On this day in History - May 31

• 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
• 0455 - Valentinian III dies (b. 0419). Roman Emperor.
• 0455 - Petronius Maximus dies killed by a mob. Roman Emperor.
• 1048 - Omar Khayyam was born (d. 1131). Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher.
• 1162 - Nascimento do conquistador mongol Gengis Khan.
• 1223 - Battle of the Kalka River between the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan and East Slavic warriors.
• 1232 - O papa Gregório IX, através de uma bula, canoniza Santo António de Lisboa.
• 1246 - Isabella of Angouleme dies. Queen of John of England .
• 1408 - Ashikaga Yoshimitsu dies (b. 1358). Ashikaga shogun.
• 1443 - Margaret Beaufort was born (d. 1509). Mother of Henry VII of England.
• 1469 - King Manuel I of Portugal was born (d. 1521).
• 1495 - Cecily Neville dies (b. 1415). Mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England
• 1535 - Alessandro Allori dies (b. 1607). Italian painter.
• 1557 - Feodor I dies (b. 1598). Tsar of Russia.
• 1578 - Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
• 1582 - Rei Felipe II assina alvará ordenado pagamento de pensão à mãe de Luíz Vaz de Camões
• 1594 - Jacobo Robusti Tintoretto dies (b. 1518). Italian painter.
• 1613 - John George II, Elector of Saxony was born (d. 1680)
• 1640 - Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland was born (d. 1673)
• 1656 - Marin Marais was born. French composer and viol player.
• 1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
• 1678 - The Godiva procession through Coventry begins.
• 1680 - Joachim Neander dies (b. 1650). Clergyman.
• 1727 - Criação do Royal Bank of Scotland.
• 1740 - King Friedrich Wilhem I of Prussia dies (b. 1688)
• 1747 - Andrei Osterman dies (b. 1686). Russian statesman.
• 1750 - Karl August of Hardenberg was born (d. 1822). Statesman and reformer.
• 1753 - Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud was born (d. 1793). French revolutionary.
• 1754 - Andrea Appiani was born (d. 1817). Italian painter.
• 1759 - The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions.
• 1773 - Ludwig Tieck was born (d. 1853). German poet and writer.
• 1775 - Patriots in Charlotte, North Carolina adopt the Mecklenburg Resolutions urging the American Colonies to declare independence from Great Britian.
• 1790 - Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
• 1790 - The first U.S. Copyright Law was enacted, protecting books, maps, and other original materials.
• 1790 - Por decisão régia, são criadas em Lisboa 18 escolas para raparigas. São as primeiras escolas femininas em Portugal.
• 1799 - Pierre Lemonnier dies (b. 1715). French astronomer.
• 1801 - Johann Georg Baiter was born (d. 1887). Swiss philologist.
• 1809 - Joseph Haydn died in Vienna (b. 1732). Austrian composer.
• 1809 - Jean Lannes died (b. 1769). French Marshal of Empire.
• 1813 - In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
• 1818 - John Albion Andrew was born (d. 1867). 25th Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1819 - Walt Whitman was born (d. 26 Mar 1892). American poet ( Leaves of Grass, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, Passage to India, O Captain! My Captain! )
• 1831 - Samuel Bentham dies (b. 1757). British mechanical engineer.
• 1832 - Evariste Galois dies (b. 1811). French mathematician.
• 1835 - Hijikata Toshizō was born (d. 1869). Japanese military leader.
• 1837 - Joseph Grimaldi dies at 57. Greatest clown (king of pantomime).
• 1838 - Henry Sidgwick was born (d. 1900). English philosopher.
• 1842 - "Pour le Mérite" extended
• 1846 - Philip Marheineke dies (b. 1780). German Protestant divine.
• 1847 - Rotterdam-Hague Railway opens
• 1847 - Thomas Chalmers dies (b. 1780). Scottish pastor, social reformer, educator, author, and scientist.
• 1848 - Eugénie de Guérin dies (b. 1805). Writer.
• 1852 - Francisco Pascasio Moreno was born. Argentine scientist, naturalist and explorer.
• 1857 - Pope Pius XI (Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti) was born (d. 10 Feb 1939). 259th pope of the Roman Catholic Church [1922-1939].
• 1860 - Walter Sickert was born (d. 1942). English painter.
• 1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Seven Pines.
• 1863 - Francis Younghusband was born (d. 1942). British explorer.
