Today in History
Today is Wednesday, May 3, the 123rd day of 2017. There are 242 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 3, 1952, the Kentucky Derby was televised nationally for the first time on CBS; the winner was Hill Gail, ridden by Eddie Arcaro.
On this date:
In 1515, Pope Leo X promulgated the bull “Inter sollicitudines” allowing the Catholic Church to review and censor books.
In 1791, the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania adopted a constitution.
In 1802, Washington, D.C., was incorporated as a city.
In 1916, Irish nationalists Padraic Pearse, Thomas Clarke and Thomas MacDonagh were executed by a British firing squad; they were among 16 people put to death for their roles in the Easter Rising.
In 1937, Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, “Gone with the Wind.”
In 1945, during World War II, Allied forces recaptured Rangoon (Yangon) from the Japanese.
In 1947, Japan’s postwar constitution took effect.
In 1960, the Harvey Schmidt-Tom Jones musical “The Fantasticks” began a nearly 42-year run at New York’s Sullivan Street Playhouse.
In 1979, Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher was chosen to become Britain’s first female prime minister as the Tories ousted the incumbent Labor government in parliamentary elections.
In 1986, in NASA’s first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff, forcing safety officers to destroy it by remote control.
In 1987, The Miami Herald said its reporters had observed a young woman spending “Friday night and most of Saturday” at a Washington townhouse belonging to Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart. (The woman was later identified as Donna Rice; the resulting controversy torpedoed Hart’s presidential bid.)
In 1999, some 70 tornadoes roared across Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 46 people and injuring hundreds.
Ten years ago: British girl Madeleine McCann vanished during a family vacation in Portugal nine days before her fourth birthday; her disappearance remains unsolved. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Virginia for the commemoration of Jamestown’s 400th anniversary. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem (wah-LEED’ moh-AH’-lehm) of U.S. concerns about his country’s porous border with Iraq in the two nations’ first Cabinet-level talks in years. The Florida Legislature gave its final approval to moving the state’s 2008 primary from early March to Jan. 29. Ten Republican presidential candidates held their first debate of the 2008 race at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Astronaut Wally Schirra died in La Jolla, California, at age 84.
Five years ago: U.S. officials published online a selection of letters from Osama bin Laden’s last hideaway; the documents portrayed a network that was weak, inept and under siege and its leader seemingly near wit’s end about the passing of his global jihad’s supposed glory days.
One year ago: In a stunning triumph for a political outsider, Donald Trump all but clinched the Republican presidential nomination with a resounding victory in Indiana that knocked rival Ted Cruz out of the race. A funeral was held for six of the eight family members killed in rural southern Ohio as authorities continued chasing leads in the slayings.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Alex Cord is 84. Singer Frankie Valli is 83. Sports announcer Greg Gumbel is 71. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is 68. Pop singer Mary Hopkin is 67. Singer Christopher Cross is 66. Country musician Cactus Moser (Highway 101) is 60. Rock musician David Ball (Soft Cell) is 58. Former Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is 56. Country singer Shane Minor is 49. Actress Amy Ryan is 49. Actor Bobby Cannavale (ka-nuh-VAL’-ee) is 47. Music and film producer-actor Damon Dash is 46. Country musician John Driskell Hopkins (Zac Brown Band) is 46. Country-rock musician John Neff (formerly of Drive-By Truckers) is 46. Country singer Brad Martin is 44. TV personality Willie Geist (TV: “Today”) is 42. Actress Christina Hendricks is 42. Actor Dule (doo-LAY’) Hill is 42. Country singer Eric Church is 40. Actress Tanya Wright is 39. Dancer Cheryl Burke is 33. Soul singer Michael Kiwanuka is 30. Actress Jill Berard is 27. Actress Zoe De Grand Maison is 22. Rapper Desiigner (cq) is 20.
Thought for Today: “Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.” William Inge, American author and playwright (born this date in 1913, died 1973).