Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Today is May 26. It was on this date in 1868 that Andrew Johnson became the first U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The Senate later acquitted him on both charges brought against him by a single vote on each count. Advertisement An explosion ripped through the aircraft carrier USS Bennington off the coast of Rhode Island on this date in 1954. More than 100 crewmembers were killed. There was détente on this date in 1972 when President Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev -- during a meeting in Moscow -- signed a pact limiting nuclear weapons. On this date in 1992, former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos demanded the Manila government return billions of dollars in assets seized after her late husband was ousted from power in 1986. Montana territory was established on this date in 1864 under an act signed by President Lincoln who was anxious to create new free territories during the Civil War. However, 25 years passed before Montana became a state. Advertisement And, in one of the oddest pairings in musical history, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, were wed in a secret ceremony in the Dominican Republic. It was his first marriage, her second and news of the event did not leak out until July. We now return you to the present, already in progress. ----- Today is May 27. It was on this date in 1703 that Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg as the new capital of Russia. The Russian czar was interested in establishing trade and cultural ties with the West, and he did so from his new Baltic Sea capital. Following an intensive search, the British Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck 400 miles west of the French port of Brest on this date in 1941. Hollywood would later make a movie about the episode, titled "Sink the Bismarck," that can occasionally be seen on late-night television. In other maritime history, it was on this date in 1968 that the U.S. nuclear submarine Scorpion disappeared in the Atlantic with 99 men aboard. A car bomb exploded near an art gallery in Florence, Italy, on this date in 1993 -- killing five people and destroying some paintings by relatively minor artists. Inside the gallery also were masterpieces by Botticelli and Michaelangelo, but they survived the blast. Advertisement And it was on this date in 1957 that Buddy Holly and the Crickets released their first single, "That'll Be The Day." A lot of people don't realize that Holly's recording career spanned such a short time, coming to an abrupt and untimely end in an Iowa cornfield in Feb. 1959. We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------- Today is May 28. There were a lot of red faces at the Kremlin on this date in 1987, when a 19-year-old West German by the name of Mathias Rust flew his single-engine plane from Finland, through Soviet radar, to land beside the Kremlin in Moscow. Three days later, the Soviet defense minister and his deputy were fired. It was on this date in 1798 that Congress empowered President John Adams to recruit 10,000 volunteers to form a standing U.S. Army. Pakistan conducted five underground nuclear tests on this date in 1998. In response, President Clinton imposed economic sanctions against the Asian nation. Former Al Capone gunman Anthony "Big Tuna" Accardo -- who had been once labeled America's No. 1 mobster -- died on this date in 1992 at age 86. Accardo died of natural causes. Advertisement We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------- Today is May 29. FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged on this day in 2002 that if the FBI had acted on available information the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington might have been averted. He was king of the world. Or at least on top of it. It was on this date in 1953 that Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and a Nepalese sherpa named Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. Almost half-a-century later, climbing Everest is still a dangerous deed -- though dozens try it each year and many succeed. The Turks captured Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, on this date in 1453. The event marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople, renamed Istanbul, became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. 162 people were killed on this date in 1977 when a flash fire swept through a nightclub in Southgate, Ky. On the same date in 1985, 38 people were killed and 400 more injured when rioting erupted between British and Italian soccer fans attending the European Cup Final at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. The clash was televised and viewed by millions throughout Europe. Advertisement It was on this date in 1997 that Lt. Kelly Flinn, the Air Force's first female B-52 bomber pilot, was discharged following an investigation into adultery charges against her. The same day, the Army relieved Brig. Gen. Stephen Xenakis of his command of the Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga., because of an apparently "improper relationship" with a civilian nurse who was caring for his wife. And this was the date in 1942 that Bing Crosby recorded "White Christmas" in Los Angeles. The song remained the best-selling single of all time for over half a century until surpassed by "Candle in the Wind 1997," Elton John's tribute to the late Princess Diana. We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------- Today is May 30. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced on this date in 2002 that the FBI would have expanded powers to monitor religious, political and other organizations as well as internet and other media as a guard against possible future terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, the massive cleanup of the ruins of New York's World Trade Center, destroyed by terrorists on Sept. 11. 2001, was completed. Advertisement Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France, on this date in 1431. She was just 19. Joan, known as the Maid of Orleans, had led the French against the English invading army. When the English captured her, they tried and convicted her of sorcery and executed her. She was canonized in 1920. Twenty-two people were killed on this date in 1972 when three Japanese terrorists -- members of the so-called "Red Army" -- opened fire with automatic weapons at the airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. In 1806, future President Andrew Jackson challenged Charles Dickinson, a Kentucky lawyer and crack shot, to a duel after Dickinson referred to Jackson's wife Rachel as a bigamist. Dickinson fired first, grazing Jackson who then fired, killing his opponent, Labor strife turned deadly on this date in 1937 in Chicago. A battle between police and strikers at the Republic Steel Corp. plant in Chicago left 10 people dead and 90 injured. And on this date in 1996, the watchdog group Empower America unleashed a campaign against five record labels -- Time Warner, BMG, PolyGram, Thorn EMI and Sony -- for what it deemed "obscene music" by such artists as Cannibal Corpse, Cypress Hill, Tupac Shakur and Tha Dogg Pound. Advertisement We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------- Today is May 31. Heavy rains caused the Connemaugh River Dam to burst on this date in 1889. The resulting flood swept nearby Johnstown, Pa., leaving more than 2,200 people dead and destroying the homes of thousands more. The devastation was so great that the phrase "Johnstown Flood" entered the language to describe a disastrous event. On this date in 1962 Israel hanged Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann for his part of killing six million Jews during World War II. Two years earlier, Israeli agents had grabbed Eichmann in Argentina where he had been living. Seven federally insured banks in Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oregon were closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on this date in 1985. It was a single-day record for closings since the FDIC was founded in 1934. During their second "Bed-In for Peace," John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded "Give Peace A Chance" in a hotel suite in Montreal, Canada, on this date in 1969. And "Seinfeld" -- the show about nothing -- premiered on NBC on this date in 1990. The sitcom, starring Jerry Seinfeld, ran for eight years. Advertisement We now return you to the present, already in progress. -------- Today is June 1. President James Madison warned Congress on this date in 1812 that war with Britain was imminent. A major cause for concern was the English's hassling of America's maritime and naval vessels. Sure enough, the War of 1812 started 17 days later. It was on this date in 1964 that the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayers and Bible teaching in public schools on the constitutional grounds of separation of church and state. (While prayer may be officially banned from public schools, as long as there are math tests, there will be praying in schools.) South Africa began taking some steps toward equality for all its people when, on this date in 1990, the Pretoria government proposed a bill to scrap the 37-year-old law segregating buses, trains, toilets, libraries, swimming pools and other public amenities. The first public pay telephone began operation in New Haven, Conn., on this date in 1880. New evidence in the 1978 death of "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane led to an arrest on this date in 1992. A long-time friend of the actor who had initially been questioned soon after Crane was found bludgeoned to death in Scottsdale, Ariz., was charged with murder in the 14-year-old case. The man would later be acquitted. Advertisement And on this date in 1971, the two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, where Elvis Presley was born, was opened to the public. We now return you to the present, already in progress.
