UPI Almanac for Thursday, May 26, 2016

Today is Thursday, May 26, the 147th day of 2016 with 219 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Uranus, Venus and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter and Mars.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include entertainer Al Jolson in 1886; dancer Isadora Duncan in 1877; actor John Wayne in 1907; actor Robert Morley in 1908; actor Jay Silverheels in 1912; actor Peter Cushing in 1913; trumpeter Ziggy Elman in 1914; singer Peggy Lee in 1920; actor James Arness in 1923; jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in 1926; right-to-die advocate Jack Kevorkian in 1928; sportscaster Brent Musburger in 1939 (age 77); musician/actor Levon Helm in 1940; singer Stevie Nicks in 1948 (age 68); singer Hank Williams Jr. in 1949 (age 67); actor Pam Grier in 1949 (age 67); actor Philip Michael Thomas in 1949 (age 67); Sally Ride, first U.S. woman in space, in 1951; actor Genie Francis in 1962 (age 54); actor Bobcat Goldthwait in 1962 (age 54); musician Lenny Kravitz in 1964 (age 52); actor Helena Bonham Carter in 1966 (age 50);

On this date in history:

In 1864, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, anxious to create new free territories during the Civil War, signed an act establishing the Montana Territory. (Montana became a state 25 years later.)

In 1868, at the end of a historic two-month trial, the U.S. Senate acquitted President Andrew Johnson of impeachment charges levied against him by the House of Representatives. Johnson won acquittal by one vote on each count.

In 1896, Nicholas II became the Russian czar.

In 1897, "Dracula" was published by Irish writer Bram Stoker.

In 1940, the evacuation of Dunkirk began. Sailing vessels of every kind were pressed into service to ferry British, French and Belgian soldiers trapped by advancing German forces in northern France across the English Channel. All 200,000 were safely across by June 2.

In 1954, more than 100 crewmembers of the aircraft carrier USS Bennington died in an explosion off Rhode Island.

In 1972, at a Moscow summit, U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Communist Party leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a pact limiting nuclear weapons.

In 1985, a cyclone struck the Bay of Bengal, killing 1,400 people in Bangladesh.

In 1991, a Lauda Air Boeing 767-300 exploded over Thailand after takeoff, killing all 223 people aboard.

In 1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, were married in the Dominican Republic. They divorced two years later.

In 2003, a plane crash in Turkey killed all 74 people aboard, including 62 Spanish soldiers returning from peacekeeping duties in Afghanistan.

In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals judge, to the U.S. Supreme Court to succeed retiring Justice David Souter. She became the first person of Hispanic ancestry on the high court.

In 2012, Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister and ex-president, was elected leader of the ruling United Russia party.

In 2013, Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan won the Indianapolis 500.

In 2014, Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister of India.

A thought for the day: "If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it." -- Andy Rooney