Events in History
- May 1 "Communist" bomb attack kills 2 firemen in Brussels
Event of Interest
May 1 US President Reagan ends embargo against Nicaragua
- May 1 William Hoffman's "As Is" premieres in NYC
- May 2 US performs underground nuclear test "Towanda" at Nevada Test Site, with an estimated 150 ton yield
- May 3 Date of $5 million check in "A View To A Kill"
- May 6 17th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-B): Challenger 7 lands at Edwards AFB
- May 8 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- May 10 Challenger transports back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
- May 11 Booby trap bomb kills 86 people in India
- May 11 Pope John Paul II arrival in Netherlands marred by violent protest
- May 12 Amy Eilberg is ordained in NY as 1st woman Conservative rabbi
- May 13 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police drop explosive device on house occupied by revolutionary Black separatist group "Move", killing 11, during stand-off after a shoot-out; ensuing fire destroys 61 homes
- May 16 Pope John Paul II arrives in Belgium
- May 17 Les Anderson, catches record 97 lb 4 oz Chinook salmon, while fishing off coast of Alaska
- May 20 Dow Jones industrial avg closes above 1,300 for 1st time
- May 20 FBI arrests John A Walker Jr, convicted of spying for USSR
- May 20 US began broadcasts to Cuba on Radio Marti
- May 21 Israel exchanges 1,150 prisoners with the PFLP-GC in return for 3 Israeli soldiers
- May 22 US sailor Michael L Walker arrested for spying for USSR
- May 25 Cyclone ravages Bangladesh; 11,000 killed
- May 26 Explosions destroys 2 tankers off of Gibraltar, 30 die
- May 27 Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997
- May 27 Inaugural bands parade for President Reagan
- May 28 David Jacobsen taken hostage in Beirut Lebanon
- May 28 Discovery moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 51-G
- May 31 Guatemala adopts constitution
- May 31 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) became a Schedule I drug in the United States
- May 31 Tornado outbreak in the United States and Canada sees 41 tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, leaving 90 dead
Birthdays in History
Deaths in History
- May 1 Denise Robins, English romantic novelist (1st Long Kiss), dies at 88
- May 2 Bridget D'Oyly Carte, British theater & hotel director, dies of lung cancer at 77
- May 2 Milton S Eisenhower, US diplomat, dies at 85
- May 4 Clarence Wiseman, the 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
- May 5 Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
- May 11 Chester Gould, American cartoonist (Dick Tracy), dies at 84
- May 11 Garmt Stuiveling, Dutch writer & poet (Ego & Echo), dies at 77
- May 12 Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (Landscape with 2 Personages), dies at 83
- May 13 Leatrice Joy, silent screen star, dies in Riverdale (Bronx) NYC at 91
- May 13 Revaz Dogonadze, Georgian scientist (one of the founders of Quantum electrochemistry), dies at 53
- May 14 Mohammed Munir, Indonesian worker's union leader, executed
- May 18 Stojan Daskalov, Bulgarian writer (A Farm), dies at 75
- May 20 Harm Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch painter, etcher and ceramist, dies at 92
- May 25 Harold Hecht, American choreographer, dies at 77 of cancer
- May 25 Robert Nathan, American poet and novelist (Portrait of Jennie), dies at 91
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists