Today In History
Today is Monday, May 25, the 146th day of 2020. There are 220 days left in the year. This is Memorial Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1961: President John F. Kennedy told Congress: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
ON THIS DATE
› 1787: The Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.
› 1810: Argentina began its revolt against Spanish rule with the forming of the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires.
› 1935: Babe Ruth hit his last three career home runs — Nos. 712, 713 and 714 — for the Boston Braves in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. (The Pirates won, 11-7.)
› 1959: The U.S. Supreme Court, in State Athletic Commission v. Dorsey, struck down a Louisiana law prohibiting interracial boxing matches. (The case had been brought by Joseph Dorsey Jr., a black professional boxer.)
› 1964: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ordered the Virginia county to reopen its public schools, which officials had closed in an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation ruling.
› 1965: Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston in the first round of their world heavyweight title rematch in Lewiston, Maine. (Ali’s victory generated controversy over whether he’d truly connected when he sent Liston crashing to the canvas with a right to the head, or whether it was a “phantom punch,” implying that the fight had been fixed.)
› 1992: Jay Leno made his debut as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” succeeding Johnny Carson.
› 2005: Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen won Senate confirmation as a federal appeals judge after a ferocious four-year battle.
› 2008: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on the Red Planet to begin searching for evidence of water; the spacecraft confirmed the presence of water ice at its landing site.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actress Ann Robinson is 91. Former White House news secretary
Ron Nessen is 86. Country singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall is 84. Actor Sir Ian McKellen is 81. Country singer Jessi Colter is 77. Actress-singer Leslie Uggams is 77. Movie director and Muppeteer Frank Oz is 76. Actress Karen Valentine is 73. Actress Jacki Weaver is 73. Rock singer Klaus Meine (The Scorpions) is 72. Actress Patti D’Arbanville is 69. Playwright Eve Ensler is 67. Musician Cindy Cashdollar is 65. Actress Connie Sellecca is 65. Rock singer-musician Paul Weller is 62. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is 60. Actor-comedian Mike Myers is
57. Actor Matt Borlenghi is 53. Actor Joseph Reitman is 52. Rock musician Glen Drover is 51. Actress Anne Heche is
51. Actresses Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush (TV: “Little House on the Prairie”) are 50. Actor-comedian Jamie Kennedy is 50. Actress Octavia Spencer is 50. Actor Justin Henry is 49. Rapper Daz Dillinger is 47. Actress Molly Sims is 47. Actress Erinn Hayes is 44. Actor Cillian Murphy is 44. Actor Ethan Suplee is 44. Rock musician Todd Whitener is 42. Actor Corbin Allred is 41. Actress-singer Lauren Frost is 35. Actress Ebonee Noel is 30. Musician Guy Lawrence (Disclosure) is 29. Olympic gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman is 26.