Today in History - Famous Events for Tomorrow

🏰 On this day in History - May 1, 2026

1940 The 1940 Olympics are cancelled

1844 Whig convention nominates Henry Clay as presidential candidate

1943 69th Kentucky Derby: Johnny Longden aboard Count Fleet wins in 2:04

1971 Amtrak Railroad begins operation

1945 General Belgian Labor Union (ABVV) party forms

1931 Empire State Building opens in NYC

1962 1st French underground nuclear experiment in the Sahara

1883 NY Athletic Club hires Bob Rogers as 1st American pro sports trainer

1977 Debbie Austin wins LPGA Birmingham Golf Classic

1960 Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk

1985 US president Reagan ends embargo against Nicaragua

1935 Boulder Dam completed

1786 Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premieres in Wien (Vienna)

1944 Surprise attack on Weteringschans Amsterdam, fails

1943 Rauter signs unofficial death sentence

1932 1st Suriname union congress at Paramaribo

1914 China's 1st president Yuan Shikai wins dictatorial qualification

1967 Elvis Presley & Pricilla Beaulieu wed

1979 Home rule introduced to Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)

1954 HSA-UWC Forms (Unification Church) (Moonies)

1949 Gerard Kuiper discovers Nereid, (2nd satellite of Neptune)

1982 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville Tennessee opens

1957 Flevo Boys soccer team forms in Emmeloord

1982 108th Kentucky Derby: Ed Delahoussaye on Gato Del Sol wins in 2:02.4

1906 Phillie's John Lush no-hits Bkln Dodgers, 6-0

1967 Jelle Zijlstra becomes president of Netherlands Bank

1981 Harrison Williams (Sen-D-NJ) convicted on FBI Abscam charges

1958 Arturo Frondizi sworn in as president of Argentina

1884 Construction begins on Chicago 1st skyscraper (10 stories)

1757 Austria & France divide Prussia

1930 Bradman scores 236 Aust v Worcs, his 1st f-class innings in Eng

1857 William Walker, conqueror of Nicaragua, surrenders to US Navy

1949 A's Elmer Valo is 1st AL'er to hit 2 bases-loaded triples in a game

1994 Charles Kuralt, retires as CBS newsman (On the Road)

1912 Amsterdam-North soccer team DWV forms

1980 Sabres & Islanders play to 1:20 of 5th period in a playoff

1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in San Diego CA on KIOZ 105.3 FM

1962 Bo Belinsky pitches a no-hitter, in his 4th start

1922 Charlie Robertson of Chicago pitches a perfect no-hit, no-run game

1935 Canada's 1st silver dollar is circulated

1948 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Auspicia quaedam

1864 -8] Battle at Alexandria, Louisiana (Red River Campaign)

1967 Pulitzer prize awarded to Bernard Malamud (Fixer)

1990 "Prelude to a Kiss" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC

1873 International Exhibition opens in Vienna

1915 British Lusitania leaves NY, for Liverpool

1966 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Shreveport Kiwanis Club Golf Invitational

1948 North Korean proclaims itself People's Democratic Republic of Korea

1921 Drusian sultan Pasja al-Atrasj elected governor of Suwayda

1946 Fieldmarshal Montgomery appointed British supreme commander

1886 US general strike for 8 hour day, begins

1929 Police kill 19 Mayday demonstrators in Berlin

1988 Patti Rizzo wins LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic

1889 1st International Workers Day, according to 2nd International

1862 Union captain David Farragut conquers New Orleans

1966 Radio RSA, South Africa begins shortwave transmitting

1952 Mr Potato Head, introduced

1995 "On the Waterfront" opens at Atkinson Theater NYC for 8 performances

1864 Atlanta campaign, GA

1992 LA Dodgers postpone 3 games due to racial riots due to Rodney King

1934 Philippine legislature accepts US proposal for independence

1957 US give Poland credit of $95 million

1928 Drunken fascist Erich Wichman attacks VARA-radio transmitter

1945 Soviet army reach Rostock

1968 Phillies J Boozer is ejected for throwing spitballs during his warmup

1969 43 Unification church couples wed in NYC

1946 Mrs Emma Clarissa Clement named "American Mother of Year"

1884 Moses Walker became 1st black player in major league

1864 Wilderness campaign

1944 Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, 1st jet bomber, makes 1st flight

1703 Battle at Rultusk: Swedish army beats Russians

1048 Bishop Bernold flees St Pieterskerk for Utrecht Neth

1954 Bishops publish Mandement (member socialist org forbidden)

1551 Council of Trente resumes

1866 American Equal Rights Association forms

1996 "Ideal Husband" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 308 performances

1901 Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo

1988 "Romance/Romance" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 297 perfs

