- May 1 80th Kentucky Derby: Raymond York wins aboard Determine, his only Derby success
- May 1 Bishops publish Mandement (member socialist org forbidden)
- May 1 HSA-UWC Forms (Unification Church) (Moonies)
- May 1 WAPA TV channel 4 in San Juan, PR (NBC/SFN) begins broadcasting
- May 1 Preston North End defender Joe Marston becomes the first Australian to play in an FA Cup Final, a 3-2 loss to WBA
Baseball Record
May 2 Stan Musial hits 5 HRs in a doubleheader
Stan Musial
- May 3 KTEN TV channel 10 in Ada-Ardmore, OK (ABC) begins broadcasting
Event of Interest
May 3 Pulitzer prize awarded to Charles A Lindbergh & John Patrick
Charles Lindbergh
Event of Interest
May 6 Roger Bannister of the UK becomes the 1st person to run a 4 minute mile, recording 3:59:4 at Iffley Road, Oxford
Roger Bannister
- May 7 French surrender to Vietminh after 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu
- May 7 US, Great Britain & France reject Russian membership of NATO
- May 8 1st shot-put over 60' (18.29 m)-Parry O'Brien, Los Angeles, CA
- May 10 Bolshoi Ballet does not appear in Paris
- May 13 "Pajama Game" opens at St James Theater NYC for 1063 performances
- May 13 Labour Party wins British municipal elections
- May 13 Robin Roberts gives up a HR then retires next 27 men in a row
- May 13 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
- May 13 Chinese Middle School students in Singapore take part in anti-National Service riots
- May 14 Belgium shortens military conscription from 20 to 18 months
- May 15 KGLO (now KIMT) TV channel 3 in Mason City, IA (CBS) 1st broadcast
Event of Interest
May 16 Ted Williams gets 8 hits in 1st game (DH) since breaking collarbone
Ted Williams
Event of Interest
May 20 Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of Nationalist China
Chiang Kai-shek
- May 21 Amendment to give 18-year-olds right to vote is defeated
- May 22 79th Preakness: Johnny Adams aboard Hasty Road wins in 1:57.4
- May 22 KREX TV channel 5 in Grand Junction, CO (CBS) begins broadcasting
- May 22 Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan is Bar Mitzvahed
- May 24 1st rocket attains 150 mi (241 km) altitude, White Sands, New Mexico
- May 24 Dr Peter Murray Marshall becomes 1st African American to head an American Medical Association unit (New York County)
- May 24 German airline Lufthansa forms
- May 24 IBM announces vacuum tube "electronic" brain that could perform 10 million operations an hour
- May 29 Pope Pius XII issues holy declaration
- May 29 First of the annual Bilderberg conferences.
Tennis Open
May 29 53rd Men's French Championships: Tony Trabert beats Art Larsen (6-4, 7-5, 6-1)
Tony Trabert
- May 29 French Championships Women's Tennis: Maureen Connolly retains her title; beats Ginette Bucaille of France 6-4, 6-1
- May 29 British runner Diane Leather becomes first woman to run the mile in under 5 minutes; 4:59.6 at Alexander Sports Ground in Birmingham, England
- May 30 Dutch bishops forbid membership to non-catholic sporting clubs
- May 30 Emile Zatopek runs world record 5K (13:57.2)
- May 30 Hector Villa-Lobos' "Odisseia de Uma Raca" premieres
- May 31 Indianapolis 500: Bill Vukovich wins in 3:49:17.261 (210.567 km/h)