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What happened in history on this day: May 1?
On May 1 in ...
- 1806 - Secretary of State James Madison instructs U.S. Mint Director Robert Patterson to cease coinage of silver coins larger than the half dollar due to exportation of silver dollars by the Bank of the United States.
- 1822 - John Phillips becomes first mayor of Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1841 - First emigrant wagon train leaves Independence, Missouri, for California.
- 1847 - The cornerstone is laid for the first building of the Smithsonian Institution.
- 1861 - CSA General Robert Lee orders Confederate troops under General Thomas Jackson to Harper's Ferry.
- 1862 - USA Army captain David Farragut recaptures New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 1863 - Edward Dorr Tracy, Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 29.
- 1863 - Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia (29,000 injured or died).
- 1863 - Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi.
- 1863 - Confederate States of America "National Flag" replaces "Stars and Bars".
- 1863 - Confederate congress passes resolution to kill black soldiers.
- 1864 - Atlanta campaign, Georgia.
- 1864 - Battle at Alexandria, Louisiana (Red River Campaign).
- 1866 - American Equal Rights Association forms.
- 1867 - Reconstruction of South begins, black voter registration.
- 1871 - The US Supreme Court rules 5-4 in favor of the legal tender status of paper money, overruling a decision made in 1870 which considered it unconstitutional.
- 1873 - First US postal card is issued.
- 1875 - 238 members of "Whiskey Ring" accused of anti-US activities.
- 1884 - Construction begins on Chicago's first skyscraper (10 stories).
- 1886 - US general strike for 8-hour day begins.
- 1892 - US Quarantine Station opens on Angel Island, San Francisco Bay.
- 1893 - US President Grover Cleveland officially opens the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Constructed at a cost of $19 million, the fair is spread over 686 acres along Lake Michigan, with displays from 46 countries and 34 American states. The fair features the first Ferris wheel, first commercial movie theatre, first moving sidewalk, the debut of the automatic dishwasher, and the debut of the zipper.
- 1898 - US Navy Commodore George Dewey aboard Olympia with four cruisers and two gunboats engage Spanish fleet in Manila Harbor, Philippines, annihilating the Spanish fleet of ten ships; 167 men killed, 214 wounded.
- 1900 - Premature blast collapses mine tunnel killing 200 at Scofield, Utah.
- 1901 - Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York.
- 1915 - German submarine sinks US ship Gulflight.
- 1931 - U.S. President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City's Empire State Building. At 102 stories and 1,250 feet high it is the world's tallest skyscraper (a record held until 1972).
- 1934 - Philippine legislature accepts US proposal for independence.
- 1935 - Boulder Dam is completed.
- 1937 - US President Franklin Roosevelt signs act of neutrality.
- 1941 - Film Citizen Kane, directed by and starring Orson Welles, premieres in New York.
- 1941 - General Mills introduces Cheerios cereal.
- 1943 - Food rationing begins in US.
- 1946 - Mrs Emma Clarissa Clement named "American Mother of the Year".
- 1947 - Lieutenant General Hoyt S Vandenberg ends term as second head of US Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1947 - Rear Admiral Roscoe H Hillenkoetter, US Navy, becomes 3th director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1948 - Glenn Taylor, Idaho Senator, arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked "for Negroes".
- 1952 - US Marines take part in an atomic explosion training in Nevada.
- 1952 - "Mr Potato Head" toy is introduced; first toy advertised on television.
- 1954 - American Motors is formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Comopany.
- 1956 - The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
- 1957 - US gives Poland credit of US$95 million.
- 1957 - Vanguard TV-1 booster test reaches 195 km.
- 1960 - Russia shoots down American pilot Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk.
- 1962 - US President John Kennedy authorizes Area Redevelopment Act (ARA).
- 1963 - First American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest.
- 1964 - At Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, the BASIC programming language runs for the first time. The language was developed by professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz, BASIC is an acronym for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It is based on FORTRAN and Algol, and was developed for a General Electric 225 mainframe computer.