• 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Cold Harbor begins. The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant & George G. Meade.
• 1866 - In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the English. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian's 19 dead and about 17 wounded.
• 1872 - Heath Robinson was born (d. 1944). English cartoonist.
• 1874 - Estreia, na Igreja de São Marcos de Milão, a Misa de Requiem que Verdi compôs para a morte do escritor Manzoni.
• 1875 - Eliphas Lévi dies. French writer and magician.
• 1876 - Austin McDowell Patterson was born (d. 1956). Chemist.
• 1878 - Naufraga na costa inglesa o encouraçado alemão Grosser-Kurfurst, causando a morte de 269 tripulantes.
• 1879 - Madison Square Garden opens its doors
• 1880 - The League of American Wheelmen was formed in Newport, RI. It was the first national bicycle society to be organized in the United States.
• 1882 - Sándor Graf Festetics was born (d. 1956). Hungarian politician.
• 1883 - Lauri Kristian Relander was born (d. 1942). Finnish president.
• 1884 - John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes.
• 1885 - Alois Hudal was born (d. 1963). Bishop, helped Nazis escape trial.
• 1887 - Saint-John Perse was born (d. 1975). French diplomat and poet who was 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1889 - Johnstown Flood: Over 2200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
• 1892 - Gregor Strasser was born (d. 1934). German Nazi politician.
• 1892 - Michel Kikoine was born (d. 1968). Belarus painter.
• 1892 - Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky was born (d. 1968). Russian writer.
• 1894 - Fred Allen was born (d. 1956). American comedian. He is best remembered for "Allen's Alley" radio program, 1932-49.
• 1894 - Konstantin Stoilov Konstantinov assume (pela 2º vez) o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Bulgária
• 1898 - William Ramsay and Morris William Travers discovered krypton (Kr, element 36)
• 1898 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was born (d. 1993). American clergyman who wrote "The Power of Positive Thinking," 1952.
• 1901 - Boer War : Boers kill 174 British during guerrilla raid at Vlakfontein (now called Derby)
• 1901 - Alfredo Antonini was born (d. 1983). American conductor and composer.
• 1902 - Second Boer War: The last Afrikaner resistance forces sign a peace treaty with the British at Pretoria, ending the war, and ensuring British control of South Africa.
• 1905 - Florence Desmond was born (d. 1993). English actress and comedian.
• 1908 - Don Ameche [Dominic Felix Amici] was born (d. 6 Dec 1993). American academy award-winning actor: Cocoon [1985]; Trading Places, Corinna Corinna; inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame [1992];
• 1908 - Nils Poppe was born (d. 2000). Swedish actor.
• 1908 - Louis-Honoré Fréchette dies (b. 1839). French Canadian poet.
• 1909 - Aurore Gagnon was born (d. 1920). French Canadian victim of child abuse.
• 1910 - Creation of the Union of South Africa. Louis Botha assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro da África do Sul
• 1910 - Elizabeth Blackwell dies (b. 1821). First female physician in the United States.
• 1911 - The hull of the Titanic was launched in Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, “Not even God himself could sink this ship.”
• 1911 - Maurice Allais was born. Franch economist who won in 1988 the Nobel Prize in Economics.
• 1912 - Alfred Deller was born (d. 1979). English countertenor.
• 1913 - The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing direct election of United States Senators, is declared ratified.
• 1914 - Akira Ifukube was born (d. 2006). Japanese composer.
• 1916 - World War I: The German and British navies clash in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of the war.
• 1916 - Bert Haanstra was born (d. 1997). Dutch filmmaker.
• 1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: More than 300 are killed in a race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
• 1921 - Comedian Buster Keaton marries actress Natalie Talmadge.
• 1921 - Alida Valli was born (d. 2006). Italian actress.
• 1921 - Howard Reig was born. American radio and television announcer
• 1922 - Denholm Elliott was born (d. 6 Oct 1992). English actor ( A Room with a View, The Bourne Identity, The Boys from Brazil, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Voyage of the Damned, Trading Places, Scorchers).
• 1923 - Prince Rainier III of Monaco was born (d. 6 Apr 2005). Head of state: Monaco; married American film star, Grace Kelly.
• 1924 - The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an "integral part of the Republic of China", whose "sovereignty" therein the Soviet Union promises to respect
• 1924 - Lauri Ingman assume (pela 2º vez) o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Finlândia.
