May 18
1642 - The city of Montreal was founded by the French.
1652 - Rhode Island became the first American colony to pass a law abolishing African slavery; however, the law was apparently never enforced.
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate.
1863 - The Siege of Vicksburg began during the Civil War.
1896 - The U.S. Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, endorsed "separate but equal" racial segregation, a concept renounced 58 years later by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
1910 - Halley's Comet passed by earth, brushing it with its tail.
1920 - Pope John Paul II was born near Krakow, Poland.
1927 - In America's deadliest school attack, part of a schoolhouse in Bath Township, Michigan, was blown up with explosives planted by local farmer Andrew Kehoe, who then set off a bomb in his truck; the attacks killed 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe, who'd earlier killed his wife. (Authorities said Kehoe, who suffered financial difficulties, was seeking revenge for losing a township clerk election.)
1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1934 - Congress approved, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed, the so-called "Lindbergh Act," providing for the death penalty in cases of interstate kidnapping.
1953 - Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound.
1973 - Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was appointed Watergate special prosecutor by U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson.
1974 - India became the world's sixth nuclear power.
1980 - Mount St. Helens in Washington erupted after lying dormant for 123 years, leaving 57 people dead or missing.
1981 - The New York Native, a gay newspaper, carried a story concerning rumors of "an exotic new disease" among homosexuals; it was the first published report about what came to be known as AIDS.
1994 - Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip after three decades of occupation; Palestinians soon took over the area.
1998 - The U.S. government filed an antitrust case against Microsoft, saying the powerful software company had a "choke hold" on competitors that was denying consumers important choices about how they bought and used computers. (The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in 2001.)
2000 - A bill was finally passed that removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse.
2003 - President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia declared martial law and sent 30,000 troops into Aceh.
2004 - Sonia Gandhi stunned her party, the Indian National Congress, but refusing to accept the prime ministership of India.
2013 - A car driven by an 87-year-old man plowed into dozens of hikers during a parade in Damascus, Virginia, injuring about 50 people. (The driver, who suffered from a medical condition, was not charged.)
2015 - President Barack Obama ended long-running federal transfers of some combat-style gear to local law enforcement in an attempt to ease tensions between police and minority communities, saying equipment made for the battlefield should not be a tool of American criminal justice.
2018 - A 17-year-old armed with a shotgun and a pistol opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing eight students and two teachers. (Dimitrios Pagourtzis is charged in state court with capital murder; his attorney says he is facing 11 federal charges.)
2018 - A 39-year-old airliner crashed and burned in a field just after taking off from Havana, Cuba, killing 112 people.
2018 - Hasbro announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office had issued a trademark for the scent of Play-doh.
2020 - President Donald Trump said he'd been taking a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a zinc supplement to protect against the coronavirus despite warnings from his own government that the drug should be administered only in a hospital or research setting.
2022 - President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas amid a national shortage.
Birthdays
20 - Emma Engle (actress)
22 - Addison Justis (model)
23 - Addison Holley (actress)
27 - Gabriella
27 - Violett Beane (actress)
27 - Josefine Pettersen (actress)
31 - Spencer Breslin (actor)
35 - Danielle Victor (reality star)
35 - Gabi Victor (reality star)
42 - Allen Leech (actor)
43 - Matt Long (actor)
48 - Jack Johnson (singer)
53 - Tina Fey (actress/comedian)
54 - Martika (singer)
63 - Page Hamilton (singer)
68 - Chow Yun-Fat (actor)
71 - George Strait (singer)
72 - James Stephens (actor)
75 - Joe Bonsall (singer)
77 - Reggie Jackson (baseball player)
82 - Candice Azzara (actress)
85 - Brooks Robinson (baseball player)
99 - Priscilla Pointer (actress)
==================================
Today in Sports History - May 18
1897 - William Joyce (New York Giants) set a record when he hit four triples in one game.
1933 - The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was announced. It would be played on July 6 at Comiskey Park as a part of the Chicago World's Fair.
1942 - New York ended night baseball games for the duration of World War II.
1956 - Mickey Mantle hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a game for the third time.
1971 - The Utah Stars defeat the Kentucky Colonels in seven games to win the ABA championship.
2000 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) passed Mickey Mantle on the home run career list. He ended the game with 539.
2004 - Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks throws the 16th perfect game in MLB history in a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.
2022 - The U.S. Soccer Federation reached milestone agreements to pay its men's and women's teams equally.
