May 26

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Matt Stone, American animator and co-creator of South Park.

1966 ~ Zola Budd, South American athlete.

1966 ~ Helena Bonham Carter, English actress.

1951 ~ Sally Ride (d. 2012), First American astronaut to go into space.

1928 ~ Jack Kevorkian (d. 2011), American pathologist and activist for assisted suicide.

1926 ~ Miles Davis (d. 1991), American Jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer.

1923 ~ James Arness (d. 2011),

1920 ~ Peggy lee (d. 2002), American singer and actress.

1912 ~ Jay Silverheels (d. 1980), Canadian actor.

1907 ~ John Wayne (d. 1979), American actor.

1895 ~ Dorothea Lange (d. 1965), American photographer, best known for her work during the Great Depression.

1886 ~ Al Jolson (né Asa Yoelson, d. 1950), American comedian and singer.

1867 ~ Mary of Teck (d. 1953), Queen consort of King George V of the United Kingdom.

1764 ~ Edward Livingston (d. 1836), American politician from Louisiana.

1478 ~ Pope Clement VII (d. 1534).

Events that Changed the World:

1998 ~ The US Supreme Court ruled in New Jersey v. New York, that Ellis Island, is mainly in the State of New Jersey and not New York.

1978 ~ The first legal casino in the eastern United States opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey

1946 ~ A patent was filed in the United States for the hydrogen bomb.

1897 ~ Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published.

1896 ~ The first edition the of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, by Charles Dow, was published.

1896 ~ Nicholas II became Tsar of Russia.

1869 ~ Boston University received its charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

1868 ~ The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson concluding finding Johnson not guilty.

1830 ~ The Indian Removal Act was passed by US Congress.  President Andrew Jackson signed the Act into law on May 28.  This Act ultimately lead to the Trail of Tears, in which Native Americans were forcibly removed from their land to migrate west.

1736 ~ During the Battle of Ackia, British and Chicksaw soldiers repelled a French and Choctaw attack on the village of Ackia (near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi).  Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, the French Louisiana governor, had hoped to link Louisiana with Acadia and other northern colonies of New France.

1538 ~ The city of Geneva expelled John Calvin and his followers.  He relocated in exile to Strasbourg.

1293 ~ An earthquake in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan killed about 30,000 people.

Good-Byes:

2010 ~ Art Linkletter (b. 1912), Canadian-American radio and television host.

2008 ~ Sydney Pollack (b. 1934), American actor, director and screenwriter.

2005 ~ Dale Velzy (b. 1927), American surfboard maker who defined the “surfer dude lifestyle.”

2005 ~ Eddie Albert (b. 1906), American actor, best known for his role in the television sit-com, Green Acres.

1943 ~ Edsel Ford (b. 1893), American businessman.  He was the son of Henry Ford.  The car named after him was introduced in 1957, many years after his death.

1939 ~ Charles Horace Mayo (b. 1865), American physician and co-founder of the Mayo Clinic.

1914 ~ Jacob August Riis (b. 1849), Danish-American journalist and reformer.

1907 ~ Ida Saxton McKinley (b. 1847), American First Lady and wife of President William McKinley.

1904 ~ Georges Gilles de la Tourette (b. 1857), French neurologist who first described the condition now known as Tourette’s syndrome.

1703 ~ Samuel Pepys (b. 1633), English civil servant and diarist.

946 ~ Edmund I of England (b. 921).  He was murdered by a thief.

735 ~ Bede (b. 673), English historian and theologian.