History of 15 May
1911 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1916 – U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.
1918 – Regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service.
1926 – Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth were forced down in Alaska after a four-day flight over an icecap. Ice had begun to form on the dirigible Norge.
1926 – The New York Rangers were officially granted a franchise in the NHL. The NHL also announced that Chicago and Detroit would be joining the league in November.
1930 – Ellen Church became the first female flight attendant.
1940 – Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.
1941 – Joe DiMaggio began his historic major league baseball hitting streak of 56 games.
1942 – Gasoline rationing began in the U.S. The limit was 3 gallons a week for nonessential vehicles.
1948 – Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence.
1951 – AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders.
1957 – Britain dropped its first hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1958 – Sputnik III, the first space laboratory, was launched in the Soviet Union.
1963 – The last Project Mercury space flight was launched.
1964 – The Smothers Brothers, Dick, and Tom, gave their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
1970 – U.S. President Nixon appointed America’s first two female generals.
1970 – Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests.
1972 – Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, MD while campaigning for the U.S. presidency. Wallace was paralyzed by the shot.
1975 – The merchant ship U.S. Mayaguez was recaptured from Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge.
1980 – The first transcontinental balloon crossing of the United States took place.
1983 – In Boston, MA, the Madison Hotel was destroyed by implosion.
1988 – The Soviet Union began the withdrawal of its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan. Soviet forces had been there for more than eight years.
1990 – Vincent Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Doctor Gachet” was sold for $82.5 million. The sale set a new world record.
1997 – The Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia’s orbiting Mir station.
1999 – The Russian parliament was unable a attain enough votes to impeach President Boris Yeltsin.
2014 – The National September 11 Memorial Museum was dedicated in New York City.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Patrice Evra, French footballer
- 1981 – Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
- 1981 – Zara Phillips, English horse rider
- 1981 – Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress, and singer
- 1982 – Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican sprinter
- 1982 – Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1982 – Rafael Pérez, Dominican baseball player
- 1982 – Layal Abboud, Lebanese singer
- 1984 – Jeff Deslauriers, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian race car driver
- 1984 – Samantha Noble, Australian actress
- 1984 – Beau Scott, Australian rugby league player
- 1984 – Mr. Probz, Dutch singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
- 1985 – Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Tania Cagnotto, Italian diver
- 1985 – Laura Harvey, English football coach
- 1985 – Tathagata Mukherjee, Indian actor
- 1985 – Denis Onyango, Ugandan goalkeeper
- 1985 – Justine Robbeson, South African javelin thrower
- 1986 – Thomas Brown, American football player
- 1986 – Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
- 1986 – Adam Moffat, Scottish footballer
- 1987 – David Adams, American baseball player
- 1987 – Michael Brantley, American baseball player
- 1987 – Brian Dozier, American baseball player
- 1987 – Mark Fayne, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player
- 1987 – Leonardo Mayer, an Argentinian tennis player
- 1987 – Andy Murray, a Scottish tennis player
- 1988 – Indrek Kajupank, Estonian basketball player
- 1988 – Scott Laird, English footballer
- 1989 – Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, French footballer
- 1990 – Jordan Eberle, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Lee Jong-hyun, Korean guitarist
- 1990 – Stella Maxwell, New Zealand model
- 1993 – Jeremy Hawkins, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1996 – Birdy, English singer-songwriter
- 1997 – Ousmane Dembélé, French footballer