TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, MAY 7, the 127th day of 2017. There are 238 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1942, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright went on a Manila radio station to announce the Allies’ surrender of the Philippines to Japanese forces during World War II.
In 1789, America’s first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President George Washington, who had taken the oath of office a week earlier.
In 1824, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, had its premiere in Vienna.
In 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, out of the nearly 2,000 on board.
In 1941, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded “Chattanooga Choo Choo” for RCA Victor.
In 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, ending its role in World War II.
In 1963, the United States launched the Telstar 2 communications satellite.
In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford formally declared an end to the “Vietnam era.” In Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.
In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories.
In 1984, a $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they had suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.
In 1992, the latest addition to America’s space shuttle fleet, Endeavour, went on its first flight. A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise received enough votes for ratification as Michigan became the 38th state to approve it.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., is 85. Rhythmand-blues singer Thelma Houston is 74. Actress Robin Strasser is 72. Singersongwriter Bill Danoff and rock musician Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead) are 71. Rock musician Prairie Prince is 67. Movie writer-director Amy Heckerling is 65. Rock musician Phil Campbell (Motorhead) is 56. Country musician Rick Schell is 54. Rock singer-musician Chris O’Connor (Primitive Radio Gods) is 52. Actress Traci Lords is 49. Actor Morocco Omari (TV: “Empire”) is 47. Singer Eagle-Eye Cherry is 46. Actor Breckin Meyer is 43. Rock musician Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys) is 31. Actor Taylor Abrahamse is 26. Actor Alexander Ludwig is 25. Actress Dylan Gelula is 23.