On This Day in History - May 1st - Almanac

Today is Monday, May 1, the 121st day of 2017 with 244 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include Arthur Wellesley, the first duke of Wellington, in 1769; sharpshooter Calamity Jane, real name Martha Jane Cannary Burke, in 1852; U.S. Army Gen. Mark Clark in 1896; singer Kate Smith in 1907; actor Louis Nye in 1913; actor Glenn Ford in 1916; television personality Jack Paar in 1918; actor Dan O'Herlihy in 1919; author Joseph Heller in 1923; game show host Art Fleming in 1924; Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter in 1925; singer Sonny James in 1929; singer Judy Collins in 1939 (age 78); singer Rita Coolidge in 1945 (age 72); Hong Kong film director John Woo in 1946 (age 71); jockey Steve Cauthen in 1960 (age 57); singer Tim McGraw in 1967 (age 50); actor James Badge Dale in 1978 (age 39); actor Jamie Dornan in 1982 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1884, construction began on the world's first skyscraper -- the 10-story Home Insurance Co. building in Chicago.

In 1893, U.S. President Grover Cleveland opened the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American war, forces under U.S. Navy Adm. George Dewey routed the Spanish fleet in the Philippines.

In 1931, the Empire State Building was dedicated in New York City. At 102 stories, it was the world's tallest building for 40 years.

In 1960, the Soviet Union shot down a U.S. U-2 spy plane flown by Francis Gary Powers, who was captured.

In 1971, Amtrak, the U.S. national rail service that combined the operations of 18 passenger railroads, went into service.

In 1986, a Soviet Embassy official, in a rare appearance before Congress, insisted that the Chernobyl nuclear accident was "not out of hand."

In 1991, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics stole his 939th base, making him the all-time leader; Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers pitched his record seventh no-hitter.

In 1993, Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa and others in his entourage were killed in a suicide bomb blast.

In 1997, 18 years of Conservative Party rule in Britain ended with a Labor Party victory in elections, allowing party leader Tony Blair to succeed John Majors as prime minister.

In 2001, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan was convicted in Birmingham, Ala., in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls. He was given four life sentences.

In 2003, President George W. Bush, speaking from the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, declared that major combat in Iraq was over and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the end of major U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan.

In 2005, five men in Madain, Iraq, confessed to the kidnapping and slaying of British aid worker Margaret Hassan.

In 2009, U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced he would retire in June. He served on the court for 19 years.

In 2011, President Barack Obama announced at 11:35 p.m. EDT that al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and the face of global terrorism, was killed in a U.S. commando raid (May 2 Pakistan time) on his compound near the Pakistani capital.

In 2012, President Barack Obama, speaking from Afghanistan in a televised address to Americans, said Afghans will be "fully responsible" for their security by 2014.

In 2013, Chris Kelly of the rap duo Kris Kross died at the age of 34. The medical examiner's office in Atlanta later announced the cause of death was a drug overdose.

In 2016, a wildfire in Canada's oil-producing region of Fort McMurray forced the evacuation of more than 90,000 residents from the surrounding area and interrupted about one-quarter of Canada's daily oil production.

A thought for the day: "You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal." -- Elizabeth Taylor