May 30
May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years ). There are 215 days remaining.
Events
1416 - The Catholic Church burns Jerome of Prague as a heretic.
1431 - In Rouen , France , 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by a pro-English tribunal.
1539 - In Florida , Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold .
1574 - Henry III becomes King of France .
1588 - The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel .
1806 - Andrew Jackson kills a man in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
1814 - The First Treaty of Paris is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon I of France is exiled to Elba on the same day.
1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas .
1871 - The Paris Commune falls.
1868 - Memorial Day (then known as "Decoration Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on May 5 by General John Logan ).
1876 - Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V .
1879 - New York City 's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
1883 - In New York City , a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.
1911 - At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
1913 - First Balkan War : A peace treaty is signed in London ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
1922 - In Washington, D.C. , the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
1935 - Babe Ruth plays in his last baseball game, in the uniform of the Boston Braves .
1941 - World War II : Germany captures Crete .
1942 - World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne , Germany .
1948 - A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
1958 - The bodies of several unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery .
1967 - At the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, California , daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.
1967 - The Nigerian state of Biafra secedes, sparking a civil war .
1971 - Mariner program : Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars .
1972 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain .
1972 - Members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre , killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
1982 - Baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr plays the first of 2,632 consecutive games. His streak will end on September 20 , 1998 .
1982 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany 's admission in 1955 .
1989 - Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 : The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
1998 - A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan , killing up to 5,000.
1999 - Kenny Bräck wins the 83rd Indianapolis 500
2003 - The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.
2004 - Buddy Rice wins a rain-shortened 88th Indianapolis 500
Births
1672 - Peter the Great , Tsar of Russia (d. 1725 )
1814 - Michael Bakunin , Russian anarchist (d. 1876 )
1879 - Colin Blythe , Kent and England left arm spinner (d. 1917 )
1882 - Wyndham Halswelle , British runner
1895 - Maurice Tate , Sussex and England all-rounder (d. 1956 )
1896 - Howard Hawks , American film director (d. 1977 )
1899 - Irving Thalberg , American film producer (d. 1936 )
1901 - Cornelia Otis Skinner , Broadway producer, writer, director, actress (d. 1979 )
1902 - Stepin Fetchit , American dancer, actor (d. 1985 )
1907 - Elly Beinhorn , pilot
1908 - Mel Blanc , American voice actor (d. 1989 )
1909 - Benny Goodman , American clarinetist , bandleader (d. 1986 )
1910 - Inge Meysel , German actress (b. 2004 )
1912 - Julius Axelrod , American biochemist
1912 - Joseph Stein , playwright
1912 - Hugh Griffith , Welsh actor (d. 1980 )
1912 - Erich Bagge , German physicist
1920 - Franklin Schaffner , American film director (d. 1989 )
1920 - Ralph Metcalfe , American athlete (d. 1978 )
1922 - Hal Clement , American science fiction writer (d. 2003 )
1926 - Christine Jorgensen , transsexual 1989 )
1927 - Clint Walker , actor
1934 - Aleksei Leonov , cosmonaut and first person to walk in space
1936 - Keir Dullea , American actor
1939 - Michael J. Pollard , American actor
1943 - Gale Sayers , American football star
1951 - Stephen Tobolowsky , actor
1951 - Zdravko Čolić, Yugoslavian singer
1953 - Colm Meaney , Irish actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation Deep Space Nine 1955 - Topper Headon , British musician ("The Clash ")
1964 - Wynonna Judd , American country music singer
1972 - Manny Ramirez , Dominican baseball player
1973 - Leigh Francis , British comedian - more famous as Avid Merrion .
1986 - Claudia Beni , Croatian singer
Deaths
1252 - King Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon (b. 1198 /1199 )
1416 - Jerome of Prague , Czech theologian (b. 1379 )
1431 - Joan of Arc , burned at the stake by a pro-English tribunal. (b. 1412 )
1574 - King Charles IX of France (b. 1550 )
1576 - Harada Naomasa , Japanese retainer and samurai under Oda Nobunaga
1593 - Christopher Marlowe , English playwright (b. 1564 )
1640 - Peter Paul Rubens , German painter (b. 1577 )
1744 - Alexander Pope , English poet, and writer (b. 1688 )
1778 - Voltaire , French philosopher, author (b. 1694 )
1865 - John Catron , associate justice of the United States
1951 - Hermann Broch , Austrian author (b. 1886 )
1953 - Dooley Wilson , American musician, actor
1960 - Boris Pasternak , Russian author (b. 1890 )
1961 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo , dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891 )
1964 - Leó Szilárd , Hungarian-American nuclear physicist (b. 1898 )
1967 - Claude Rains , English actor (b. 1889 )
1975 - Steve Prefontaine , American distance runner (b. 1951 )
1986 - Perry Ellis , fashion designer
1993 - Sun Ra , American musician (b. 1914 )
2000 - Tex Beneke , bandleader, singer, saxophone player
2003 - Mickie Most , English musician (b. 1938 )
2003 - Hans Peter Willberg , literature critic
Holidays and observances
External links
May 29 - May 31 - April 30 - June 30 - listing of all days
