TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, MAY 20, the 140th day of 2022. There are 225 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1956, the United States exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which was intended to encourage settlements west of the Mississippi River by making federal land available for farming.
In 1916, the Saturday Evening Post published its first Norman Rockwell cover; the illustration shows a scowling boy dressed in his Sunday best, dutifully pushing a baby carriage past a couple of boys wearing baseball uniforms.
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic solo flight to France.
In 1932, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. (Because of weather and equipment problems, Earhart set down in Northern Ireland instead of her intended destination, France.)
In 1948, Chiang Kai-shek was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
In 1959, nearly 5,000 Japanese Americans had their U.S. citizenships restored after choosing to renounce them during World War II.
In 1961, a white mob attacked a busload of Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Alabama, prompting the federal government to send in U.S. marshals to restore order.
In 1969, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces captured Ap Bia Mountain, referred to as “Hamburger Hill” by the Americans, following one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
In 1985, Radio Marti, operated by the U.S. government, began broadcasting; Cuba responded by attempting to jam its signal.
In 2009, in a rare bipartisan defeat for President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly, 90-6, to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the U.S.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor-author James McEachin is 92. Actor Anthony Zerbe is 86. Actor David Proval is 80. Singer-actor Cher is 76. Actor-comedian Dave Thomas is 74. Rock musician Warren Cann is 72. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is 71. Former New York Gov. David Paterson is 68. Delaware Gov. John Carney and actor Dean Butler are 66. TV-radio personality Ron Reagan and rock musician Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Go’s) are 64. Actor Bronson Pinchot and singer Susan Cowsill are 63. Actors John Billingsley and Tony Goldwyn are 62. Singer Nick Heyward is 61. TV personality Ted Allen is 57. Actors Mindy Cohn and Gina Ravera, and rock musician Tom Gorman (Belly) are 56. Actor Timothy Olyphant is 54. Former race car driver Tony Stewart is 51. Rapper Busta Rhymes is 50. Actor Daya Vaidya is 49. Actors Matt Czuchry and Angela Goethals are 45. Actor-singer Naturi Naughton is 38. Country singer Jon Pardi is 37.