History of 31 May
1900 – U.S. troops arrived in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.
1902 – The Boer War ended between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain with the Treaty of Vereeniging.
1907 – The first taxis arrived in New York City. They were the first in the United States.
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held its first conference.
1910 – The Union of South Africa was founded.
1913 – The 17th Amendment went into effect. It provided for popular election of U.S. senators.
1915 – A German zeppelin made an air raid on London.
1927 – Ford Motor Company produced the last “Tin Lizzie” in order to begin production of the Model A.
1929 – In Beverly, MA, the first U.S. born reindeer were born.
1941 – The first issue of “Parade: The Weekly Picture Newspaper” went on sale.
1943 – “Archie” was aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System for the first time.
1947 – Communists seized control of Hungary.
1955 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered that all states must end racial segregation “with all deliberate speed.”
1961 – South Africa became an independent republic.
1962 – Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann was a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust.
1970 – An earthquake in Peru killed tens of thousands of people.
1974 – Israel and Syria signed an agreement on the Golan Heights.
1977 – The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was finished after 3 years of construction.
1979 – Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence.
1994 – The U.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.
1995 – Bob Dole singled out Time Warner for “the marketing of evil” in movies and music. Dole later admitted that he had not seen or heard much of what he had been criticizing.
2003 – In North Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing.
2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat”.
2008 – Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7m/s) 9.72 seconds
2010 – Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish civilians on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.
2013 – The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
2013 – A record-breaking 2.6-mile-wide tornado struck El Reno, Oklahoma causing eight fatalities and over 150 injuries.
2017 – A car bomb exploded in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
- 1981 – Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Jake Peavy, American baseball player
- 1981 – Marlies Schild, Austrian skier
- 1984 – Andrew Bailey, American baseball player
- 1984 – Milorad Cavic, Serbian swimmer
- 1984 – Nate Robinson, American basketball player
- 1985 – Jordy Nelson, American football player
- 1986 – Robert Gesink, Dutch cyclist
- 1990 – Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1992 – Michael Bournival, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Laura Ikauniece, Latvian heptathlete
- 1996 – Normani Korde, American singer
- 1998 – Santino Ferrucci, American race car driver