1863 Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi

1995 Steve Waugh scores 200 for Australia v WI at Sabina Park

1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba

1929 Brooklyn's Johnny Finn sets 100 yard sack race in 14.4 seconds

1951 600,000 march for peace & freedom in Germany

1984 Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac) files for bankruptcy

1950 WJIM (now WLNS) TV channel 6 in Lansing, MI (CBS) begins broadcasting

1987 46 HRs hit in 13 baseball games

1704 Boston Newsletter publishes 1st newspaper ad

1975 Islander Parise & Potvin score within 14 seconds in playoffs Flyers 5-Isles 4-semifinals-Flyers hold 2-0 lead

1997 Toni Blair elected PM of UK

1939 Batman comics hit street

1977 Chantal Langlace runs female world record marathon (2:35:15.4)

1776 Adam Weishaupt founds secret society of Illuminati

1873 Emperor Franz Jozef opens 5th World's Fair in Vienna

1945 900 occupiers of Demmin Vorpommeren, commit suicide

1893 World Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago

1934 Water state kingdom dismisses NSB-leader Anton Mussert

1883 Baseball returns to Phila, 1st NL game since 1876

1937 FDR signs act of neutrality

1980 "Day in Hollywood, A Night..." opens at John Golden NYC for 588 perf

1978 1st black mayor of New Orleans (Ernest Morial) inaugurated

1994 "Rise & Fall of Little Voice" opens at Neil Simon NYC for 9 perfs

1973 SF Giants score 7 runs with 2 outs in 9th to beat Pirates, 8-7

1945 Australian & Dutch troops lands on Tarakan

1892 US Quarantine Station opens on Angel Island, SF Bay

1986 Tass reports Chernobyl nuclear power plant mishap

1963 Indonesia takes control of Irian Jaya (west New Guinea) from Neth

1991 Skin-Spit-Skin featuring lesbain, homosexual & hetrosexual nude couples caressing, is seen by 5,000 in NYC

1996 Gerald Williams is 1st NY Yankee since 1934 to get 6 hits in a game

1939 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Yearling)

1980 15th Academy of Country Music Awards: Barbara Mandrell wins

1979 Marshall Islands (in Pacific) become self-governing

1909 Netherlands begins unity with Belgium

1625 Portuguese & Spanish expedition recaptures Salvador (Bahia)

1978 MVV soccer team forms in Maastricht

1983 "My One & Only" opens at St James Theater NYC for 767 performances

1854 Amsterdam begins transferring drinking water out of the dunes

1993 Bomb attack on Sri Lankan president (26 die)

1528 P nfilo the Narva‚z begins exploration to with 350 men to Florida

1943 Food rationing begins in US

1978 Naomi Uemura became 1st to reach North Pole overland alone

1707 England, Wales & Scotland form UK of Great Britain

1972 Pulitzer prize awarded to Wallace Stegner (Angle of Repose)

1900 Roermond soccer team forms in Roermond

1851 Great Exhibition opens in Chrystal Palace London

1955 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Peach Blossom Golf Tournament

1972 North Vietnamese troops occupy Quang Tri Activities Committee

1979 Elton John becomes 1st pop star to perform in Israel

1711 Arch duke Karel of Austria/Hungarian rebellion sign Peace of Szatmar

1966 Last British concert by Beatles (Empire Pool in Wembley)

1952 TWA introduces tourist class

1927 Panningen soccer team forms in Panningen

1920 Babe Ruth's 1st Yankee HR & 50th of career, out of Polo Grounds

1942 Radio Orange calls to defy order to wear "Jewish star"

1952 Marines take part in an atomic explosion training in Nevada

1959 West Germany introduces 5 day work week

1950 Pulitzer prize awarded to Rodgers & Hammerstein (South Pacific)

1948 Glenn Taylor, Idaho Senator, arrested in Birmingham Alabama for trying to enter a meeting through a door marked "for Negroes"

1943 1st edition of illegal "The Free Artist" appears in Amsterdam

1947 Lt General Hoyt S Vandenberg, USA, ends term as 2nd head of CIA

1991 "Will Rogers Follies" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 983 performances

1989 135 acre Disney's MGM studio officially opens to public

1944 Pulitzer prize awarded to Martin Flavin (Journey in the dark)

1834 Belgian parliament accept railway laws

1926 Brooklyn Dodgers & Boston Braves deadlock at 1-1 in 26 innings

1969 Leonard Tose buys NFL Philadelphia Eagles for $16,155,000

1966 US troops shooting targets in Cambodia

1976 102nd Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr on Bold Forbes wins in 2:01.6

