TODAY IN HISTORY

On May 24, 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he opened America’s first telegraph line.

Also on this date

In 1935, the first 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.

In 1937, in a set of rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Social Security Act of 1935.

In 1941, the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood in the North Atlantic, killing all but three of the 1,418 men on board.

In 1961, a group of Freedom Riders was arrested after arriving at a bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi, charged with breaching the peace for entering white-designated areas. (They ended up serving 60 days in jail.)

In 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.

In 1974, American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.

In 1980, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the 52 Americans being held hostage by militants.

In 1994, four Islamic fundamentalists convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.

In 2011, Oprah Winfrey taped the final episode of her long-running talk show.

In 2017, setting aside past differences and rude comments, President Donald Trump and Pope Francis put a determinedly positive face on their first meeting at the Vatican.

Ten years ago: Brian Banks, a former high school football star whose dreams of a pro career were shattered by what turned out to be a false rape accusation, burst into tears as a judge in California threw out the charge that had sent Banks to prison for more than five years.

Five years ago: Ariana Grande suspended her Dangerous Woman world tour and canceled several European shows due to the deadly bombing at her concert in Manchester, England, two days earlier.

One year ago: Tennessee became the latest state to ban teachers from talking about certain aspects of race and racism in public schools.

NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM Cincinnati Reds general manager Larry MacPhail turns on the lights for the first night game in Major League Baseball on May 24, 1935.