On this day, May 15
1837 All Pittsburgh banks suspended gold payments as the result of nationwide inflation caused by overexpansion of business and “disorderly currency.”
1928 The Walt Disney cartoon character Mickey Mouse made his debut in the silent animated short “Plane Crazy.”
1973 Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty won both the Democratic and Republican nominations for re-election.
1988 The Soviet Union began the process of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces entered the country.
1996 Elsie Hillman announced plans to step down from the Republican National Committee after 21 years of service. 2017 The Supreme Court shut the door on North Carolina Republicans’ effort to revive a state law that mandated voter identification and scaled back early voting, provisions that a lower court said improperly targeted minority voters.
Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).
— Compiled by Rick Nowlin Today’s birthdays: Actor-singer Anna Maria Alberghetti, 86. Counterculture icon Wavy Gravy, 86. Singer Lenny Welch, 84. Actorsinger Lainie Kazan, 80. Actor Gunilla Hutton, 80. Actor Chazz Palminteri, 76. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, 74. Singer-songwriter Brian Eno, 74. Actor Nicholas Hammond (“The Sound of Music”), 72. Baseball Hall of Famer George Brett, 69. Musician-composer Mike Oldfield, 69. Actor
Lee Horsley, 67. TV personality Giselle Fernandez, 61. Rapper Grandmaster Melle Mel, 61. Actor Brenda Bakke, 59. Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, 53. Actor Brad Rowe, 52. Actor David Charvet, 50. Actor Russell Hornsby, 48. Rock musician Ahmet Zappa, 48. Olympic gold medal gymnast Amy Chow, 44. Actor David Krumholtz, 44. Rock musician David Hartley (The War on Drugs), 42. Actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, 41. Actor Alexandra Breckenridge, 40. Rock musician Brad Shultz (Cage the Elephant), 40. Rock musician Nick Perri, 38. Tennis player Andy Murray, 35. Thought for today: “Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.”
— Emily Dickinson, American poet (born 1830, died this date in 1886)