- 1966 - US troops shooting targets in Cambodia.
- 1967 - Clay Shaw is arrested on charges of conspiracy in the murder of President John Kennedy.
- 1969 - Clay Shaw is found not guilty of conspiracy to murder President John Kennedy.
- 1971 - Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) is formed to take over U.S. passenger rail service.
- 1980 - 15th Academy of Country Music Awards: Barbara Mandrell wins.
- 1980 - American Book Award: William Styron (Sophie's Choice)/T Wolfe (The Right Stuff).
- 1981 - Harrison Williams (Senator-Democrat-New Jersey) convicted on FBI Abscam charges.
- 1982 - A crowd of over 100,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. The fair is kicked off with an address by President Ronald Reagan.
- 1985 - US President Ronald Reagan ends embargo against Nicaragua.
- 1989 - The Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World opens to the public. It covers 135 acres. Total construction costs were over US$500 million. Advertising and promotions for the opening cost US$30 million. Entrance prices are US$29 for adults, and US$23 for children aged 3-9.
- 1989 - US Supreme Court rules employees have legal burden to prove non-discriminatory reasons for not hiring or promoting.
- 1992 - Eric Houston kills four in a California high school where he failed history four years prior.
- 2003 - George W. Bush lands on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in a Lockheed S-3 Viking, where he gives a speech announcing the end of major combat in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. A banner behind him declares "Mission Accomplished."
- 2004 - The Sasser computer worm is first noticed on the loose, affecting Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The worm crashes and rebots computers, replicating itself to other computers. Millions of computers are quickly affected worldwide.
- 2006 - The Great American Boycott takes place across the United States as marchers protest for immigration rights.
- 2008 - A US navy ship off the coast of Somalia makes a missile attack on the home of Aden Hashi Ayro in Dusamareb, killing him and at least ten other people. Ayro was military leader of al-Shabab, in control of most of Somalia.
- 2023 - The US Navy base on Vieques island, Puerto Rico, (established in 1941) is permanently closed.
- 2023 - In the USA, First Republic Bank becomes the second-biggest retail-bank failure in the US, with JP Morgan Chase taking over most of the bank, and the Federal Deopsit Insurance Corporation expecting to lose $13 billion.
Births on May 1
- 1864 - Birth of Anna Jarvis in Webster, West Virginia, USA; founder of Mother's Day in the USA.
- 1892 - Birth of Howard Barlow in Plain City, Ohio, USA; conductor (Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Voice of Firestone radio and TV show).
- 1895 - Birth of Leo Sowerby in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA; composer (Pulitzer 1946).
- 1905 - Birth of Leila Hyams in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Big House, Ruggles of Red Gap).
- 1907 - Birth of Kate Smith in Greenville, Alabama, USA; singer (Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"), radio host in 1930s-40s.
- 1910 - Birth of Cliff Battles in Akron, Ohio, USA; NFL hall of famer (Atlanta Braves, Washington Redskins).
- 1916 - Birth of Jack Paar in Canton, Ohio, USA; actor/comedian/TV host (The Breakfast Club radio show, Up to Paar TV show, Bank on the Stars TV show, Early Show, Tonight Show).
- 1917 - Birth of John Beradino in Los Angeles, California, USA; major league baseball player, TV actor (I Led Three Lives, The New Breed, Steve Hardy - General Hospital).
- 1922 - Birth of Louis Nye in Hartford, Connecticut, USA; comic actor (Steve Allen, Men on the Street, Happy Days, Curb Your Enthusiasm).
- 1923 - Birth of Joseph Heller in Brooklyn, New York, USA; novelist (Catch-22, 1963 Arts and Letters Award).
- 1924 - Birth of Art Fleming in the Bronx, New York, USA; TV host (Jeopardy) (dies 1995).
- 1925 - Birth of Chuck Bednarik in Pennsylvania, USA; NFL hall of fame center/linebacker (Philadelphia Eagles).
