On this day, May 24
1844 Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally
opened America’s first telegraph line.
1935 The first major league baseball game to be played at night took place at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.
1937 In a set of rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Social Security Act of 1935.
1941 The German battleship Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood in the North Atlantic, killing all but three of the 1,418 men on board.
1961 A group of Freedom Riders was arrested after arriving at a bus terminal in Jackson, Miss., charged with breaching the peace for entering white-designated areas. (They ended up serving 60 days in jail.)
1962 Astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.
1974 American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.
1976 Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.
1980, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
1994 Four Islamic fundamentalists convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
1995 Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson died in London at age 79.
2006 “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary about former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign against global warming, went into limited release.
2011 Oprah Winfrey taped the final episode of her long-running talk show. Today’s birthdays: Actor-comedian-impressionist Stanley Baxter, 97. Jazz musician Archie Shepp, 86. Comedian Tommy Chong, 85. Singer Bob Dylan, 82. Actor Gary Burghoff, 80. Singer Patti LaBelle, 79. Actor Priscilla Presley, 78. Country singer Mike Reid, 76. Actor Jim Broadbent, 74. Actor Alfred Molina, 70. Singer Rosanne Cash, 68. Actor Cliff Parisi, 63. Actor Kristin Scott Thomas, 63. Actor John C. Reilly, 58. Actor Dana Ashbrook, 56. Actor Eric Close, 56. Actor Carl Payne, 54. Rock musician Rich Robinson, 54. Former MLB pitcher Bartolo Colon, 50. Actor Dash Mihok, 49. Actor Bryan Greenberg, 45. Actor Owen Benjamin, 43. Actor Billy L. Sullivan, 43. Actor-rapper Jerod Mixon (aka Big Tyme), 42. Rock musician Cody Hanson (Hinder), 41. Dancer-choreographer-singer Mark Ballas, 37. Country singer Billy Gilman, 35. Rapper/producer G-Eazy, 34. Actor Brianne Howey, 34. Actor Cayden Boyd, 29.