1941 General Mills introduces Cheerios

1992 Rickey Henderson steals his 1,000th base

1994 -3] Tornado & hail storms hit Jiangxi China, 95 killed

1900 Premature blast collapses mine tunnel killing 200 at Scofield, Utah

1957 Larry King's 1st radio broadcast

1945 Radio Budapest, Hungary re-enters shortwave broadcasting after WW II

1863 Confederate congress passed resolution to kill black soldiers

1959 White Sox Early Wynn beats Red Sox 1-0 on his own HR

1394 Ekiho, exorcised the Zen temple & it's surroundings from an old badger

1523 Danish king Christian III arrives in Veere

1992 Eric Houston kills 4 in a Calif HS where he failed history 4 yrs prior

1969 Houston Don Wilson 2nd no-hitter beats Cin Reds, 4-0

1840 1st adhesive postage stamps ("Penny Blacks" from England) issued

1948 74th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Citation wins in 2:05.4

1925 A's Jimmie Foxx, 17, 1st game; he pinch-hits a single

1986 Will Stegers expedition reaches North Pole

1950 Mayor of Brussels reluctantly bans May Day parade

1725 Spain & Austria sign trade treaty

1964 1st BASIC program runs on a computer (Dartmouth)

1961 Tanganyika granted full internal self-government by Britain

1928 Pitcairn Airlines (later Eastern) begins service

1954 80th Kentucky Derby: Raymond York aboard Determine wins in 2:03

1943 German plane sinks boat loaded with Palestinian Jews bound for Malta

1875 238 members of "Whiskey Ring" accused of anti-US activities

1928 Rotterdam soccer team Black White '28 forms

1965 Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 4 games to 3

1931 Singer Kate Smith begins her long-running radio program on CBS

1983 Hollis Stacy wins LPGA CPC International Golf Tournament

1759 British fleet occupies Guadeloupe, West-Indies, on France

1850 John Geary becomes 1st SF mayor

1901 Detroit Tigers commit 12 errors against Chicago White Sox

1959 Floyd Patterson KOs Brian London in 11 for heavyweight boxing title

1926 British coal-miners go on strike

1841 1st emigrant wagon train leaves Independence, Missouri for Calif

1927 Netherlands beats Belgium 3-2 in soccer match in Amsterdam

1991 Milwaukee Brewers beat Chicago Cubs, 10-9, in 19 innings

1919 Mount Kelud (Indonesia) erupts, boiling crater lake which broke through crater wall killing 5,000 people in 104 small villages

1924 Admiral Paul Koundouriўtis becomes president of Greece

1861 Lee orders Confederate troops under T J Jackson to Harper's Ferry

1846 Ida Pfeiffer (48) begins trip around world

1965 91st Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker on Lucky Debonair wins in 2:01.2

1928 6 children die & 10 injured by hailstones in Klausenburg, Romania

1883 "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show

1863 Battle of Chancellorsville, VA (29,000 injured or died)

1971 97th Kentucky Derby: Gustavo Avila on Canonero II wins in 2:03.2

1927 1st British airliner to serve cooked meals (Imperial Airways)

