TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Tuesday, May 24.
Today’s highlight:
On 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.
On this date:
In 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.
In 1937, in a set of rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Social Security Act of 1935.
In 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.
In 1961, a group of Freedom Riders was arrested after arriving at a bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi, charged with breaching the peace for entering white-designated areas. (They ended up serving 60 days in jail.)
In 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.
In 1974, American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.
In 1976, Britain and France opened trans-atlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.
In 1980, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.
In 1994, four Islamic fundamentalists convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
In 1995, former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson died in London at age 79.
In 2006, “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary about former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign against global warming, went into limited release.
In 2011, Oprah Winfrey taped the final episode of her long-running talk show.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama doubled down on criticism of rival Mitt Romney’s background as a venture capitalist, telling a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds there might be value in such experience but “not in the White House.” Brian Banks, a former high school football star whose dreams of a pro career were shattered by what turned out to be a false rape accusation, burst into tears as a judge in Long Beach, California, threw out the charge that had sent Banks to prison for more than five years.
Five years ago: Setting past differences and rude comments aside, President Donald Trump and Pope Francis put a determinedly positive face on their first meeting at the Vatican. Ariana Grande suspended her Dangerous Woman world tour and canceled several European shows due to the deadly bombing at her concert in Manchester, England, two days earlier.
One year ago: Tennessee became the latest state to ban teachers from talking about certain aspects of race and racism in public schools. Samuel E. Wright, who famously voiced “Sebastian the Crab” in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” and had an acting career spanning five decades, died at 72.