Today in history
On May 29, 1917, the 35th president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire.
In 1660, Britain's King Charles II was restored to the throne on his 30th birthday after nine years in exile.
In 1765, Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses.
In 1790, Rhode Island became the 13th original colony to ratify the United States Constitution.
In 1848, Wisconsin became the 30th state of the union.
In 1932, World War I veterans began arriving in Washington to demand cash bonuses they weren't scheduled to receive until 1945.
In 1942, the movie “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” starring James Cagney as George M. Cohan, premiered at a war-bonds benefit in New York. Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra recorded Irving Berlin's “White Christmas” in Los Angeles for Decca Records. Actor John Barrymore died in Hollywood at age 60.
In 1953, Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tensing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit.
In 1961, a couple in Paynesville, West Virginia, became the first recipients of food stamps under a pilot program created by President John F. Kennedy.
In 1977, Janet Guthrie became the first woman to race in the Indianapolis 500, finishing in 29th place (the winner was A.J. Foyt).
In 1987, a jury in Los Angeles acquitted “Twilight Zone” movie director John Landis and four associates of involuntary manslaughter in the movie-set deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, who were killed by a falling helicopter.
In 1999, Discovery became the first space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station. Olusegun Obasanjo (ahLOO'-see-guhn oh-BAH'-suhnjoh) became Nigeria's first civilian president in 15 years, ending a string of military regimes.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush ordered new U.S. economic sanctions to pressure Sudan's government to halt bloodshed in Darfur. Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her month-long protest outside President Bush's ranch, announced her “resignation” as the public face of the movement. In Hudson Oaks, Texas, Gilberta Estrada, 25, and her four daughters were discovered hanging in a closet in their home in an apparent murder-suicide; Estrada's 8-monthold baby survived.
Five years ago: Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination with a win in the Texas primary. Serena Williams lost in the first round of a major tournament for the first time, falling to Virginie Razzano of France 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 at the French Open. Doc Watson, the Grammy-award winning folk musician whose lightning-fast style of flatpicking influenced guitarists around the world for more than a half-century, died in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at age 89.
One year ago: An Army veteran of two Afghanistan tours killed one person and wounded several others during a shooting rampage in west Houston before being gunned down by a SWAT officer. French President Francois Hollande (frahn-SWAH' ohLAWND') and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AHN'geh-lah MEHR'-kuhl) solemnly marked 100 years since the World War I Battle of Verdun. Alexander Rossi won the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.
“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” — President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963).