TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, MAY 2, the 123rd day of 2020. There are 243 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1994, Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa’s first democratic elections; President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.
In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Virginia; he died eight days later.
In 1890, the Oklahoma Territory was organized.
In 1908, the original version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” with music by Albert Von Tilzer and lyrics by Jack Norworth, was published by Von Tilzer’s York Music Co.
In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, upheld 8-1 a Virginia law allowing the forced sterilization of people to promote the “health of the patient and the welfare of society.”
In 1957, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
In 1968, “The Odd Couple,” the movie version of the Neil Simon comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, opened in New York.
In 1970, jockey Diane Crump became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby; she finished in 15th place aboard Fathom. (The winning horse was Dust Commander.)
In 1972, a fire at the Sunshine silver mine in Kellogg, Idaho, claimed the lives of 91 workers who succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington at age 77.
In 1982, the Weather Channel made its debut.
In 2005, Pfc. Lynndie England, the young woman pictured in some of the most notorious Abu Ghraib photos, pleaded guilty at Fort Hood, Texas, to
mistreating prisoners. (However, a judge later threw out the plea agreement; England was later convicted in a courtmartial and received a three-year sentence, of which she served half.) In 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed by elite American forces at his Pakistan compound, then quickly buried at sea after a decade on the run. In 2018, two black men who’d been arrested for sitting at a Philadelphia Starbucks without ordering anything settled with the company for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free college education; they settled separately with the city for a symbolic $1 each and a promise to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Singer Engelbert Humperdinck is 84. Former International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge is 78. Actressactivist Bianca Jagger and country singer R.C. Bannon are 75. Actor David Suchet is 74. Singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin is 72. Rock singer Lou Gramm (Foreigner) is 70. Actress Christine Baranski is 68. Singer Angela Bofill is 66. Fashion designer Donatella Versace is 65. Actor Brian Tochi is 61. Movie director Stephen Daldry is 60. Actresses Elizabeth Berridge and Mitzi Kapture, and country singer Ty Herndon are 58. Commentator Mika Brzezinski is 53. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is 52. Rock musician Todd Sucherman (Styx) is 51. Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson (AKA The Rock) is 48. Former soccer player David Beckham is 45. Rock singer Jeff Gutt (Stone Temple Pilots) is 44. Actress Jenna Von Oy is 43. Actor Kumail Nanijiani is 42. Actress Ellie Kemper is 40. Pop singer Lily Rose Cooper and Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes are 35. Rock musician Jim Almgren (Carolina Liar) and actor Thomas McDonell are 34. Actress Kay Panabaker and NBA All-Star Paul George are 30. Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is five.