On This Day, May 29: George W. Bush dedicates WWII memorial

On this date in history:

In 1660, Charles II was restored to the English throne.

In 1790, Rhode Island became the last of the original 13 states to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1914, the Canadian Pacific Transatlantic liner Empress of Ireland sank in the early-morning hours following a collision with the liner Storstadt, a much smaller vessel, in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence. More than 1,000 people died in what is the largest maritime accident in Canadian peacetime history.

In 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal became the first men to reach the top of Mount Everest.

In 1985, British soccer fans attacked Italian fans preceding the European Cup final in Brussels. The resulting stadium stampede killed 38 people and injured 400.

In 1990, renegade Communist Boris Yeltsin was elected president of Russia.

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI

In 1996, in Israel's first selection of a prime minister by direct vote, Benjamin Netanyahu defeated Shimon Peres. The margin of victory was less than 1 percent.

In 1997, Zaire rebel leader Laurent Kabila was sworn in as president of what was again being called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In 2003, comedian Bob Hope was honored at the White House on his 100th birthday, with establishment of the Bob Hope Patriotism Award.

In 2004, the National World War II memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington. Thousands of veterans of the war, which ended nearly 59 years earlier, attended the ceremony.

In 2006, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe won a second term by a sizable margin.

File Photo by Kristoffer Tripplaar/UPI

In 2009, U.S. music producer Phil Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for the 2003 slaying of actress Lana Carlson.

In 2010, two mosques of a religious minority in Pakistan were attacked by intruders firing weapons and throwing grenades. Officials put the death toll at 98.

In 2019, a Harvard study determined at least 4,645 people in Puerto Rico died as a result of Hurricane Maria, a sharp contrast to the official government death toll of 64.