History of 10 May
1908 – The first Mother’s Day observance took place during a church service in Grafton, West Virginia.
1924 – J. Edgar Hoover was appointed the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
1927 – The Hotel Statler in Boston, MA. became the first hotel to install radio headsets in each of its 1,300 rooms.
1928 – WGY-TV in Schenectady, NY, began regular television programming.
1930 – The Adler Planetarium opened to the public in Chicago, IL.
1933 – The Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.
1940 – Germany invaded Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
1941 – England’s House of Commons was destroyed by a German air raid.
1941 – Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission.
1942 – U.S. forces in the Philippines began to surrender to the Japanese.
1943 – U.S. troops invaded Attu in the Aleutian Islands to expel the Japanese.
1960 – The U.S.S. Triton completed the first circumnavigation of the globe under water. The trip started on February 16.
1962 – Marvel Comics published the first issue of “The Incredible Hulk.”
1968 – Preliminary Vietnam peace talks began in Paris.
1969 – The National and American Football Leagues announced their plans to merge for the 1970-71 season.
1978 – Britain’s Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.
1982 – Elliott Gould made his dramatic television debut after 30 movies in 17 years. He starred in “The Rules of Marriage” on CBS-TV.
1986 – Navy Lt. Commander Donnie Cochran became the first black pilot to fly with the Blue Angels team.
1994 – Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa’s first black president.
1997 – An earthquake in northeastern Iran killed at least 2,400 people.
1999 – China broke off talks on human rights with the U.S. in response to NATO’s accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.
1999 – The Cezanne painting “Still Life With Curtain, Pitcher, and Bowl of Fruit” sold for 60.5 million.
2000 – 11,000 residents were evacuated in Los Alamos, NM, due to a fire that was blown into a canyon. The fire had been deliberately set to clear brush.
2001 – Boeing Co. announced that it would be moving its headquarters to Chicago, IL.
2001 – In Ghana, 121 people were killed in a stampede at a soccer game.
2002 – Robert Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole. Hanssen, an FBI agent, had sold U.S. secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
2002 – Taiwan test fired a locally made Sky Bow II surface-to-air missile for the first time. They also fired three U.S.-made Hawk missiles.
2002 – Dr. Pepper announced that it would be introducing a new flavor, Red Fusion, for the first time in 117 years.
2011 – It was announced that Microsoft had closed a deal to purchase the internet phone service Skype for $8.5 billion.
2013 – In New York, NY, crane operators hoisted the final pieces of the spire atop One World Trade Center (formerly called the Freedom Tower).
2016 – NASA announced that it’s Kepler mission had verified 1,284 new planets. This was the single largest finding of planets to date.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Samuel Dalembert, Haitian-Canadian basketball player
- 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
- 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish journalist and politician, Swedish Minister of Education
- 1984 – Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1984 – Peter Tasi, Israeli singer
- 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Jon Schofield, English canoe racer
- 1986 – Emilio Izaguirre, Honduran footballer
- 1987 – Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
- 1987 – Kévin Constant, French-Guinean footballer
- 1990 – Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1990 – Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper
- 1993 – Pachara Chirathivat, Thai actor, singer and model
- 1995 – Missy Franklin, American swimmer
- 1995 – Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer
- 1996 – Tyus Jones, American basketball player
- 1996 – Kateřina Siniaková, a Czech tennis player