May 1986

Historical Events in May 1986

Pripyat: Nuclear Wasteland

May 1 Russian news agency Tass reports Chernobyl nuclear power plant mishap
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'I Love You Pripyat, Forgive Me!' scrawled on the walls of a Pripyat clinic during its hasty evacuation after the Chernobyl disaster — 'I Love You Pripyat, Forgive Me!' scrawled on the walls of a Pripyat clinic during its hasty evacuation after the Chernobyl disaster

May 1 Will Stegers expedition reaches North Pole
May 2 Transportation Expo 86 opens in Vancouver, BC
May 3 112th Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker aboard Ferdinand wins in 2:02.8
May 3 Air Lanka crashes, killing 22
May 3 Cubs 3rd baseman Ron Cey hits his 300th & 301st HR
May 3 NASA launches Goes-G, it fails to achieve orbit
May 3 NY Yankee Don Mattingly is 6th to hit 3 sacrifice flies in a game
May 3 31st Eurovision Song Contest: Sandra Kim for Belgium wins singing "J'aime la vie" in Bergen
May 4 President Babrak Karmal resigns as party leader of Afghanistan
May 5 Hall of Fame & Museum announced to be built in Cleveland
May 6 Donald E Pelotte becomes 1st native American bishop
May 6 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
May 7 Phillies outfielder Garry Maddox, retires
May 7 Iraq bombs a Tehran oil refiner

May 7 30th European Cup: Steaua Bucuresti beats Barcelona (0-0, 2-0 on penalties) at Seville
May 9 NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: Montreal Canadians beat New York Rangers, 4 games to 1
May 10 "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco hits #1 on UK pop chart

Event of Interest

May 12 President Reagan appoints Dr James C Fletcher NASA Administrator

US President & Actor Ronald Reagan — US President & Actor
Ronald Reagan

May 12 Fred Markham (US), unpaced & unaided by wind, is 1st to pedal 65 mph on a level course, Big Sand Flat, California

Historic Publication

May 14 Netherlands Institute for War Documentation publishes Anne Frank's complete diary

Jewish Victim & Diarist of the Holocaust Anne Frank — Jewish Victim & Diarist of the Holocaust
Anne Frank

Event of Interest

May 14 Reggie Jackson hit his 537th HR passing Mickey Mantle into 6th place

MLB Right Fielder Reggie Jackson — MLB Right Fielder
Reggie Jackson

Baseball Legend Mickey Mantle — Baseball Legend
Mickey Mantle

May 14 Pride of Baltimore lost at sea.
May 14 NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Calgary Flames beat St. Louis Blues, 4 games to 3
May 15 Argentine ex-president Galtieri sentenced to 12 years

Event of Interest

May 16 "Top Gun", directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise premieres

Actor Tom Cruise — Actor
Tom Cruise

May 16 Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) comes back from the dead on TV soap "Dallas"
May 16 Joaquín Balaguers PRSC wins Dominican Rep parliamentary election

Event of Interest

May 16 South African President P. W. Botha sends Coetsee to visit Mandela

President of South Africa P. W. Botha — President of South Africa
P. W. Botha

May 16 The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
May 17 "Chicken Song" by Spitting Image hits #1 on the UK pop chart
May 17 111th Preakness: Alex Solis aboard Snow Chief wins in 1:54.8
May 18 "Singin' in the Rain" closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 367 performances
May 18 David Goch finishes swimming 55,682 miles in a 25-yd pool
May 18 South African army occupies Botswana, Zimbabwe & Zambia
May 18 Chung Kwung Ying does 2,750 "atomic" hand-stand push-ups
May 19 Anti-apartheid activist Hélène Pastoors sentenced to 10 yrs in South Africa
May 19 39th Cannes Film Festival: "The Mission" directed by Roland Joffe wins the Palme d'Or
May 20 Christy Fichtner, 23, (Texas), crowned 35th Miss USA
May 20 Flintstones 25th Anniversary Celebration airs on CBS-tv

May 21 Atlanta Brave Rafael Ramirez hits 4 doubles in a game
May 21 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

Event of Interest

May 22 Cher calls David Letterman an asshole on Late Night on NBC

Goddess of Pop Cher — Goddess of Pop
Cher

Comedian and Television Host David Letterman — Comedian and Television Host
David Letterman

May 23 US & Western Europe veto heavier sanctions against South Africa

Event of Interest

May 24 Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st British Prime Minister to visit Israel

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher

May 24 Reginald Huffstetler trod water for 985 hrs
May 24 Stanley Cup Final, Saddledome, Calgary, AL: Montreal Canadiens beat Calgary Flames, 4-3 for 4-1 series victory
May 25 95-year-old woman scores a hole-in-one in Florida
May 25 Ferry boat Shamia sinks on Maghna River Bangladesh, 600 killed
May 25 Hands Across America - 6.5 million people hold hands from California to NY

Baseball Record

May 25 KC Royal George Brett gets his 2,000th hit

MLB Third Baseman George Brett — MLB Third Baseman
George Brett

May 25 Virgilio Barco elected president of Colombia
May 27 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
May 27 Norway Showcase groundbreaking
May 27 President Reagan orders 2 Poseidon-class submarines be dismantled
May 28 Democratic Labor Party wins parliamentary election in Barbados
May 28 White Sox Joe Cowley sets record striking out 1st 7 Rangers he faces
May 29 59th National Spelling Bee: Jon Pennington wins spelling odontalgia
May 30 Ariane-2 (ESA) launched
May 30 Bobby Rahal is 1st to average over 170 mph in Indianapolis 500
May 30 France performs nuclear test

Event of Interest

May 30 Barry Bonds makes his MLB debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates

MLB Legend Barry Bonds — MLB Legend
Barry Bonds

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