1985 "Communist" bomb attack kills 2 firemen in Brussels

1976 Jos Hermens, runs Dutch record for 20K (57:24.2)

1781 Emperor Jozef II decrees protection of population

1943 German Wehrmacht deployed in order to break Dutch strikes

0305 Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome resigns

1947 Rear Admiral Roscoe H Hillenkoetter, USN, becomes 3th director of CIA

1947 Radar for coml & private planes 1st demonstrated

1987 Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish born nun

1891 Cy Young pitches 1st game played in Cleveland's League Park Cleveland Spiders 12, Cincinnati Redlegs 3

1989 US Supreme Court rules employees have legal burden to prove non- discriminatory reasons for not hiring or promoting

1951 Minnie Minoso becomes the 1st black to play for the White Sox

1844 Samuel Morse sends 1st telegraphic message

1957 Vanguard TV-1 booster test reaches 195 km

1625 Prince Frederik Henry appointed viceroy of Holland

1941 "Citizen Kane," directed & starring Orson Welles, premieres in NY

1867 Reconstruction of South begins, black voter registration

1920 Belgian-Luxembourg toll tunnel opens

1991 Last day of Test cricket for Gordon Greenidge

1991 A's Rickey Henderson steals an all time record 939th base vs Yanks

1963 1st American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest

1981 Billie Jean King admits to a lesbian affair with Marilyn Barnett

1920 Brooklyn Dodgers tie Boston Braves, 1-1, in 26 innings

1715 Prussia declares war on Sweden

1853 Argentina adopts it's constitution

1991 Nolan Ryan pitches his 7th no-hitter, beating Toronto

1915 German submarine sinks US ship Gulflight

1928 Lei Day begun (a Hawaiian celebration)

1913 Longacre Theater opens at 220 W 48th St NYC

1977 Empress Lilly dedicated

1929 Farm workers strike begins in East-Groningen

1006 Supernova observed by Chinese & Egyptians in constellation Lupus

1682 Louis XIV & his court inaugurates Paris Observatory

1991 Tx Ranger Nolan Ryan pitches record 7th no hitter (beats Toronto 3-0)

1961 1st US airplane hijacked to Cuba

1873 1st US postal card issued

1941 German assault on Tobruk

1993 119th Kentucky Derby: Jerry Bailey aboard Sea Hero wins in 2:02.4

1991 Actor Robert Duvall weds Sharon Brophy

1822 John Phillips becomes 1st mayor of Boston

1544 Turkish troops occupy Hungary

1901 Herb McFarland hit 1st grand slam in American League

1863 Confederate "National Flag" replaces "Stars & Bars"

1950 New marriage laws enforced in People's Republic China

1940 140 Palestinian Jews die as German planes bomb their ship

1951 Mickey Mantle's 1st HR

1885 Maria "Goeie Mie" Swanenburg sentence to life for killing 27 in Neth

1991 Rickey Henderson breaks Lou Brocks record with his 939th steal

1898 George Dewey commands, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley" as US route Spanish fleet at Manila

1982 Nordiques 4-Isles 5 (OT)-semifinals-Isles hold 3-0 lead

1954 WAPA TV channel 4 in San Juan, PR (NBC/SFN) begins broadcasting

1958 Ambonese rebellion bombed Ambon/conquer Morotai

1981 Radio Shack releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3

1969 Pirate Radio Station 259 (England/France) begins transmitting

1965 USSR launches Luna 5; later impacts on Moon

1972 Radio's Mutual Black Network premieres

1986 Bill Elliott sets stock car speed record of 212.229 mph

1994 "My Fair Lady" closes at Virginia Theater NYC after 165 performances

1931 Norway claims Peter I Island

1985 William Hoffman's "As Is," premieres in NYC

1945 Seys-Inquart flees to Flensburg

1926 Satchel Paige makes pitching debut in Negro Southern League

1883 Amsterdam World's Fair opens

1598 Jacob van Necks merchant fleet departs for Java

1968 "Ben Franklin in Paris" closes at Lunt Fontanne NYC after 215 perfs

1945 Admiral Karl Doenitz forms German government

1936 Emperor Haile Selassie leaves Ethiopia as Italian invades

1962 JFK authorizes Area Redevelopment Act (ARA)

1960 Pancho Gonzalez retires from tennis

1980 Amer Book Award: William Styron (Sophie Choice)/T Wolfe (Right Stuff)

1951 Dutch Reformed Church introduces new church choir

1756 France & Austria sign alliance

1972 "Different Times" opens at ANTA Theater NYC for 24 performances

1994 Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Sprint Senior Challenge Golf Tournament

1751 1st American cricket match is played

1628 Meiboom in Quincy Mass) degenerates into orgy with indian women

1889 Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany)

1907 Belgium govt of De Trooz forms

1967 Anastasio Somoza Debayle becomes president of Nicaragua

1912 Beverly Hills Hotel opens

1925 Cyprus becomes a British Crown Colony

1960 India's Bombay state split into Gujarat & Maharashtra states

1991 Angola's civil war ends

1947 Cleve Indians abandon League Park to play all games at Municipal Stad

1869 Folies BergЉre opens in Paris

1994 Sherri Steinhauer wins LPGA Sprint Golf Championship

1867 Howard University chartered

1999 125th Kentucky Derby

1908 World's most intense shower (2.47" in 3 minutes) at Portobelo Panama

1950 Gwendolyn Brooks, is 1st Black awarded a Pulitzer Prize (poetry)

1934 Austria signs pact with Vatican

1777 RB Sheridans "School for Scandal," premieres in London

1967 Priscilla Beaulieu & Elvis Presley wed in Las Vegas

1907 Indian Mine Laws passes (concessions from Neth-Indies)

1961 Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

1988 IRA attack in Roermond, kills 3

1955 Bob Feller's 15th 1 or less hitter (12 1-hitters, 3 no-hitters)

1989 Jockey Chris Antley ends record of 64 consecutive winning days

1984 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1971 Rolling Stones release "Brown Sugar"

1936 FBI's J Edgar Hoover arrests Alvin Karpis

1962 France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria

1992 NY Rangers wins their 1st ever 7th game of a playoff (vs NJ Devils)

1983 Nolan Ryan surpasses Walter Johnson for most strikeouts (3,508)

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