• 1926 - Portugal: Bernardino Machado, presidente da República Portuguesa, apresenta a sua demissão do cargo, como consequência do golpe militar de 28 de Maio, que instaurara o Estado Novo.
• 1926 - James Kruss was born (d. 1997). Author.
• 1927 - The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
• 1928 - É fundada a Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua.
• 1928 - Manuel de Oliveira Lima dies at 60. Brazilian historian.
• 1929 - Menahem Golan was born. Producer.
• 1930 - Clint Eastwood was born in San Francisco. American actor, director, producer. The Bridges of Madison County, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• 1931 - 7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead.
• 1931 - Shirley Verrett was born. American soprano.
• 1931 - John Robert Schrieffer was born. American physicist and winner (with John Bardeen and Leon N. Cooper) of the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics for developing the BCS theory (for their initials), the first successful microscopic theory of superconductivity
• 1931 - Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau dies (b. 1866). French Canadian cardinal, archbishop of Quebec.
• 1932 - Jay Miner was born (d. 1994). American microchip designer.
• 1935 - Um terremoto destrói a cidade de Quetta (Paquistão) e morrem mais de 56 mil pessoas.
• 1935 - Banco Central de la República Argentina is created.
• 1935 - Jim Bolger was born. 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1938 - Henry Armstrong defeated Barney Ross in New York City to win the welterweight boxing title.
• 1938 - Johnny PayCheck was born (d. 2003). American country music singer.
• 1938 - John Prescott was born. Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1938 - Peter Yarrow was born. American folk singer ("Peter, Paul and Mary")
• 1939 - Terry Waite was born. British humanitarian.
• 1940 - Gilbert Shelton was born. American underground comics illustrator.
• 1941 - Louis J. Ignarro was born. American pharmacologist who, along with Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad, was co-awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system, an entirely new mechanism by which blood vessels in the body relax and widen.
• 1942 - World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Coventry, England
• 1943 - Sharon Gless, was born. Emmy Award-winning actress: Cagney & Lacey [1985-1986, 1986-1987]; Revenge of the Stepford Wives, Tales of the Unexpected
• 1943 - Joe Namath was born. American football player.
• 1945 - Bernard Goldberg‎ was born. American journalist.
• 1945 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born (d. 10 Jun 1982). German film director: Chinese Roulette, Querelle, Veronika Voss, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Beware of a Holy Whore; Marriage of Maria Braum;
• 1946 - Ted Baehr was born. American media critic
• 1946 - Steve Bucknor was born. West Indian Cricket Umpire.
• 1947 - MayAbd al-Krim, Moroccan nationalist leader, escapes after an 11-year imprisonment on the Island of Reunion.
• 1947 - Mátyás Rákosi assume (pela 2º vez) o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Hungria.
• 1948 - José Vianna da Motta dies. Portuguese pianist.
• 1948 - Syngman Rhee becomes President of South Korea
• 1948 - Duncan Hunter was born. American politician, 2008 presidential candidate
• 1948 - John Bonham was born (d. 25 Sep 1980). British musician, drummer with Led Zeppelin.
• 1949 - A crowd of 35,000 people paid tribute to radio personality Mary Margaret McBride at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, (one of the five boroughs that make up New York City). McBride was celebrating her 15th year in radio.
• 1949 - Nancy Shade was born. American soprano.
• 1949 - Tom Berenger [Thomas Michael Moore], was born. Actor: One Life to Live, If Tomorrow Comes, Platoon, Sliver, The Big Chill, Eddie and the Cruisers, Gettysburg, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, A Murder of Crows, In the Company of Spies, Turbulence II: Fear of Flying.
• 1950 - Gregory Harrison was born. American actor.
• 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower retires from active service in the United States Army.
• 1952 - Karl Bartos was born. German musician (Kraftwerk, Electronic)
• 1953 - Pirkka-Pekka Petelius was born. Finnish actor
• 1954 - Vicki Sue Robinson was born (d. 2000). American singer.
• 1954 - Thomas Mavros was born. Greek footballer
• 1955 - Tommy Emmanuel was born. Australian Guitarist CGP.
• 1956 - Fritz Hilpert was born. German musician and sound engineer (Kraftwerk)
• 1957 - Jim Craig was born. American hockey player.
• 1957 - Leopold Staff dies (b. 1878). Polish poet.
