Today’s highlight in history

On May 1, 1941, “Citizen Kane” — the movie starring, directed and co-written by Kenosha native Orson Welles, now considered one of the classics of American cinema — premiered in New York.

On this date

the Kingdom of Great Britain was created as a treaty merging England and Scotland took effect.

In 1893,

the World’s Columbian Exposition, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Western Hemisphere, opened to the public in Chicago, beginning a six-month run.

In 1931,

New York’s 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated.

In 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

In 1967,

Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.)

In 1998,

Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona, Calif., at age 62.

In 2011,

President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden during a U.S. commando operation (because of the time difference, it was early May 2 in Pakistan, where the al-Qaida leader met his end).

Ten years ago:

Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, a member of the inner circle of plotters who attempted to kill Adolf Hitler, died in Altenahr, Germany, at age 90.

Five years ago:

Workers around the world united in anger during May Day rallies — from fury in Europe over austerity measures that cut wages, reduced benefits and eliminated many jobs altogether, to rage in Asia over relentlessly low pay, the rising cost of living and hideous working conditions.

One year ago:

Amid the threat of a disruptive government shutdown, the White House and top lawmakers endorsed a $1.1 trillion spending bill to carry the nation through September 2017.