Today In History
Today is Monday, May 30, the 150th day of 2022. There are 215 days left in the year. This is Memorial Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On May 30, 1989, student protesters in Beijing erected a “Goddess of Democracy” statue in Tiananmen Square (the statue was destroyed in the Chinese government’s crackdown).
ON THIS DATE:
› 1431: Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.
› 1922: The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in a ceremony attended by President Warren G. Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.
› 1935: Babe Ruth played in his last major league baseball game for the Boston Braves, leaving after the first inning of the first of a double-header against the Philadelphia Phillies, who won both games (Ruth announced his retirement three days later).
› 1937: Ten people were killed when police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago.
› 1958: Unidentified American service members killed in World War II and the Korean War were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
› 1968: The Beatles began recording their “White Album” at EMI Recording Studios in London, starting with the original version of “Revolution 1.”
› 1971: The American space probe Mariner 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a journey to Mars.
› 1972: Three members of the Japanese Red Army opened fire at Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing 26 people. Two attackers died; the third was captured.
› 1994: Mormon Church president Ezra Taft Benson died in Salt Lake City at age 94.
› 2002: A solemn, wordless ceremony marked the end of the agonizing cleanup at ground zero in New York, 8 1/2 months after 9/11.
› 2015: Vice President Joe Biden’s son, former Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, died at age 46 of brain cancer.
› 2020: Tense protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of Black people grew across the country; racially diverse crowds held mostly peaceful demonstrations in dozens of cities, though many later descended into violence, with police cars set ablaze. Street protests in New York City over police killings spiraled into the city’s worst day of unrest in decade. A rocket ship built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral to carry two Americans to the International Space Station; it ushered in a new era of commercial space travel.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Ruta Lee is 87. Actor Keir Dullea is 86. Rock musician Lenny Davidson (The Dave Clark Five) is 78. Actor Stephen Tobolowsky is 71. Actor Colm Meaney is 69. Actor Ted McGinley is 64. Actor Ralph Carter is 61. Actor Tonya Pinkins is 60. Country singer Wynonna Judd is 58. Rock musician Tom Morello (Audioslave; Rage Against The Machine) is 58. Actor Mark Sheppard is 58. Movie director Antoine Fuqua is 57. Actor John Ross Bowie is 51. Rock musician Patrick Dahlheimer (Live) is 51. Actor Idina Menzel is 51. Rapper Cee Lo Green is 47. Rapper Remy Ma is 42. Actor Blake Bashoff is 41. Christian rock musician James Smith (Underoath) is 40. Actor Javicia Leslie is 35. Actor Jake Short is 25. Actor Sean Giambrone is 23. Actor Jared Gilmore is 22.