Today In History

Today is Wednesday, May 31, the 151st day of 2023. There are 214 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On May 31, 1889, some 2,200 people in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, perished when the South Fork Dam collapsed, sending 20 million tons of water rushing through the town.

ON THIS DATE

› 1790: President George Washington signed into law the first U.S. copyright act.

› 1859: The Big Ben clock tower in London went into operation, chiming for the first time.

› 1921: A race riot erupted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as white mobs began looting and leveling the affluent Black district of Greenwood over reports a Black man had assaulted a white woman in an elevator; hundreds are believed to have died.

› 1949: Former State Department official and accused spy Alger Hiss went on trial in New York, charged with perjury (the jury deadlocked, but Hiss was convicted in a second trial).

› 1962: Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel a few minutes before midnight for his role in the Holocaust.

› 1977: The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline, three years in the making despite objections from environmentalists and Alaska Natives, was completed. (The first oil began flowing through the pipeline 20 days later.)

› 2009: Dr. George

Tiller, a rare provider of late-term abortions, was shot and killed in a Wichita, Kansas, church. (Gunman Scott Roeder was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years.) Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, died in Southampton, England at 97.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor-director Clint Eastwood is 93. Singer Peter Yarrow is 85. Humanitarian and author Terry Waite is 84. Singer-musician Augie Meyers is 83. Actor Sharon Gless is 80. Football Hall of Famer Joe Namath is

80. Broadcast journalist/ commentator Bernard Goldberg is 78. Actor Tom Berenger is 73. Actor Gregory Harrison is 73. Actor Kyle Secor is 66. Actor Roma Maffia is 65. Actor/comedian Chris Elliott is 63. Actor Lea Thompson is 62. Singer Corey Hart is 61. Actor Hugh Dillon is 60. Rapper Darryl “DMC” McDaniels is 59. Actor Brooke Shields is 58. TV host Phil Keoghan is 56. Jazz musician Christian McBride is

51. Actor Archie Panjabi is 51. Actor Merle Dandridge (TV: “Greenleaf”) is 48. Actor Colin Farrell is 47. Rock musician Scott Klopfenstein (Reel Big Fish) is 46. Actor Eric Christian Olsen is 46. Rock musician Andy Hurley (Fall Out Boy) is

43. Country singer Casey James (TV: “American Idol”) is 41. Rapper Waka Flocka Flame is 37. Pop singer Normani Hamilton (Fifth Harmony) is 27.