May 18 Holidays and Events

May 18 Holidays:

1642. The city of Montreal was founded by the French.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal

5/18/1675: Jacques Marquette, Jesuit missionary, died. May 18, 1675 (aged 37) near Ludington, Michigan; 1673. This time it was the French in the form of the small party of Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet exploring the Mississippi River in 1673. Somewhat wary because of Hernando De Soto's encounter with the Chickasaw was well-known in Europe, Marquette and Joliet merely noted their location at the bluffs near Memphis, Tennessee. Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette and French fur trader Louis Joliet paddled the Mississippi down to the mouth of the Arkansas River. There they turned back, fearful of the Spanish in the region, unaware that they were only ten days away from the Gulf of Mexico. They also lost most of their notes. http://thefreedomskool.blogspot.com/2014/08/kentuckys-dark-and-bloody-1600s-timeline.html

May 18, 1830. Happy Lawnmower Day! Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, lawn mower. Saturdays are destroyed forever.

5/18: Battle of Las Piedras (Uraguay) 1811 - Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay lead by Jose Artigas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Las_Piedras_(1811) Marijuana is legal there.

5/18: Flag and University Day (Haiti). An inscription on the Haitian flag's coat of arms reads: "L'Union fait la force" (Unity Makes Strong). National unity is a primary theme of Flagand University Day, which is an independence celebration as well as an occasion to recognize the country's educational system. For over a century, the celebration was devoted solely to the national emblem. Flag Day became an annual celebration shortly after CatherineFlon sewed the first red and blue flag in 1803, a year before Haiti won its independence from France. Under instructions from Jean-JacquesDessalines, Haiti's first ruler, Flon used the template of the French flag's tri-color scheme but removed the white stripe. The remaining blueand red stripes symbolized the black and mulatto citizens who made up Haiti's majority population. The government incorporated University Day as part of the celebration in 1919. Dantes Bellegarde, then minister of public instruction,advocated for the day because he believed that the sanctity of the educational system was being threatened by the U.S. occupation of Haiti that had begun in 1915.

May 18, 1872. Bertrand Russell Day. Russell, an atheist who said “Think Great Thoughts, for you will never go higher than what you think” is born (1872). Bertrand Arthur William Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, social critic and political activist. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these in any profound sense. He was born in Monmouthshire, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain.

May 18, 1973. The bombing of the 103rd Police Precinct in New York. Weather Underground states this is in response to the killing of 10-year-old black youth Clifford Glover by police. Thomas Shea shot Clifford Glover in the back. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_shooting_in_South_Jamaica,_Queens Thomas Shea was put on trial for murder. The jury of 11 whites and one black acquitted Shea. He was the first New York City police officer ever to be tried for murder while on duty.

May 18, 2000. A bill was finally passed that removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse. Mississippi needs to be next.

1652 - Rhode Island enacts 1st law declaring slavery illegal. In 1652, Rhode Island passed the first abolition law in the thirteen colonies, banning African slavery.[13] The law was not enforced by the end of the 17th century. By 1774, the slave population of RI was 6.3%, nearly twice as high as any other New England colony. In the late 18th century, several Rhode Island merchant families (most notably the Browns, for whom Brown University is named) began actively engaging in the triangle slave trade. In the years after the Revolution, Rhode Island merchants controlled between 60 and 90 percent of the American trade in African slaves.

May 18, 1860 - Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Republican_National_Convention

May 18, 1994. Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza strip after three decades of occupation and Palestinians took over.

1978 - Italy legalizes abortion.

2006 - The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.

1998 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.

1803 - Britain declares war on France after Napoleon Bonaparte continues interfering in Italy & Switzerland

1980 - Mount St Helens blows its top in Washington State, 60 die; 5/18/1980: Mount Saint Helens erupted. 1980. Mount St. Helens, in Washington state, erupted after being dormant for 123 years

1848 - Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany. This was an attempt by liberal government officials to form a people's parliament in Germany. Ultimately it failed because the King of Prussia refused to lead it, after the crown was offered to him.

1851. Amsterdam-Nieuwediep telegraph connection linked

1852 - Massachusetts rules all school-age children must attend school 5/18/1852:First school attendance law passed (8-14, Massachusetts).

1619. Hugo the Great sentenced to life in prison. http://www.holland.com/us/tourism/article/loevestein-castle-1.htm http://european-heritage.org/netherlands/alkmaar/hugo-de-groot-grotius http://www.historyoflaw.info/hugo-grotius-escape-from-prison.html

1917 - US passes Selective Service act. The Selective Service Act or Selective Draft Act (Pub.L. 65–12, 40 Stat. 76, enacted May 18, 1917) authorized thefederal government to raise a national army for the American entry into World War I through the compulsory enlistment of people. It was envisioned in December 1916 and brought to President Woodrow Wilson's attention shortly after the break in relations with Germany in February 1917. The Act itself was drafted by then-Captain (later Brigadier General) Hugh S. Johnson after the United States entered World War I by declaring war on Germany. The Act was canceled with the end of the war on November, 1918. The Act was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in the Selective Draft Law Cases in 1918, a decision based partially on Vattel's The Law of Nations of 1758 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_Act_of_1917

1953 - 1st woman to break sound barrier (Jacqueline Cochrane, USA) Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound.

1980 - Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms. popular uprising in the city of Gwangju, South Korea from May 18 to 27, 1980. Estimates suggest up to 606 people may have died.[5] During this period, Gwangju citizens took up arms (by robbing local armories and police stations) when local Jeonnam University students - who were peacefully demonstrating against the Chun Doo-hwan government - were fired upon, killed, and beaten in an unprecedented attack by government troops. They lost on May 27, 1980. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Uprising

2004. Sonia Gandhi stunned her party, the Indian National Congress, by refusing to accept the prime ministership of India.

