TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

May 24, 1775

John Hancock was unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, succeeding Peyton Randolph.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

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.

1883

The Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was dedicated by President Chester Alan Arthur and New York Gov. Grover Cleveland.

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 1,418men on board.

1957

Anti-American rioting broke out in Taipei, Taiwan, over the acquittal of a U.S. Army sergeant who had shot and killed a Chinese man.

1962

Astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.

1976

Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.