Today is Tuesday, May 31, the 151st day of 2005. There are 214 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 31, 1889, more than 2,000 people perished when a dam break sent water rushing through Johnstown, Pa.
On this date:
In 1809, composer Franz Joseph Haydn died in Vienna, Austria.
In 1819, poet Walt Whitman was born in West Hill, N.Y.
In 1910, the Union of South Africa was founded.
In 1913, the 17th amendment to the Constitution, providing for the popular election of U.S. senators, was declared in effect.
In 1961, South Africa became an independent republic.
In 1962, World War II Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel for his role in the Nazi Holocaust.
In 1970, tens of thousands of people died in an earthquake in Peru.
In 1977, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, three years in the making, was completed.
In 1985, 88 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured when 41 tornadoes swept through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Ontario, Canada, during an eight-hour period.
In 1994, the United States announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.
Ten years ago: President Clinton declared he was ready to permit the temporary use of American ground forces in Bosnia to help U.N. peacekeepers move to safer positions if necessary. Sen. Bob Dole accused Hollywood of promoting violence, rape and casual sex in music and movies and said “the mainstreaming of deviancy must come to an end.”
Five years ago: President Clinton, visiting Portugal, tried to calm fears of a nuclear arms race that would leave Europe vulnerable by promising to share any new missile defense technology with U.S. allies. Bandleader Tito Puente died in New York at age 77.
One year ago: In Memorial Day tributes, President Bush declared that “America is safer” because of its fighting forces while Sen. John Kerry visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. A bomb ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, during evening prayers, killing at least 19 people. Alberta Martin, one of the last widows of a Civil War veteran, died in Enterprise, Ala., at age 97.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Elaine Stewart is 76. Actor-director Clint Eastwood is 75. Singer Peter Yarrow is 67. Former Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite is 66. Singer-musician Augie Meyers is 65. Actress Sharon Gless is 62. Football Hall-of-Famer Joe Namath is 62. Actor Tom Berenger is 55. Actor Gregory Harrison is 55. Comedian Chris Elliott is 45. Actor Kyle Secor is 45. Actress Lea Thompson is 44. Singer Corey Hart is 43. Rapper DMC is 41. Rapper Kid Frost is 41. Actress Brooke Shields is 40. Country musician Ed Adkins (The Derailers) is 38. Actor Colin Farrell is 29. Rock musician Scott Klopfenstein (Reel Big Fish) is 28. Actor Curtis Williams Jr. is 18.
Thought for Today: “One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it unless it has all been suffering, nothing but suffering.” — Jane Austen, British novelist (1775-1817).