1933 - Tennessee Valley Act (TVA) Act signed by FDR, to build dams 5/18/1933: TVA created.

5/18/1969: Apollo 10 (US) launched. Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the United States Apollo space program. Launched on May 18, 1969, it was the F mission: a "dress rehearsal" for the first Moon landing, testing all of the components and procedures, just short of actually landing. The Lunar Module (LM) came to within 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) of the lunar surface, the point where the powered descent to the lunar surface would begin. Its success enabled the first landing to be attempted on Apollo 11 in July, 1969. According to the 2002 Guinness World Records, Apollo 10 set the record for the highest speed attained by a manned vehicle at 39,897 km/h (11.08 km/s or 24,791 mph) during the return from the Moon on May 26, 1969. Due to the use of their names as call signs, the Peanuts characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy became semi-official mascots for the mission. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz also drew some special mission-related artwork for NASA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_10

5/18/1973: Jeannette Rankin, first woman elected to US Congress, died.

5/18/1979: $10.5 million awarded to the estate of Karen Silkwood. Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974) was an American chemical technician and labor union activistknown for raising concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety of workers in a nuclear facility. She is most famous for her mysterious death, which was the subject of a victorious lawsuit against the chemical company Kerr-McGee. She gained more fame when she was portrayed by Meryl Streep in Mike Nichols' 1983 Academy Award-nominated film Silkwood. She worked at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. This plant experienced theft of plutonium by workers during this era. She joined the union and became an activist on behalf of issues of health and safety at the plant as a member of the union's negotiating team, the first woman to have that position at Kerr-McGee. In the summer of 1974, she testified to the Atomic Energy Commissionabout her concerns. For three days in November, she was found to have abnormal but low levels of plutonium contamination on her person and in her home. That month, while driving to meet with David Burnham, a New York Times journalist, and Steve Wodka, an official of her union's national office, she died in a car accident under unclear circumstances. Her family sued Kerr-McGee on behalf of her estate. In what was the longest trial up until then in Oklahoma history, the jury found Kerr-McGee liable for the plutonium contamination of Silkwood, and awarded substantial damages. These were reduced on appeal, but the case reached the United States Supreme Court in 1979, which upheld the damages verdict. Before another trial took place, Kerr-McGee settled with the estate out of court for US $1.38 million, while not admitting liability. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood

1869 - Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ezo

1951. UN moves HQ to NYC. http://www.aviewoncities.com/nyc/unitednations.htm Che Guavera spoke at the United Nations and admitted to executing deserters, just like George Washington did in America's Revolutionary War.

5/18: International Museum Day

5/18 :Visit Your Relatives Day

1974. India became the 6th country to become a nuclear power. Now there's 9 States who possess nuclear weapons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons

Other notable events on May 18:

1866 - French government of De Putte resigns
1934 - TWA began commercial service
1911 - Pres/dictator Jose Porfirio Diaz of Mexico term ends

1944 - Expulsion of more than 200,000 Tartars from Crimea by Soviet Union begins, they are accused of collaborating with the Germans

1846 - US troops attack Rio Grande occupying Matamoros
1863 - Siege of Vicksburg, MS; May 18... 19^th.
1948 - Saudi Arabia joins invasion of Israel

1864 - Battle of Yellow Bayou, LA (Bayou de Glaize, Old Oaks)
1896 - Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.

1918 - Dutch Indian Volksraad installed in Batavia

1951 - US General Collins predicts use of atom bomb in Korea
1971 - Pres Nixon rejects 60 demands of Congressional Black Caucus

5/18/1861: Union's first offensive engagement of the US Civil War. 1861 - Battle of Sewall's Point VA-1st Federal offense against South

5/18/1934: Crime Control Act passed.
5/18/1967: Bill legalizing artificial insemination for humans signed
:(Oklahoma).

5/18/1941:First "I Am An American Day" was held.
1917 - First units of the American Expeditionary Force, commanded by General John J. Pershing, is ordered to France

1971 - Bulgarian constitution goes into effect.

may 18 throwaways

1927 - Ritz Hotel opens in Boston

1934 - Congress approves "Lindbergh Act" making kidnapping a capital offense

1268 - The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch.
1291 - Sultan of Egypt & his son take last Christian stronghold of Acre
1302 - Bruges Matins; the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by local Flemish militia.
1593 - Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
1596 - Willem Barents leaves Amsterdam for Novaya Zemlya
5/18/1804:Napoleon proclaimed Emperor of France.
5/18/1896:US Supreme Court upholds segregation so long as "separate but
equal."
5/18/1926:Aimee Semple McPherson, glamorous California evangelist,
:disappeared.
1861 - Friedrich Hebbel's "Kriemhildes Rache" premieres in Weimar

1880 - 6th Kentucky Derby: George Lewis aboard Fonso wins in 2:37.5
1887 - Emmanuel Chabrier's opera "Le Roi Malgré Luis" premieres in Paris
1889 - Jules Massenet's opera "Esclarmonde" premieres in Paris
1896 - US Supreme court affirms race separation (Plessy v Ferguson)

1916 - A British Royal Inquiry into the Easter Rising in Dublin is set up in London
1917 - Satie/Massine/Picasso's ballet "Parade" premieres in Paris

1918 - TNT explosion in chemical factory in Oakdale, Pennsylvania, kills 200

1927 - Grauman's Chinese Theater opens in Hollywood Calif
1897 - Irish Music Festival 1st held (Dublin)

1897 - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
1899 - World Goodwill Day-26 nations meet in 1st Hague Peace Conference