• 1959 - Aurora Cunha was born. Portuguese athlete.
• 1959 - Andrea de Cesaris wads born. Italian racing driver .
• 1960 - Greg C. Adams was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1960 - Chris Elliott was born. American comedian.
• 1960 - Walther Funk dies (b. 1890). Nazi leader.
• 1961 - Benfica wins 6th Champions Europe Cup in Bern beating Barcelona 3-2
• 1961 - Creation of the Republic of South Africa.
• 1961 - Dominican Republic President Trujillo assassinated.
• 1961 - Ray Cote was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1961 - Lea Thompson was born. American actress
• 1962 - The West Indies Federation dissolves.
• 1962 - Former Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel / Executado em Tel Aviv, por crimes contra os judeus, o ex-coronel das SS Adolfo Eichman, que havia sido sequestrado na Argentina por agentes israelitas.
• 1962 - Corey Hart was born. Canadian musician.
• 1962 - Sebastian Koch was born. German actor.
• 1963 - Teresa Cheung was born. Hong Kong socialite.
• 1963 - Hugh Dillon was born. Canadian musician and actor.
• 1963 - Viktor Orbán was born. Hungarian politician.
• 1963 - Wesley Willis was born (d. 2000). American musician.
• 1964 - Leonard Asper was born. Canadian businessman.
• 1964 - Scotti Hill was born. American rock guitarist.
• 1964 - Darryl McDaniels was born. American musician (Run-D.M.C.)
• 1965 - Brooke Shields was born. American model: Ivory Snow baby and actress: The Blue Lagoon, Pretty Baby, Brenda Starr, The Seventh Floor, Backstreet Dreams, Stalking Laura, Suddenly Susan.
• 1966 - Monges budistas atearam fogo sobre seus próprios corpos em Saigão, como forma de protesto contra a política do governo militar do Vietname do Sul.
• 1966 - Jeremy Hotz was born. Canadian stand-up comedian.
• 1966 - Nick Scotti was born. American actor and singer.
• 1967 - The King of Jordan and President Abdel Nasser of Egypt sign a joint defence agreement in case of a conflict with Israel.
• 1967 - Sandrine Bonnaire was born. French actress.
• 1967 - Phil Keoghan was born. New Zealand television personality.
• 1967 - Kenny Lofton was born. American baseball player.
• 1967 - Vampiro was born. Canadian professional wrestler.
• 1969 - Stevie Wonder’s My Cherie Amour was released by Tamla Records.
• 1970 - FIFA World Championship begins in Mexico.
• 1970 - An earthquake in Peru left more than 50,000 dead.
• 1971 - In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
• 1972 - Official IRA declares ceasefire : The Official IRA announces a ceasefire, but the Provisional IRA says it will continue fighting until the British leave Northern Ireland.
• 1972 - Frode Estil was born. Norwegian cross-country skier.
• 1972 - Sarah Murdoch was born. English model.
• 1972 - Karl Geary was born., Irish actor.
• 1972 - Dave Roberts was born. American baseball player.
• 1973 - The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
• 1974 - Syria and Israel sign a disengagement agreement to resolve the Yom Kippur War
• 1974 - William DeVaughn, a soul singer, songwriter and guitarist from Washington, DC, received a gold record for his only hit, Be Thankful for What You Got.
• 1974 - Chad Campbell was born. American golfer.
• 1974 - Zsolt Erdei was born. Hungarian light heavyweight boxer.
• 1974 - Adrian Tomine was born. American cartoonist.
• 1975 - ESA European Spacial Agency is founded.
• 1975 - Sienna Guillory was born. English actress.
• 1976 - Invasão e ocupação de Timor Leste pela Indonésia.
• 1976 - Jacques Monod dies (b. 9 Feb 1910). French biochemist who, with François Jacob, did much to elucidate how genes regulate cell metabolism by directing the biosynthesis of enzymes. The pair shared, along with André Lwoff, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1965.
• 1976 - Colin Farrell was born. Irish actor.
• 1976 - Matt Harpring was born. American basketball player
• 1976 - Martha Mitchell died in New York. She was the estranged wife of former Attorney General John N. Mitchell.
• 1977 - The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.
• 1977 - Eric Christian Olsen was born. American actor.
• 1977 - Theodoros Baev was born. Bulgarian-born Greek volleyball player.
• 1977 - Debbie King was born. English TV presenter.
