TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, May 14, the 134th day of 2022. There are 231 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 14, 1940, the Netherlands surrendered to invading German forces during World War II.
On this date:
■ In 1643, Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
■ In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.
■ In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory as well as the Pacific Northwest left camp near present-day Hartford, Illinois.
■ In 1948, according to the current-era calendar, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv by David Ben-Gurion, who became its first prime minister; U.S. President Harry S. Truman immediately recognized the new nation.
■ In 1955, representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The Pact was dissolved in 1991.)
■ In 1961, Freedom Riders were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama.
■ In 1988, 27 people, mostly teens, were killed when their church bus collided with a pickup truck going the wrong direction on a highway near Carrollton, Kentucky. (Truck driver Larry Mahoney served 9 1/2 years in prison for manslaughter.)
■ In 1998, singer-actor Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82. The hit sitcom “Seinfeld” aired its final episode after nine years on NBC.
■ In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that there is no exception in federal law for people to use marijuana for medical purposes.
■ In 2003, more than 100 immigrants were abandoned in a locked trailer at a Texas truck stop; 19 of them died. (Truck driver Tyrone Williams was later sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison for his role in the deaths.)
■ In 2008, the Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species because of the loss of Arctic sea ice.
■ In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned doctors about a serious rare inflammatory condition in children linked with the coronavirus.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama sought to tarnish Republican Mitt Romney as a corporate titan who got rich by cutting rather than creating jobs; Romney’s campaign responded that the former Massachusetts governor alone helped spur more public and private jobs than Obama had.
Five years ago: Emmanuel Macron (eh-mahn-yoo-EHL’ mah-KROHN’) swept into office as France’s new president, pledging to fortify the European Union, redesign French politics and glue together his divided nation. Five days after South Korea elected a president who expressed a desire to reach out to North Korea, Pyongyang sent a challenge to its rival’s new leader by test-firing a ballistic missile.
One year ago: Demonstrating allegiance to Donald Trump, Republicans elected Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, a Trump stalwart, to a House leadership post that had been held by Trump critic Liz Cheney until she was tossed from that post days earlier.
Today’s Birthdays: Photorealist artist Richard Estes is 90. Actor Dame Sian Phillips is 89. Former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is 80. Movie producer George Lucas is 78.