This day in history...

On May 19, 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt set the date for the invasion of Europe - May 1, 1944. Weather problems would eventually push the date back to June 6.

On May 19, 1935, T.E. Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia - dies from injuries suffered in a car accident a week earlier. Lawrence was an archaeologist who was commissioned into British intelligence during World War I for his knowledge of the Middle East. He achieved fame and glory as a guerilla leader in the Arabs' struggle for independence from the Turks, and after the war advocated for unity of the Arab peoples. When the futility of that cause became clear, Lawrence declined all decorations for his war heroics and enlisted under an assumed name for the sake of anonymity. He also wrote his war memoir, The Seven Pillars of Widsom. He was serving under the name Shaw as an RAF mechanic at the time of his fatal accident.


On May 19, 1967, the Soviet Union joins several First World signatories in ratifying a treating banning the use of nuclear weapons in outer space.

On May 19, 1666, a massive Spanish fleet, known as the “Invincible Armada,” sets sail from Lisbon on a mission to secure control of the English Channel and transport a Spanish invasion army to Britain from the Netherlands. Terrible weather in the Channel and the brilliant tactics of England's Sir Francis Drake will turn the expedition into a disaster.

On May 19, 1992, Amy Fisher, age 17, shoots Mary Jo Buttafuoco. Fisher is allegedly having an affair with Mary Jo’s husband, Joey Buttafuoco. Mary Jo is injured but survives the attack. Fisher, subsequently dubbed "the Long Island Lolita" by the press, will spend seven years in prison.


On May 19, 1973, Secretariat win the Preakness Stakes, giving him the 2nd of 3 jewels of the Triple Crown. As in his Kentucky Derby win, Secretariat broke last from the gate, but rushed to the lead in a mad dash in the first turn, and eased away from the pack. A timer malfunction left Secretariat's time in question, but in 2012, the Maryland Racing Commission reviewed videotapes and determined his exact time in the mile and an eighth race to be 1:53, a track record. In a Triple Crown oddity, its also the first time in history the finish of the Preakness (1. Secretariat, 2. Sham, 3. Our Native) is identical to the Kentucky Derby.

 

On May 20, 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada tailor Jacob Davis receive a patent on their work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world’s most famous garments: blue jeans. Davis had invented the pants a year earlier and approached Strauss, whose wholesale dry goods business he frequented, about financing their production.


On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, on the world’s first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean and the first ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris. He'll complete his historic flight 33 1/2 hours later. Five years to the day later, Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, albeit in a shorter flight (Newfoundland to Ireland).


On May 20, 1506, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain. Columbus led four expeditions to the Americas on behalf of the Spanish court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, each time commissioned to find a shorter passage to India. He explored the West Indies, South America and Central America, but died a disappointed man, feeling he had been mistreated by King Ferdinand.

On May 20, 1993, an estimated 90 million viewers - one of the largest single-program audiences of all time - watch the final episode of Cheers. The sitcom about the owner and patrons of a fictional bar in Boston survived low ratings in its first season and went on an 11-year run.

 

On May 21, 1881, humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, an organization established to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross. Barton had earned the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield” for her care of the wounded during the Civil War. She learned of the Red Cross while volunteering during the Franco-Prussian War.


May 21 is a banner date for Nazi atrocity. On May 21, 1940, a military “special unit” begins its assignment of "evacuating" mentally ill patients from hospitals in East Prussia. They would return to Berlin 3 weeks later and report success to the Nazi command. In reality, more than 1,500 patients had been murdered by the unit. On May 21, 1942, 4,300 Jews are deported from the Polish town of Chelm to the Nazi extermination camp at Sobibor, where all are gassed to death.

On May 21, 1955, a part-time construction worker visits the studios of Chess Records and cuts his first record, a souped-up version of a traditional fiddle tune called "Ida Red", but with new lyrics and an unforgettable guitar riff. The unknown artist - Chuck Berry - calls the song "Maybellene." Rolling Stone magazine will later write of the song, “Rock & roll guitar starts here.”


On May 21, 1999, actor/presenter Shemar Moore announces, “The streak is over…Susan Lucci!” With that, Lucci wins the Daytime Emmy Award for Best Actress, her first win after being nominated for the award 19 years in a row. On ABC’s All My Children, Lucci portrayed soap opera's bad girl, Erica Kane, a character who (over the program's 4 decades) would marry at least 11 times to 8 different men, battle drug addiction, survive a plane crash and a car accident. Earlier in the decade, TV Guide had declared Erica, “unequivocally the most famous soap-opera character in the history of TV.” Over the years, Lucci had learned to accept the yearly rejection with grace and self-deprecating humor, but on this night in Madison Square Garden, she tearfully accepts the award and an extended standing ovation.

 

That's really when rock and roll guitar began. Chuck's cousin Marvin said so.

 

On May 22, 1960, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded - a 9.6 - strikes just off the coast of Chile. The quake rocks the Chilean coast for about 10 hours, triggers an eruption of the Cordon Caulle volcano in the Andes Mountains and creates tsunamis that kill people in Hawaii and eventually dissipate off Japan. The casualty toll is estimated to approach 7,000. (photo: the remains of Corral, Chile after the quake)


On May 22, 1843, the first major wagon train to the northwest departs from Elm Grove, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail. Facing a depressed economy in the Midwest and lured by propaganda from fur trappers of fertile land in the west, pioneers have already begun emigrating to Oregon in small numbers. The group that leaves today, however, is by far the largest so far; about 1,000 men, women and children in a wagon train of more than 100, and with a herd of 5,000 cattle and oxen. The Oregon Trail will see heavy traffic for the next 40 years, until the Union Pacific constructs a railway along the route.

On May 22, 2017, a suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in Manchester Arena, in England. The explosion comes just moments after the conclusion of an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 concert goers and injuring 116. ISIS claims responsibility for the deadliest terrorist attack in Great Britain since 2005, the attacker later identified as a 22-year old of Libyan descent. Grande was uninjured, but her manager said today she suffers from PTSD as a result of the bombing.


On May 22, 1980, Japanese company Namco introduces 'Puck Man,' an arcade game in which the player guides a circular being through mazes, eating "pills" while avoiding 4 ghostly predators. The game will be introduced in the U.S. months later. Re-branded as "Pac Man," it will grow to be the most profitable, and arguably most influential, arcade video game ever released.


On May 22, 1992, Johnny Carson, "the king of late night TV," hosts The Tonight Show for the final time. For more than 30 years, Carson has been one of TV's most popular personalities, with his conversational interviews of both high profile celebrities and ordinary people with unique stories, as well as skits and live comic and musical performances. His final show, however, will be a "clip" show with no guests, as Carson reminisced and said good-bye alongside longtime sidekick and show announcer Ed McMahon, and in-house band leader Doc Severinson.