• 1977 - Scott Klopfenstein was born. American musician (Reel Big Fish).
• 1977 - William Castle dies (b. 1914). American director.
• 1980 - Andy Hurley was born. American musician (Fall Out Boy)
• 1981 - Zia Rahman, president of Bangladesh, is assassinated in Chittagong in a coup attempt.
• 1981 - Jake Peavy was born. American baseball player
• 1983 - David Hernandez was born. American singer
• 1983 - Dustin Wells was born. New Zealand footballer
• 1983 - Reggie Yates was born. English television presenter
• 1983 - Jack Dempsey dies (b. 1895). American boxer.
• 1984 - Jason Smith was born. Australian actor.
• 1984 - Nate Robinson was born. American basketball player.
• 1985 - United States-Canadian Outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
• 1985 - Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) became a Schedule I drug in the United States.
• 1985 - Ian Vouyoukas was born. Greek basketball player.
• 1986 - Robert Gesink was born. Dutch cyclist
• 1986 - Sopho Khalvashi was born. Georgian musical artist
• 1986 - Melissa McIntyre was born. Canadian actress
• 1986 - James Rainwater dies (b. 9 Dec 1917) . American physicist who won a share of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1975 for his part in determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei.
• 1987 - Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station starts broadcasting in Greece.
• 1988 - Hope Partlow was born. American singer.
• 1990 - A little summer replacement TV show named Seinfeld debuted.
• 1990 - The French Government bans imports of British beef and live cattle because of fears over BSE or "mad cow" disease.
• 1991 - São firmados em Lisboa os acordos para pôr fim a 16 anos de guerra civil em Angola assinados pelos presidentes do MPLA e da UNITA e que acabaram por não ser cumpridos.
• 1994 - Morte do barão Marcel Bich. Criador das canetas Bic.
• 1994 - O croata Kresimir Zubak é proclamado primeiro presidente da recém criada Federação musulmano-croata na Bósnia.
• 1996 - Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel's election for prime minister, defeating incumbent Shimon Peres by nine-tenths of one percent.
• 1996 - Paul Peter Piech dies (b. 1920). Artist.
• 1996 - Timothy Leary dies (b. 1920). American professor and LSD advocate.
• 1997 - Canada's Confederation Bridge opens, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick.
• 1997 - James Bennett Griffin dies (b. 1905). American archaeologist.
  1998 - Charles Van Acker dies (b. 1912). Belgian racing driver,
• 2000 - Tito Puente dies (b. 1923). American musician.
• 2000 - Johnnie Taylor dies (b. 1938). American singer.
• 2001 - Former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas is sentenced to six months in prison over the country's biggest political scandal in recent history.
• 2001 - Moderate PLO leader Faisal Husseini died at age 60.
• 2002 - The 17th Football World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, begins with a 1-0 upset of France by Senegal. The tournament ends on June 30, with Brazil winning a record fifth World Cup title.
• 2002 - Portugal ratifica o Protocolo de Kyoto.
• 2002 - Tem início o Campeonato do Mundo de Futebol organizado pela Coreia do Sul/ Japão. No primeiro jogo o Senegal vence a França por 1-0.
• 2003 - The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.
• 2003 - Bomber Eric Rudolph is captured in Murphy, North Carolina.
• 2004 - A foul-up during routine software update at the Royal Bank of Canada leads to a three-day misplacement of 10 million account balances.
• 2004 - Étienne Roda-Gil dies (b. 1941). French songwriter and screenwriter.
• 2004 - Robert Quine dies (b. 1942). Punk rock guitarist.
• 2004 - Alberta Martin, 97, one of the last widows of a U.S. Civil War veteran, died. She had married Confederate veteran William Martin in 1927 when she was 21 and he was 81.
• 2005 - W. Mark Felt admits in the magazine Vanity Fair that he is the anonymous source Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal.
• 2006 - Ryan Bennett dies (b. 1970). Broadcast commentator.
• 2006 - Miguel Berrocal dies (b. 1933). Sculptor.
• 2006 - Raymond Davis Jr. dies (b. 1914). American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 2006 - Lula Mae Hardaway dies (b. 1930). American songwriter, mother of singer Stevie Wonder.
• Feast day of Mary, Mediatrix of all Graces
• The Godiva procession
• World No Tobacco day
• Syaday (Discordianism) (5th day of the season of Confusion, honors Apostle Sri Syadasti)