TODAY IN HISTORY
In 1754, a political cartoon in Benjamin Franklin’s
Pennsylvania Gazette depicted a snake cut into eight pieces, each section representing a part of the American colonies; the caption read, “JOIN, or DIE.”
In 1814, the Jane Austen novel “Mansfield Park” was first published in London.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, acting on a joint congressional resolution, signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
In 1936, Italy annexed Ethiopia.
In 1945, U.S. officials announced that a midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.
In 1951, the U.S. conducted its first thermonuclear experiment by detonating a 225-kiloton device, nicknamed George, on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific.
In 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton N. Minow decried the majority of television programming as a “vast wasteland.”
In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The committee ended up adopting three articles of impeachment against Nixon, who resigned before the full House took up any of them.
In 1994, South Africa’s newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country’s first Black president.
In 2010, Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major-league history, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.