- 1925 - Birth of Malcolm Scott Carpenter in Boulder, Colorado, USA; astronaut (Mercury 7 - Aurora 7).
- 1927 - Birth of Harry [Harold George Junior] Belafonte in New York City, New York, USA; calypso singer ("The Banana Boat Song").
- 1929 - Birth of Sonny James AKA James Loden in Hackelburg, Alabama, USA; rocker (Young Love).
- 1933 - Birth of Joan Hackett in East Harlem, New York City, New York, USA; actress (Defenders, Another Day).
- 1939 - Birth of Judy Collins in Seattle, Washington, USA; singer ("Send in the Clowns", "Both Sides Now", "Clouds").
- 1939 - Birth of Max Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, USA; news anchor (ABC Evening News).
- 1939 - Birth of Ray Aranha in Miami, Florida, USA; actor (Nick - Married People).
- 1942 - Birth of Stephen Macht in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (Joe - Knots Landing, Cagney and Lacey, State of Mind, Melrose Place).
- 1943 - Birth of Joy Harmon in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA; actress (Cool Hand Luke).
- 1945 - Birth of Rita Coolidge in Nashville, Tennessee, USA; singer ("Higher and Higher", "We're All Alone").
- 1946 - Birth of Jerry Weiss in New York City, New York, USA; rocker (Blood Sweat and Tears).
- 1949 - Birth of Douglas Barr in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA; actor-director (Howie - The Fall Guy, Designing Women).
- 1949 - Birth of Margo Miller in San Francisco, California, USA; fencer-epee (Olympics-1996).
- 1954 - Birth of Ray Parker Junior in Detroit, Michigan, USA; rock guitarist/vocalist ("Ghostbusters").
- 1956 - Birth of Byron Stewart in Baxter Springs, Kansas, USA; actor (Warren Coolidge - St Elsewhere).
- 1957 - Birth of Dick Swett; American politician (Representative-Democrat-New Hampshire).
- 1957 - Birth of Paul D Ronney in Los Angeles, California, USA; ScD/astronaut (STS 83 alternate).
- 1958 - Birth of John Diehl in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; actor (Detective Zito - Miami Vice).
- 1961 - Birth of Charlie O'Brien in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA; catcher (Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays).
- 1962 - Birth of Paula Weishoff in Hollywood, California, USA; volleyball player (Olympics-silver-1984, bronze-1992, 1996).
- 1965 - Birth of Jon Warren in Akron, Ohio, USA; 1.5k runner.
- 1966 - Birth of Charlie Schlatter in New York City, New York, USA; actor (18 Again, Heartbreak Hotel, Diagnosis Murder, Ferris Bueller's Day Off).
- 1966 - Birth of Johnny Colt in Cherry Point, North Carolina, USA; rock bassist (Black Crowes - "Shake Your Money Maker").
- 1966 - Birth of Mark Coogan in Manhaset, New York, USA; marathon runner (Olympics-1996).
- 1967 - Birth of Scott Coffey in Hawaii; actor (Satisfaction, Shout).
- 1968 - Birth of Mark Scott in Paramus, New Jersey, USA; rock drummer (Trixter - "Give It To Me Good").
- 1976 - Birth of Darius McCrary in Walnut, California, USA; actor (Edward Winslow - Family Matters).
- 1979 - Birth of Kimberly Grigsby; Miss Virginia Teen USA (1997).
Deaths on May 1
- 1863 - Edward Dorr Tracy, Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at age 29.
- 1952 - William Fox [Fried], American film pioneer (Nickelodeon), dies at age 73.
- 1989 - Death of Douglass Watson at age 68; actor (Mac Cory - Another World TV show).
- 1989 - Death of Sally Kirkland, fashion editor at Life magazine (born 1912).
- 2016 - Death of Solomon W. Golomb, American mathematician (born 1932).
- 2022 - Death of Kathy Boudin at age 78; American radical activist (Weather Underground).
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