Today In History

Today is Tuesday, May 19, the 140th day of 2020. There are 226 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1943: In his second wartime address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country’s full support in the fight against Japan; that evening, Churchill met with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, where the two leaders agreed on May 1, 1944 as the date for the D-Day invasion of France (the operation ended up being launched more than a month later).

ON THIS DATE

› 1649: England was declared a republic by Parliament following the execution of King Charles I. (The monarchy was restored in 1660.)

› 1913: California Gov. Hiram Johnson signed the Webb-Hartley Law prohibiting “aliens ineligible to citizenship” from owning farm land, a measure targeting Asian immigrants, particularly Japanese.

› 1921: Congress passed, and President Warren G. Harding signed, the Emergency Quota Act, which established national quotas for immigrants.

› 1967: The Soviet

Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain, banning nuclear and other weapons from outer space as well as celestial bodies such as the moon. (The treaty entered into force in October 1967.)

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

TV personality David Hartman is 85. Actor James Fox is 81. Actress Nancy Kwan is 81. Rock singer-composer Pete Townshend (The Who) is 75. Concert pianist David Helfgott is 73. Rock singer-musician Dusty Hill (ZZ Top) is

71. Rock musician Phil Rudd is 66. Actor Steven Ford is 64. Actress Toni Lewis is 60. Rock musician Iain Harvie (Del Amitri) is 58. Actress Polly Walker is 54. Actor Jason Gray-Stanford is 50. Rock singer Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) is 48. Former race car driver Dario Franchitti is 47. TV personality Kim Zolciak Biermann (TV: “Real Housewives of Atlanta”) is 42. Country/rock singer Shooter Jennings is 41. Actor-comedian Michael Che (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 37. Christian rock musician Tim McTague (Underoath) is

37. Rock musician James Richardson (MGMT) is

37. Actor Eric Lloyd is 34. Pop singer Sam Smith is

28. Actor Nolan Lyons is 19.