TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, MAY 1, the 121st day of 2018. There are 244 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1898, Commodore George Dewey gave the command, “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley,” as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish squadron in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
In 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was created as a treaty merging England and Scotland took effect.
In 1786, Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” premiered in Vienna.
In 1893, the World’s Columbian Exposition, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Western Hemisphere, opened to the public in Chicago, beginning a six-month run.
In 1918, TV personality Jack Paar, the second host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” was born in Canton, Ohio.
In 1931, New York’s 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. Singer Kate Smith made her debut on CBS Radio on her 24th birthday.
In 1941, the Orson Welles motion picture “Citizen Kane” premiered in New York.
In 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.) Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.
In 1978, Ernest Morial was inaugurated as the first black mayor of New Orleans.
In 1982, the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tenn., was opened by President Ronald Reagan.
In 1998, Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona, Calif., at age 62. Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than half a million Tutsis. (Kambanda was later sentenced to life in prison.)
In 2011, President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden during a U.S. commando operation (because of the time difference, it was early May 2 in Pakistan, where the al-Qaida leader met his end).
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Singer Judy Collins is 79. Actor Stephen Macht is 76. Singer Rita Coolidge is 73. Pop singer Nick Fortuna (The Buckinghams) is 72. Actor-director Douglas Barr is 69. Actor Dann Florek is 67. Singer-songwriter Ray Parker Jr. is 64. Actor Byron Stewart is 62. Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen is 58. Actress Maia Morgenstern is 56. Actor Scott Coffey is 54. Country singer Wayne Hancock is 53. Actor Charlie Schlatter is 52. Country singer Tim McGraw is 51. Rock musicians Johnny Colt and D’Arcy are 50. Movie director Wes Anderson is 49. Actress Julie Benz, actor Bailey Chase and country singer Cory Morrow are 46. Gospel/rhythmand-blues singer Tina Campbell (Mary Mary) is 44. Actor Darius McCrary is 42. Actor Jamie Dornan is 36. Actress Kerry Bishe is 34.