This day in history
today is Sunday, May 12, the 133rd day of 2024. there are 233 days left in the year. ºBirthdays: Actor Millie perkins is 88. R&B singer Jayotis Washington is 83. Country singer Billy Swan is 82. Actor linda Dano is
81. Actor lindsay Crouse is 76. Singer-keyboardist Steve Winwood is 76. Actor Gabriel Byrne is 74. Actor Bruce Boxleitner is
74. Singer Billy Squier is 74. Blues guitarist-musician Guy Davis is 72. Actor Kim Greist is
66. Actor Ving Rhames is 65. Actor emilio estevez is 62. Actor April Grace is 62. tV personality/chef Carla hall is 60. Actor Stephen Baldwin is 58. Actor Scott Schwartz is 56. Actor Kim fields is 55. Actor Samantha Mathis is 54. Actor Jamie luner is 53. Actor Christian Campbell is 52. Actor Rhea Seehorn is 52. Actor Mackenzie Astin is 51. Country musician Matt Mangano of the Zac Brown Band is 48. Actor Malin Akerman is 46. Actor Jason Biggs is 46. Actor Rami Malek is 43.
ºin 1780, during the Revolutionary War, the besieged city of Charleston, S.C., surrendered to British forces.
ºin 1932, the body of Charles lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old kidnapped son of Charles and Anne lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near hopewell, N.J. ºin 1933, the federal emergency Relief Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration were established to provide help for the needy and farmers.
ºin 1943, during World War ii, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered. the two-week trident Conference, headed by president franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime Minister Winston Churchill, opened in Washington.
ºin 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.
ºin 1958, the United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NoRAD). ºin 1970, the Senate voted unanimously to confirm harry
A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice.
ºin 1975, the White house announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters. (U.S. Marines gained control of the ship three days after its seizure, not knowing the 39 civilian members of the crew had already been released by Cambodia.)
ºin 1982, in fatima, portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked pope John paul ii. (in 2008, the pope’s longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff was slightly wounded in the assault.)
ºin 1986, the military actiondrama film “top Gun,” starring tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis and released by paramount pictures, had its world premiere in New York.
ºin 2002, more than 200,000 people celebrated Mother’s Day by walking across the leonard p. Zakim-Bunker hill Bridge, months before it was open to cars.
ºin 2008, a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China’s Sichuan province left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.
ºin 2009, five Miami men were convicted in a plot to blow up fBi buildings and Chicago’s Sears tower; one man was acquitted.
ºin 2011, Ceos of the five largest oil companies went before the Senate finance Committee, where Democrats challenged the executives to justify tax breaks at a time when people were paying $4 a gallon for gas.
ºin 2013, pope francis gave the Catholic Church many new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to islam.
ºin 2021, israel pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior hamas military figures and toppling two high-rise towers housing hamas facilities; the islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at israeli cities.