TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, MAY 19, the 139th day of 2022. There are 226 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1536, Anne Boleyn, second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, was beheaded after being convicted of adultery.
In 1780, a mysterious darkness enveloped much of New England and part of Canada in the early afternoon.
In 1913, California Gov. Hiram Johnson signed the Webb-Hartley Law prohibiting “aliens ineligible to citizenship” from owning farm land, a measure targeting Asian immigrants, particularly Japanese.
In 1921, Congress passed, and President Warren G. Harding signed, the Emergency Quota Act, which established national quotas for immigrants.
In 1943, in his second wartime address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country’s full support in the fight against Japan; that evening, Churchill met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, where the two leaders agreed on May 1, 1944, as the date for the D-Day invasion of France (the operation ended up being launched more than a month later).
In 1962, film star Marilyn Monroe sang “Happy Birthday to You” to President John F. Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
In 1967, the Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain, banning nuclear and other weapons from outer space, as well as such celestial bodies as the moon. (The treaty entered into force in October 1967.)
In 1993, the Clinton White House set off a political storm by abruptly firing the entire staff of its travel office; five of the seven staffers were later reinstated and assigned to other duties.
In 1994, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York at age 64.
In 2018, Britain’s Prince Harry wed American actress Meghan Markle in a service that reflected Harry’s royal heritage and his bride’s biracial roots, as well as their shared commitment to put a more diverse, modern face on the monarchy.
In 2020, a Trump administration policy of quickly expelling most migrants stopped along the border because of the COVID-19 pandemic was indefinitely extended.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: TV personality David Hartman is 87. Actors James Fox and Nancy Kwan are 83. Rock singercomposer Pete Townshend (The Who) is 77. Concert pianist David Helfgott is 75. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Archie Manning is 73. Singer-actor Grace Jones is 71. Gospel singer Israel Houghton is 51. Rock singer Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) is 50. Former race car driver Dario Franchitti is 49. TV personality Kim Zolciak Biermann (TV: “Real Housewives of Atlanta”) is 44. Country/rock singer Shooter Jennings is 43. Actor Drew Fuller is 42. Actor-comedian Michael Che (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) and Christian rock musician Tim McTague (Underoath) are 39. Actor Eric Lloyd is 36. Pop singer Sam Smith is 30.