May 1936 in History

Events in History

Event of Interest

May 1 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie leaves Ethiopia as Italy invades

Event of Interest

May 1 FBI's J. Edgar Hoover arrests gangster Alvin "Creepy" Karpis

First Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover

May 2 Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and family flee Abyssinia
May 3 French People's Front wins elections
May 4 Pulitzer prize awarded to Harold L Davis (Honey in the Horn)
May 5 Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip
May 5 Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa
May 9 1st KLM airplane to land on Bonaire
May 9 Italy takes Addis Abba, annexing Absynnia (Ethiopia)

Election of Interest

May 10 Manuel Azaña elected the second President of the Spanish Republic

President of the Spanish Republic Manuel Azaña

May 10 Nahas Pasja becomes premier of Egypt
May 13 Quiroga government takes office in Spain

Aviation History

May 15 Amy Johnson arrives in Croydon, England having flown from South Africa in a record 4 days and 16 hours

May 16 1st British air hostess Daphne Kearley flies to France
May 21 Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her hand. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals.
May 22 Aer Lingus (Aer Loingeas) is founded by the Irish government as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland
May 24 Dutch bishops forbid membership of Nazi party
May 25 The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins
May 26 1st government of Zealand in Belgium ends
May 27 RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton for NY on maiden voyage

On Computable Numbers

May 28 Alan Turing submits "On Computable Numbers" for publication, in which he set out the theoretical basis for modern computers.

Birthdays in History

May 4 El Cordobés [Manuel Benítez Pérez], Spanish matador, born in Palma del Río, Andalusia, Spain
May 6 Bernard Lemaire, French Canadian businessman (Cascades), born in Drummondville, Quebec
May 8 James R. Thompson, American politician (longest serving Governor of Illinois, 1977-91), born in Chicago Illinois (d. 2020)
May 8 Neville Purvis, British vice admiral (Chief of Fleet Support)
May 10 Anthony Mullens, British Lt-Gen (Deputy chief of defense)
May 10 Jayne Cortez, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, poet (I see Chano Pozo), (d. 2012)
May 10 Michael Stone, English broker/multi-millionaire (Man Group)
May 10 Trevor Clay, Gen-Sec (Royal College of Nursing)
May 11 Ulrich Berkes, German writer, born in Salle
May 12 Frank Stella, American artist, born in Malden, Massachusetts
May 12 Guillermo Endara, President of Panama (1989-94), born in Panama City, Panama (d. 2009)
May 15 Donald [Anthony] Moffitt, American sci-fi author (Jupiter Theft)
May 15 Paul Zindel, playwright (Effects of Gamma Rays on Marigolds)
May 15 Ralph Steadman, British cartoonist
May 15 Wavy Gravy, American clown and activist
May 16 Karl Lehmann, German Catholic cardinal

May 16 Philippe de Montebello, art exhibitionist (Treasures of Tut), born in Paris, France
May 17 Lars Gustafsson, Swedish poet and novelist (The Death of a Beekeeper, The Cracks in the Wall), born in Västerås, Sweden (d. 2016)
May 18 Olzhas Suleimenov, Kazakh poet, writer and anti-nuclear activist (Nevada-Semipalatinsk), born in Alma-Ata, Kazakh ASSR, Soviet Union [1]
May 19 John Jenrette Jr, American lawyer, politician (US Representative for South Carolina (D), 1975-80), and convicted felon (bribery), born in Conway, South Carolina (d. 2023)
May 21 Abdul Taib Mahmud, 4th Chief Minister of Sarawak (1981-2014) and 7th Governor of Sarawak (2014-), born in Miri, Kingdom of Sarawak
May 21 Ama Samy, Indian Jesuit priest, Zen teacher and disciple of Yamada Koun, born in Burma
May 21 Dipak Nandy, Indian born British academic and founder of the Runnymead Trust, born in Calcutta, India
May 22 George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (helped invent LCD displays), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2014)
May 22 M. Scott Peck, American psychiatrist and writer (The Road Less Traveled), born in NYC, New York (d. 2005)
May 23 Douglas John Gorman, British businessman (Chairman of CMG (Computer Management Group)), born in Woolwich, England (d. 1995)
May 27 Benjamin Bathurst, vice chief of British Defense Staff
May 27 Lord Holme, president British Liberal Party
May 27 Marcel Masse, Canadian politician
May 28 Claude Forget, French Canadian politician
May 31 Zevulun Hammer, Israeli politician, minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (1996-98), born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine (d. 1998)

Deaths in History

May 8 Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (Underworld of Abendlandes), dies at 55
May 9 François Conrad Schlumberger, French physicist, dies at 57
May 14 Edmund Allenby, Viscount Allenby, English Fieldmarshal, General in Egypt during WWI, dies at 74
May 14 Samuel Pierre l'Honoré Naber, Dutch rear-admiral and librarian, dies at 71
May 16 Julius Schreck, German Nazi military man (1st head of the SS), and confidant of Adolf Hitler, dies of meningitis at 37
May 17 Panagis Tsaldaris, twice Greek prime minister (b. 1868)