History of 30 May
1903 – In Riverdale, NY, the first American motorcycle hill climb was held.
1911 – Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500. At the time, it was known as International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race. Harroun’s average speed was 74.59 miles per hour.
1912 – The U.S. Marines were sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests.
1913 – The First Balkan War ended.
1921 – The U.S. Navy transferred the Teapot Dome oil reserves to the Department of the Interior.
1922 – The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.
1933 – Sally Rand introduced her exotic and erotic fan dance to audiences at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition.
1943 – American forces secured the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese during World War II.
1958 – Unidentified soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean conflicts were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
1967 – Daredevil Evel Knievel jumped 16 automobiles in a row in a motorcycle stunt at Ascot Speedway in Gardena, CA.
1967 – The state of Biafra seceded from Nigeria and Civil war erupted.
1971 – Mariner 9, the American deep space probe blasted off on a journey to Mars.
1971 – Blue Ribbon Sports officially became Nike, Inc.
1981 – In Chittagong, Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated.
1982 – Spain became the 16th NATO member. Spain was the first country to enter the Western alliance since West Germany in 1955.
1983 – Peru’s President Fernando Belaunde Terry declared a state of emergency and suspended civil rights after bombings by leftist rebels.
1989 – The “Goddess of Democracy” statue (33 feet height) was erected in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
1996 – Britain’s Prince Andrew and the former Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.
1997 – Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, NJ, of raping and strangling a 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka. The 1994 murder inspired “Megan’s Law,” requiring that communities be notified when sex offenders move in.
1998 – A powerful earthquake hit northern Afghanistan killing up to 5,000.
2002 – In New York, a ceremony were held to officially mark the end of the clean up from the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
2012 – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the Portion Cap Rule. The proposed amendment to the city health code would have required that food service establishments limit the size of sugary beverages to 16 ounces. On June 26, 2014, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the New York City Board of Health had exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority
2013 – Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Devendra Banhart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Gianmaria Bruni, Italian race car driver
- 1981 – Ahmad Elrich, Australian footballer
- 1981 – Remy Ma, American rapper
- 1981 – Lars Møller Madsen, Danish handball player
- 1981 – Hisanori Takada, Japanese footballer
- 1982 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (d. 2007)
- 1982 – James Simpson-Daniel, English rugby player
- 1984 – Sham Kwok Fai, Hong Kong footballer
- 1984 – Matt Maguire, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Jordan Palmer, American football player
- 1984 – Alexander Sulzer, German ice hockey player
- 1985 – Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (d. 2013)
- 1985 – Igor Lewczuk, Polish footballer
- 1985 – Aaron Volpatti, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Nikolay Bodurov, Bulgarian footballer
- 1988 – Antonio Winterstein, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
- 1989 – Ailee, Korean-American singer and songwriter
- 1989 – Lesia Tsurenko, a Ukrainian tennis player
- 1990 – Mustafa Akbaş, Turkish footballer
- 1990 – I’m Yoona, South Korean singer, and actress
- 1990 – Andrei Loktionov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Jonathan Fox, English swimmer
- 1992 – Danielle Harold, English actress
- 1994 – Ivars Punnenovs, Latvian ice hockey player
- 1994 – Scott Laughton, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1994 – Madeon, French electronic music producer
- 1996 – Beatriz Haddad Maia, a Brazilian tennis player