DAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Today is the 141st day of 2020 and the 63rd day of spring.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which provided Western settlers free land for farms.

In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received the U.S. patent for blue jeans.

In 1902, Cuba declared independence from the

United States.

In 1969, the Battle of Hamburger Hill ended in South Vietnam.

In 2006, Nouri al-maliki took office as prime minister of Iraq.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Honore de Balzac (17991850), author; John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), philosopher; William Fargo (1818-1881), Wells Fargo co-founder; Jimmy Stewart (1908-1997), actor; Joe Cocker (1944-2014), singer-songwriter; Cher (1946), singer-songwriter/ actress; Ted Allen (1965- ),

TV personality; Timothy Olyphant (1968- ), actor; Tony Stewart (1971- ), race car driver; Busta Rhymes (1972- ), rapper; Matt Czuchry (1977- ), actor; Rachel Platten (1981), singer-songwriter.

TODAY’S FACT: In 1916, the Saturday Evening Post published its first issue featuring a Norman Rockwell painting (“Boy with Baby Carriage”) on the cover.

TODAY’S SPORTS:

In 1989, Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer by a nose in the 114th Preakness

Stakes, the horse race’s closest margin.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “It is not because men’s desires are strong that they act ill; it is because their consciences are weak.” — John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 270 million — acres of U.S. land given away through the Homestead Act.

TODAY’S MOON: Between last quarter moon (May 14) and new moon (May 22).