1642 - The city of Montreal was founded by the French.
1652 - Rhode Island became the first American colony to pass a law abolishing African slavery; however, the law was apparently never enforced.
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate.
1863 - The Siege of Vicksburg began during the Civil War.
1896 - The U.S. Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, endorsed "separate but equal" racial segregation, a concept renounced 58 years later by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
1910 - Halley's Comet passed by earth, brushing it with its tail.
1920 - Pope John Paul II was born near Krakow, Poland.
1927 - In America's deadliest school attack, part of a schoolhouse in Bath Township, Michigan, was blown up with explosives planted by local farmer Andrew Kehoe, who then set off a bomb in his truck; the attacks killed 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe, who'd earlier killed his wife. (Authorities said Kehoe, who suffered financial difficulties, was seeking revenge for losing a township clerk election.)
1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1934 - Congress approved, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed, the so-called "Lindbergh Act," providing for the death penalty in cases of interstate kidnapping.
1953 - Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound.
1973 - Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was appointed Watergate special prosecutor by U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson.
1974 - India became the world's sixth nuclear power.
1980 - Mount St. Helens in Washington erupted after lying dormant for 123 years, leaving 57 people dead or missing.
1981 - The New York Native, a gay newspaper, carried a story concerning rumors of "an exotic new disease" among homosexuals; it was the first published report about what came to be known as AIDS.
1994 - Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip after three decades of occupation; Palestinians soon took over the area.
1998 - The U.S. government filed an antitrust case against Microsoft, saying the powerful software company had a "choke hold" on competitors that was denying consumers important choices about how they bought and used computers. (The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in 2001.)
2000 - A bill was finally passed that removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse.
2003 - President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia declared martial law and sent 30,000 troops into Aceh.
2004 - Sonia Gandhi stunned her party, the Indian National Congress, but refusing to accept the prime ministership of India.
2013 - A car driven by an 87-year-old man plowed into dozens of hikers during a parade in Damascus, Virginia, injuring about 50 people. (The driver, who suffered from a medical condition, was not charged.)
2015 - President Barack Obama ended long-running federal transfers of some combat-style gear to local law enforcement in an attempt to ease tensions between police and minority communities, saying equipment made for the battlefield should not be a tool of American criminal justice.
2018 - A 17-year-old armed with a shotgun and a pistol opened fire at a Houston-area high school, killing eight students and two teachers. (Dimitrios Pagourtzis is charged in state court with capital murder; his attorney says he is facing 11 federal charges.)
2018 - A 39-year-old airliner crashed and burned in a field just after taking off from Havana, Cuba, killing 112 people.
2018 - Hasbro announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office had issued a trademark for the scent of Play-doh.
2020 - President Donald Trump said he'd been taking a malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a zinc supplement to protect against the coronavirus despite warnings from his own government that the drug should be administered only in a hospital or research setting.
2022 - President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas amid a national shortage.
Birthdays
20 - Emma Engle (actress)
22 - Addison Justis (model)
23 - Addison Holley (actress)
27 - Gabriella
27 - Violett Beane (actress)
27 - Josefine Pettersen (actress)
31 - Spencer Breslin (actor)
35 - Danielle Victor (reality star)
35 - Gabi Victor (reality star)
42 - Allen Leech (actor)
43 - Matt Long (actor)
48 - Jack Johnson (singer)
53 - Tina Fey (actress/comedian)
54 - Martika (singer)
63 - Page Hamilton (singer)
68 - Chow Yun-Fat (actor)
71 - George Strait (singer)
72 - James Stephens (actor)
75 - Joe Bonsall (singer)
77 - Reggie Jackson (baseball player)
82 - Candice Azzara (actress)
85 - Brooks Robinson (baseball player)
99 - Priscilla Pointer (actress)
==================================
Today in Sports History - May 18
1897 - William Joyce (New York Giants) set a record when he hit four triples in one game.
1933 - The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was announced. It would be played on July 6 at Comiskey Park as a part of the Chicago World's Fair.
1942 - New York ended night baseball games for the duration of World War II.
1956 - Mickey Mantle hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a game for the third time.
1971 - The Utah Stars defeat the Kentucky Colonels in seven games to win the ABA championship.
2000 - Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals) passed Mickey Mantle on the home run career list. He ended the game with 539.
2004 - Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks throws the 16th perfect game in MLB history in a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.
2022 - The U.S. Soccer Federation reached milestone agreements to pay its men's and women's teams equally.
