TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, May 7, the 127th day of 2017. There are 238 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On May 7, 1942, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright went on a Manila radio station to announce the Allies’ surrender of the Philippines to Japanese forces during World War II.
On this date
1789 — America’s first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President George Washington, who’d taken the oath of office a week earlier. 1824 — Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, had its premiere in Vienna. 1915 — A German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, out of the nearly 2,000 on board. 1939 — Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. 1941 — Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded “Chattanooga Choo Choo” for RCA Victor. 1945 — Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, ending its role in World War II. 1954 — The 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces. 1963 — The United States launched the Telstar 2 communications satellite. 1975 — President Gerald R. Ford formally declared an end to the “Vietnam era.” In Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover. 1977 — Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories. 1984 — A $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they’d suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant. 1992 —A 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise received enough votes for ratification as Michigan became the 38th state to approve it.
Five years ago
Education Secretary Arne Duncan broke ranks with the White House, stating his unequivocal support for same-sex marriage a day after Vice President Joe Biden said on NBC that he was “absolutely comfortable” with gay couples marrying. (Two days later, President Barack Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage, a position he had previously stopped short of embracing.)
Vladimir Putin took the oath of office as Russia’s president for the next six years in a brief but regal Kremlin ceremony.
One year ago
A Tesla Model S sedan that was in self-driving mode crashed into the side of a tractor-trailer in Williston, Florida, killing its occupant, Joshua D. Brown.
Convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who twice pulled off brazen jailbreaks, was transferred to a prison in northern Mexico near the Texas border.
Today’s Birthdays
Rhythm-and-blues singer Thelma Houston is 74. Actress Robin Strasser is 72. Rock musician Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead) is 71. Rock musician Prairie Prince is 67. Actor Michael E. Knight is 58. Rock musician Phil Campbell (Motorhead) is 56. Rock singer-musician Chris O’Connor (Primitive Radio Gods) is 52. Actress Traci Lords is 49. Actor Morocco Omari (TV: “Empire”) is 47. Singer Eagle-Eye Cherry is 46. Actor Breckin Meyer is 43. Actress-comedian Aidy Bryant is 30. Actor Taylor Abrahamse is 26. Actor Alexander Ludwig is 25. Actress Dylan Gelula is 23.