Today In History

Today is Monday, May 28, the 148th day of 2018. There are 217 days left in the year. This is the Memorial Day observance.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1918: American troops fought their first major battle during World War I as they launched an offensive against the German-held French village of Cantigny; the Americans succeeded in capturing the village.

ON THIS DATE

› 1533: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

› 1892: The Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.

› 1912: The Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a “state of absolute unpreparedness,” improperly tested safety equipment and an “indifference to danger” as some of the causes of an “unnecessary tragedy.”

› 1929: The first all-color talking picture, “On with the Show!” produced by Warner Bros., opened in New York.

› 1934: The Dionne quintuplets — Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne — were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.

› 1937: President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the justopened Golden Gate Bridge in California. Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain. In Nazi Germany, Volkswagen was founded by the German Labour Front.

› 1940: During World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

› 1957: National League owners gave permission for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to move to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

› 1968: “Creedence Clearwater Revival,” the band’s debut album, was released by Fantasy Records.

› 1977: One hundred sixty-five people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky.

› 1987: To the embarrassment of Soviet officials, Mathias Rust, a young West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow’s Red Square without authorization. (Rust was freed by the Soviets the following year.)

› 1998: Comic actor Phil Hartman, 49, of “Saturday Night Live” and “NewsRadio” fame was shot to death at his home in Encino, California, by his wife, Brynn, who then killed herself.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actress Carroll Baker is 87. Producer-director Irwin Winkler is 87. Actor John Karlen is 85. Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West is 80. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is 74. Singer Gladys Knight is

74. Actress-director Sondra Locke is 74. Singer Billy Vera is 74. Singer John Fogerty (Creedance Clearwater Revival) is 73. Country musician Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss and Union Station) is 62. Actor Louis Mustillo is

60. U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., is 58. Actor Brandon Cruz (TV: “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) is 56. Country singer Phil Vassar is 54. Actress Christa Miller is 54. Singer-musician Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA) is 53. Rapper Chubb Rock is 50. Singer Kylie Minogue is 50. Actor Justin Kirk is 49. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is 47. Olympic gold medal figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva is 47. Television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 41. Actor Jake Johnson is 40. Actor Jesse Bradford is 39. Actress Monica Keena is

39. Actress Alexa Davalos is 36. Actress Megalyn