wladyslaw Stanislaw Reymont, Polish writer and Nobel laureate (Kobiele Wielkie, Poland; died 1925)
1892: Archibald MacLeish, poet/playwright and Librarian of Congress (Glencoe, IL; died 1982). Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia and a leader of the nonaligned nations (Kumrovec, Croatia; died 1980)
1901: Gary Cooper, actor (Helena, MT; died 1961)
1919: Eva Perón, Argentine political leader and wife of Juan Perón (Argentina; died 1952)
1922: Darren McGavin, actor (Spokane, WA; died 2006)
1931: Teresa Brewer, singer (Spokane, WA)
1932: Pete Domenici, New Mexico senator (Albuquerque, NM)
1933: Johnny Unitas, football quarterback (Pittsburgh, PA; died 2002)
1943: Donal McCann, actor (Dublin, Ireland; died 1999)
1945: Robin Strasser, actress (New York, NY)
1950: Tim Russert, TV journalist (Buffalo, NY)
1954: Amy Heckerling, filmmaker (New York, NY)
1955: Peter Reckell, actor (Elkhart, IN)
