UPI Almanac for Friday, May 15, 2020

Today is Friday, May 15, the 136th day of 2020 with 230 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include author L. Frank Baum (The Wizard of Oz) in 1856; French chemist Pierre Curie in 1859; U.S. first lady Ellen Wilson in 1860; author Katherine Anne Porter in 1890; former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1902; actor Joseph Cotten in 1905; country singer Eddy Arnold in 1918; artist Jasper Johns 1930 (age 90); actor Anna Maria Alberghetti in 1936 (age 84); former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 1937 (age 83); singer Trini Lopez in 1937 (age 83); media executive Roger Ailes in 1940; actor/singer Lainie Kazan in 1940 (age 80); musician Brian Eno in 1948 (age 72); Hall of Fame baseball player George Brett in 1953 (age 67); composer Mike Oldfield in 1953 (age 67); sports broadcaster Dan Patrick in 1956 (age 64); writer Laura Hillenbrand in 1967 (age 53); Hall of Fame football player Emmitt Smith in 1969 (age 51); Zara Tindall, equestrian/British royal, in 1981 (age 39); tennis player Andy Murray in 1987 (age 33).

On this date in history:

In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, ordered the dissolution of the company after determining it to be a monopoly.

In 1918, the first regular U.S. airmail service was established between Washington and New York City.

In 1930, Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess, flying on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Cheyenne, Wyo. She persuaded the airline it needed a hostess in the sky and later developed a training program and manual for other stewardesses. She died in 1965 in a horseback riding accident.

In 1941, the Gloster-Whittle E 28/39 aircraft flew over Cranwell, England, in the first successful test of an Allied aircraft using jet propulsion.

In 1948, troops from Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded Israel starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

In 1958, Gen. Charles De Gaulle announced "I hold myself ready to take over the powers of the Republic." Thus, the 67-year-old World War II hero stepped back into the political picture in a crisis that brought France to the brink of civil war.

In 1963, U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper was launched into space atop an Atlas rocket in the final Mercury flight. He completed 22 orbits.

In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas, under fire for a money deal with jailed financier Louis Wolfson, resigned from the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1972, Alabama Gov. George Wallace and three others were injured by a gunman at a presidential campaign rally in Laurel, Md. Wallace was partially paralyzed but active in Southern politics until his death in 1998.

In 1988, Soviet forces began their withdrawal from Afghanistan in compliance with the Geneva accords.

In 1991, Edith Cresson, a Socialist and former trade minister, became the first female prime minister of France.

In 2006, the U.S. State Department said it would restore diplomatic relations with Libya for the first time since 1980 and remove the country from its terrorism sponsors list.

In 2009, two of the "Big 3" U.S. automakers, bankrupt Chrysler and almost-bankrupt General Motors, sent notices terminating relationships with nearly 2,000 car dealers.

In 2013, Steven Miller resigned as acting commissioner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service amid a controversy over its alleged targeting of the Tea Party and other conservative groups.

In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the Kerch Strait Bridge, a large connection between Russia's Krasnodar region and Crimea, which Moscow annexed four years prior. Its construction was controversial because the United States and most Western states did not recognize Crimea as Russian territory.

In 2019, a rabbit sculpture by Jeff Koons sold at auction for $91 million, the most paid for any artwork by a living artist.

A thought for the day: "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright