TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Sunday, May 24, the 145th day of 2020. There are 221 days left in the year.
On May 24, 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America’s first telegraph line.
■ In 1775, John Hancock was unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, succeeding Peyton Randolph.
■ In 1935, the first major league baseball game to be played at night took place at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.
■ In 1941, the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood in the North Atlantic, killing all but three of the 1,418 men on board.
■ In 1961, a group of Freedom Riders was arrested after arriving at a bus terminal in Jackson, Miss., charged with breaching the peace for entering white-designated areas. (They ended up serving 60 days in jail.)
■ In 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.
■ In 1974, American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.
■ In 1976, Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.
■ In 1991, the feminist film drama “Thelma & Louise,” starring Susan Sarandon (as Louise) and Geena Davis (as Thelma), was released by MGM.
■ In 1994, four Islamic fundamentalists convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
■ In 1995, former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson died in London at age 79.
■ In 2001, 23 people were killed when the floor of a Jerusalem wedding hall collapsed beneath dancing guests, sending them plunging several stories into the basement.
■ In 2018, a gunman was shot and killed by two bystanders after opening fire at an Oklahoma City restaurant and wounding three patrons.
Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the BP oil spill, rejected the idea of taking over the crisis, saying the government had neither BP’s expertise nor its deep-sea equipment. The Supreme Court rejected the NFL’s request for broad antitrust law protection, saying that it had to be considered 32 separate teams — not one big business — when selling branded items like jerseys and caps. Lukas Lacko of Slovakia beat American Michael Yani in a 71-game match that tied for the most games in a French Open singles match since tiebreakers were instituted in 1973. (Lacko won 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 12-10 in a firstround match that began on a Sunday and finished after midnight.)
Five years ago: Conservative challenger Andrzej Duda (AHN’-zhray DOO’-dah) won Poland’s presidential election, ousting the incumbent, Bronislaw Komorowski (kahmah-RAWF’-skee), in a runoff vote. Juan Pablo Montoya sliced his way from the back to the front twice to win his second Indianapolis 500.
Today’s Birthdays: Comedian Tommy Chong is 82. Singer Bob Dylan is 79. Actor Gary Burghoff is 77. Singer Patti LaBelle is 76. Actress Priscilla Presley is 75. Actor Alfred Molina is 67. Singer Rosanne Cash is 65. Actor John C. Reilly is 55. Former MLB pitcher Bartolo Colon is 47. Actor Owen Benjamin is 40. Country singer Billy Gilman is 32.
Thought for Today:
“Responsibility educates.” — Wendell Phillips, American abolitionist (1811-1884).