This Day in History

On May 11, 1943, during World War II, U.S. forces landed on the Aleutian island of Attu, which was held by the Japanese; the Americans took the island 19 days later.

On this date:

In 1502, Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.

In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland.

In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.

In 1888, songwriter Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline in Temun, Russia.

In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded during a banquet at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

In 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration was created as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.

In 1953, a tornado devastated Waco, Texas, claiming 114 lives.

In 1960, Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 1973, the espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the “Pentagon Papers” case came to an end as Judge William M. Byrne dismissed all charges, citing government misconduct.

In 1988, master spy Harold “Kim” Philby, the notorious “third man” of a British espionage ring, died in the Soviet Union at age 76.

In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.

In 1998, India set off three underground atomic blasts, its first nuclear tests in 24 years. A French mint produced the first coins of Europe’s single currency, the euro. Ten years ago: Serbia’s pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, declared victory in parliamentary elections in a stunning upset over ultranationalists. Parvati Shallow was the last woman standing on CBS’ “Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites.” (Shallow had previously come in sixth place on “Survivor: Cook Islands.”) Five years ago: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared victory following a historic election marred by violence.